EXCLUSIVE: Disney and Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* is off to a very good start with around $11M tonight we hear from non-Disney sources. Hopefully that translates to a bigger than expected opening to get summer start; Marvel having postponed their big pic to late July last year (Deadpool & Wolverine) due to the impact of the strikes.

Not only does the Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan movie and more have a solid start, but it’s also winning fans over tonight with a 96% Rotten Tomatoes audience score after its 88% certified fresh rating with critics. That’s better than the MCU’s Captain America: Brave New World from February (48% critics, 78% audience) which saw an $88.8M 3-day, $100M 4-day over the Valentines Day/President Days weekend which has translated to $200.2M stateside and $414.8M global take.

Tonight’s previews are roughly a million under Captain America: Brave New World’s $12M, they’re also ahead of 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings ($8.8M) and Eternals ($9.5M). The weekend projection yesterday for the ragtag superhero movie which is sort of a sequel to Disney+ series The Falcon and Winter Soldier and Hawkeye, as well as the movie Black Widow, was $70M-$75M stateside at 4,300 sites and $175M on the high end global. Thunderbolts* (not to be confused with Thundercats) has all the premium ticket upcharges in Imax, Dolby, ScreenX, 4DX, etc.

We told you in this past week’s previews that presales for Thunderbolts* remain behind Captain America: Brave New World, hence tonight brings a lot of hope. Presales for the Jake Schreier directed MCU title are ahead of 2021’s Shang Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings ($75.3M) and Eternals ($71.2M opening).

We’ll have more intel on Warner Bros’ Sinners‘ third weekend tomorrow, however, some rivals are estimating that the Ryan Coogler directed, Michael B. Jordan starring period vampire movie is headed to a 3-day of $35M, which would be a remarkable dip of -23%. Forecasts had Sinners easing -25% to -30% in its third weekend for $32M-$34.2M yesterday.