'Captain America' Box Office Outperforming Harry Potter, Fellow Heroes

Captain America box office numbers were expected to be neck and neck with Harry Potter. However, even though Deathly Hallows Part 2 broke all box office records last weekend, the British boy wizard may not have enough left to face a real American hero. Although the Captain was projected to be neck and neck with the Boy Who Lived, early projections have him winning by a wider margin this weekend- and beating out his summer superhero peers while he's at it.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Captain America: The First Avenger is beating out its initial expectations of a $60 million weekend. In fact, it may be over $65 million, while the last Harry Potter is going down to $50+ million- only 1/3'rd of what it made last Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

It now appears that Deathly Hallows Part 2 won't have the staying power of The Dark Knight, despite breaking its opening records. In 2008, the first Batman sequel stayed No. 1 for three additional weeks and narrowly held off The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Pineapple Express. But the final Harry Potter is going to die off a bit quicker, and will probably stop before it can challenge Dark Knight's overall $533 million gross.

As for Cap, he has more modest goals in topping the other three comic book movies of the summer. If the new Deadline Hollywood projections hold, he would narrowly top Thor's opening of $65.7 million. The First Avenger would probably finish right around that when all is said and done, but no matter what, he would be the first superhero since Thor to exceed expectations.

Despite good reviews, X-Men: First Class opened slightly worse than expected, while Green Lantern was judged as a bomb although it opened with $53 million. It was hard to imagine that Captain America would do that much better, given how it was under the radar of Harry Potter and the summer's other comic book movies. Instead, it has emerged to show surprising power, like Steve Rogers himself.

While other superhero epics like The Dark Knight and the Spider-Man movies have had much better openings, Cap at least stands out by the slightly lower standards of this season. If these numbers hold up, it will prove that old fashioned, ultra-patriotic heroics do still have box office power, at least in the United States. And it will give Marvel extra momentum before it unveils The Avengers next summer to challenge The Dark Knight Rises.

It has been a mixed summer for superheroes, as at least half of them have underperformed in the last few months. But it appears the biggest surprise has been saved for last, as Captain America: The First Avenger has avenged the likes of Thor, Magneto and Hal Jordan at Harry Potter's expense.

Sources

Deadline Hollywood- "NO WEAKLING: Captain America $66M May Be Biggest Superhero Of Summer 2011"