Box Office Recap: February 14-16, 2025
Captain America soars to No. 1 with $80+ million opening, while Chinese film Ne Zha 2 quietly shatters box office records.
With the Super Bowl hangover now out of the way, the box office received a much-needed major boost of +210.1% over the Valentine/President’s Day weekend, with the top ten films jumping from a combined gross of $46.47 million last weekend to $143.62 million. After two weekends atop the box office charts, Dog Man finally met its match in Captain America: Brave New World. The newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) opened with $80+ million domestically and nearly $200 million worldwide. Also opening was the family adventure comedy Paddington in Peru, the third film in the Paddington film series, which opened with $13 million domestically, and thanks to an earlier international release, has already surpassed $100 million worldwide. Elsewhere, the Chinese animated fantasy film Ne Zha 2 opened in North America with a respectable $7 million domestic opening, but the bigger story behind it is the number of box office records it’s been smashing from its international performance.
Winning first place, Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World debuted with $88.50 million domestically. The superhero film, which is the fourth installment in the MCU’s Captain America film series, opened in 4,105 theaters, averaging an impressive $21,559 per location. Overseas, Brave New World pulled in $92.40 million for a global cume of $180.90 million against a reported production budget of $180 million.
Despite landing comfortably within its $80-90 million pre-release projections, Brave New World’s response could be an area of concern for its continued performance. In addition to the mixed response from critics, the film received a lukewarm “B-” CinemaScore from moviegoers. This gives it the lowest CinemaScore for an MCU film, as well as being the MCU’s third lowest rated film on Rotten Tomatoes (50%), behind Eternals (47%) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (46%). While the rest of February appears to be competition free for Brave New World, it’ll be interesting to see if the middling response will affect the film’s attempt to hit its estimated break-even point of $450 million.
In the runner-up spot, Sony’s Paddington in Peru opened with $13.0 million domestically. The action adventure comedy, which stars Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Academy Award nominee Antonio Banderas and Academy Award winner Olivia Colman, debuted in 3,890 theaters, averaging $3,341 per location. In addition to positive critic reviews, the third entry in the Paddington film series received a near-perfect “A” CinemaScore from viewers. Internationally, the film had already been opened in select markets, beginning last November in the United Kingdom. To date, Paddington in Peru has grossed $115.80 overseas, pushing its worldwide total to $128.80 million against a reported production budget of $90 million.
Finishing in third, Sony’s Heart Eyes earned $10.0 million domestically, which brings its domestic total to $22.63 million against a reported production budget of $18 million. This marks a boost of +20.4% from its debut frame with a per-theater average of $3,223 at 3,102 locations, making it a rare exception of a film that actually performs better over its sophomore frame. As of now, no international earnings have been reported. However, Republic Pictures (through Paramount) began releasing the film in select international markets over this past Valentine’s Day weekend, so time will tell how much more distance the slasher horror comedy’s overseas run can add between its overall performance and production costs.
In fourth place, Universal and DreamWorks’s Dog Man earned $9.73 million domestically over its third weekend in release, pushing its total domestic run to $66.82 million. This marks a drop of only -29.5% from its prior frame, earning a per-theater average of $2,918 at 3,334 locations. Internationally, the animated action comedy earned $17.64 million for a global cume of $84.46 million against a reported production budget of $40 million.
Rounding out the top five, is a film that most Americans more than likely never even heard of, yet has already become the highest grossing film of 2025 and the tenth highest grossing film of all-time in only three weekends. China’s Ne Zha 2 debuted in North America with $7.20 million, opening in only 660 theaters and earning an impressive per-theater average of $10,909. Now, you might think that, despite the strong showings per theater, a $7 million opening is still concerning given the film’s reported $83 million production budget. That’s where the international earnings come in and truly show this film’s box office dominance. Overseas, the animated fantasy film has earned over $1.5 billion. Just in China alone, the film has already grossed $1.656 billion, a performance made all the more staggering in that its release in China was not that long ago on January 29. Altogether, Ne Zha 2 has grossed $1.657 billion worldwide.
Looking ahead, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the film is on pace to become the seventh film to gross $2 billion worldwide and the first animated film to do so. For now, though, it’s list of record setting accomplishments is already nothing short of incredible.
- No. 1 highest grossing Chinese film
- No. 1 highest grossing non-English language film
- No. 2 highest grossing animated film (behind Inside Out 2)
- No. 10 highest grossing film of all-time
- First film to surpass $1 billion in a single market (China)
- First non-Hollywood film to surpass $1 billion
- Third fastest film to gross $1 billion (behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame)
Opening this weekend, Neon will debut writer/director Osgood Perkins’s horror comedy The Monkey, which is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story; and Lionsgate will release their biographical drama The Unbreakable Boy, starring Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy and Patricia Heaton.
* Total estimated worldwide gross listed in parenthesis, new releases listed in bold.
1) Captain America: Brave New World – $88.50 million, Week 1 ($180.90 million)
2) Paddington in Peru – $13.0 million, Week 1 ($128.80 million)
3) Heart Eyes – $10.0 million, Week 2 ($22.63 million)
4) Dog Man – $9.73 million, Week 3 ($84.46 million)
5) Ne Zha 2 – $7.20 million, Week 1 ($1.657 billion)
6) Love Hurts – $4.37 million, Week 2 ($13.93 million)
7) Mufasa: The Lion King – $4.16 million, Week 9 ($687.37 million)
8) One of Them Days – $2.98 million, Week 5 ($44.01 million)
9) Companion – $1.87 million, Week 3 ($33.28 million)
10) Becoming Led Zeppelin – $1.82 million, Week 2 ($6.31 million)
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