Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb ratings have been wild over the last few days, with debate raging over just how badly they’re affected by trolls making a big effort to destroy its box office potential. But whilst critics’ reviews have been positive, they haven’t exactly been euphoric – so it’s been hard to gauge exactly what ‘normal’ moviegoers make of Marvel’s first solo female-fronted blockbuster. Until now.
CinemaScore is a hugely trusted and respected service that polls moviegoers as they leave the cinema.
This means it is one of the rare metrics that actually guarantees the people responding have seen the movie and are as agenda-free as possible.
And on CinemaScore, the film has amassed an impressive grade of A, on an A+ to F scale.
The company tweeted: “Congrats to @captainmarvel on your A #CinemaScore grade! Audiences loved it @brielarson @SamuelLJackson.”
Putting that into context alongside other recent MCU output, Black Panther received an A+, Avengers: Infinity War got an A, and Ant-Man and the Wasp picked up an A-.
The box office prospects for Captain Marvel are thought to be huge – so if this CinemaScore result is a sign of the word-of-mouth to come, estimates could be more-or-less on the mark.
The Hollywood Reporter yesterday said it was heading for a debut of $155 million in North America – the second-best opening of all time for a comic book adaptation starring a new character, behind only Black Panther ($200 million).
It’s already picked up an estimated $60 million from Friday and Thursday, including a hefty $20.7 million on Thursday night alone.
The film stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, a woman piecing together her identity.
Annette Bening, Samuel L Jackson, Gemma Chan, Ben Mendelsohn and Lashana Lynch populate the supporting cast – alongside Goose the ‘cat’.
Post-credits scenes provide an explosive glimpse at a certain other Marvel blockbuster still to come.
Captain Marvel is out now.