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Marvel movie Thunderbolts brought in $162 million at theatres around the world over the weekend, providing a solid start to the summer movie season that is key to Hollywood’s year at the box office.

Thunderbolts, the story of a ragtag group of heroes who unite to fight a supervillain, earned $76 million of its total in the United States and Canada, distributor Walt Disney said on Sunday.

The returns were in line with pre-weekend forecasts, though below the $88.8 million domestic opening of Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World in February.

“This is about what we’ve come to expect from Marvel movies in the recent marketplace,” said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. It was a decent start, he said, for a movie with lesser-known characters that have played sidekicks in other Marvel stories.

Starring Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan, Thunderbolts sets the stage for Marvel’s July release Fantastic Four and next summer’s Avengers: Doomsday. “This is a prelude to something much bigger,” Bock said.

Thunderbolts had a slow opening of $10.4 million in China, where it was the first test of Chinese appetites for Hollywood films since authorities pledged to limit movie imports as part of a trade war with the Trump administration.

The figures from the rest of the world were positive, Bock said, considering Thunderbolts doubled last year’s dismal start to summer with The Fall Guy.

Hollywood brings in about 40 per cent of the year’s box office receipts during the summer season, which the industry measures from the first weekend in May through Labour Day in September. Theatres are still trying to climb back to pre-pandemic ticket sales levels.

Through Sunday, year-to-date ticket sales in the United States and Canada were running 15pc above 2024 but 31.8pc below 2019. The summer of 2019 benefited from Avengers: Endgame, which had a record opening of $357.1 million at domestic theatres.

Thunderbolts had the strongest reviews for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film since 2021’s hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, said Andrew Cripps, head of global theatrical distribution at Disney. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, 88pc of critics and 94pc of moviegoers gave it positive marks.

“I think word of mouth will be really strong and people will continue to discover it,” Cripps said of Thunderbolts.

Also this weekend, spring smash Sinners finished the weekend in second place on domestic charts behind Thunderbolts, collecting $33 million and bringing its total to $179.7 million. Family film A Minecraft Movie landed third with $13.7 million. Its domestic total reached $398.2 million.

The coming summer slate is filled with sequels, including Jurassic World: Rebirth and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, plus a new Superman movie.