‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ Expected To Dominate The Box Office Once Again

Captain America: The Winter Soldier should have no trouble rising to the top of the weekend box office for the third week straight.

Although the acclaimed sequel to director Joe Johnston’s 2011 superhero epic Captain America: The First Soldier faced some steep competition from the likes of Rio 2 last week, the movie was still able to generate more ticket sales than its competition. The same thing is presently expected to unfold this weekend as well.

According to Variety, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will square off against a handful of new releases. However, none of these cinematic endeavors should pose a serious threat to its revenue.

The biggest threat to the Captain America sequel comes in the form of Wally Pfister’s sci-fi flick Transcendence, which stars Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman. Although moviegoers will no doubt flock to see the directorial debut from Christopher Nolan’s frequent collaborator, chances are it won’t make as much money as The Winter Soldier.

This might sound a little mean to some folks, but the other releases really don’t stand a chance against Captain America, Transcendence, and Rio 2. Three other new releases — namely A Haunted House 2, Bears, and Heaven is For Real — could have trouble cracking the top three. However, the latter may end up generating a healthy number of receipts thanks to the Easter holiday.

Even if The Winter Soldier is officially dethroned over the weekend, the movie still has quite a bit of money in the bank. The $170 million superhero flick has already earned $174 million in the United States alone. The movie performed exceptionally well in foreign markets as well; Captain America 2 has earned $335 million overseas as of this writing. This effectively pushes its worldwide total to a deeply impressive $510 million.

Not surprisingly, the boys and girls at Marvel are very dedicated to bringing Captain America 3 to the big screen in the very near future. In fact, the movie is currently scheduled to hit theaters on May 6, 2016. This is also the day Warner Bros. intends to drop Batman vs. Superman on the masses. A superhero showdown of epic proportions should ensue at the box office that weekend.

Captain America fans can catch their favorite character next in director Joss Whedon’s highly-anticipated flick Avengers: Age of Ultron. Unless something terrible happens between now and then, the big-budget sequel should arrive on May 1, 2015. In short: There’s no shortage of Cap in your cinematic future.

Do you think Captain America: The Winter Soldier will dominate the box office this weekend? Could Rio 2 or Transcendence ultimately rise to the top?

[Image via Disney / Marvel]