The latest Marvel Studios movie, Captain America: Civil War, is on track to become the year’s biggest box office hit worldwide this coming weekend.
Ticket sales on Wednesday May 18 propelled the superhero ensemble to US$981.9 million worldwide, making a $1 billion global take by this weekend a certainty.
Its domestic total of $310.5 million has been complimented by $671.4 million from international territories, with China contributing $164.2 million and South Korea some $60.7 million, Variety reported. Animated feature Zootopia has accumulated over $971 million to date, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on $870 million.
Marvel’s best performing movies have been The Avengers on $1.5 billion and the more recent Avengers: Age of Ultron on $1.4 billion, while Captain America: Civil War picked up where Ultron left off in 2015, adopting a similar multi-character crossover approach in the process.
The news comes as X-Men: Apocalypse begins its international rollout, only arriving in the US and Canada (May 27) and China (June 3) after most of the rest of the world has already received it.