Thunderbolts* Retitled *The New Avengers Following $76 Million Debut

It's a fairly soft launch for a Marvel film, despite taking the number one spot.

Disney Marvel's Thunderbolts* didn't quite deliver a lightning strike, but it did manage to secure the number one spot at the domestic box office this past weekend. Generating $76 million in ticket sales, the film saw a similar reception globally with $86.1 million, bringing the total to $162.1 million. Thunderbolts* is alleged to have a production budget of $180 million and a marketing budget of $100 million—that means breaking even is still a little ways away for the film, to say nothing of profit.

Now, the question becomes whether or not Thunderbolts* will have the legs it needs to recoup its budget and start making money. It seems in an effort to do that, Disney Marvel has opted to rechristen the movie with a fresh moniker. The New Avengers is now the name of The Thunderbolts*, which is a actually a little bit of a spoiler for one of the movie's post-credits scenes. Apparently it's more pressing to capitalize on the name recognition value of The Avengers branding than to worry about giving away some of the plot.

Will this move work? It's hard to say, but there are a couple things going in Thunderbolts'/New Avengers' favor. As of this writing, both critic and fan perception of the film are positive. Even some of the biggest detractors of the post-Endgame era of Disney Marvel have deemed the movie acceptable, for what that's worth. Beyond that, it's not looking like there will be many challengers to the throne for a couple weeks at movie theaters, so all of that combined might be enough to help Thunderbolts/New Avengers turn a profit.

Still, while $76 million isn't anything to sneeze at, that number puts it perilously in the territory of infamous Disney Marvel flop The Eternals. That movie opened to $71 million and never came close to recovering its $236.2 million budget. Disney Marvel continues to struggle, with some films like Deadpool & Wolverine becoming huge successes, and others like The Marvels never even making a mark. In 2025, Disney Marvel has had a string of failures, with low viewership numbers for Daredevil: Born Again and a poor box office for Captain America: Brave New World, If Thunderbolts/New Avengers doesn't do well, it will be putting a lot of pressure on Fantastic Four: First Steps when it launches in July.

Beyond the FF, there isn't a whole lot coming soon from Disney Marvel that's likely to move the needle. A host of unremarkable Disney+ content remains, like Ironheart (which has been sitting on a shelf for years now) and Wonder Man. While Fantastic Four isn't Disney Marvel's last shot, it's certainly not going to bode well if it, too, has a mediocre or mild opening box office.

Source: Variety