Marvel

Captain Marvel is already flying up the box office charts after its first full day in theaters Friday.

The Brie Larson superhero film earned an estimated $61.4 million domestically, Disney announced Saturday, including the $20.7 million preview day on Thursday.

Of the 21 Marvel Cinematic Universe films released so far, Captain Marvel lands in seventh place as far as domestic opening day earnings. It trailed the three Avengers films, plus Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3. Disney is expecting three-day earnings of $145 to $155 million, the company said in a statement.

Thursday's showings gave the MCU its fifth biggest preview behind Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther and Captain America: Civil War.

Internationally, the film earned $34.3 million in China, the second-highest MCU opening there, trailing Avengers: Infinity War. It was also the second-highest MCU opening in Spain, again trailing Infinity War, and fourth-highest in the UK.

Ticket site Fandango has already noted that Captain Marvel is the site's top advance seller since Avengers: Infinity War in 2018.

Hollywood needs a superhero right about now. Box Office Mojo reports that overall domestic box office numbers are down 27 percent compared to last year at this time, and Captain Marvel is expected to outperform all other movie weekends so far in 2019.

Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as superhero Carol Danvers, and has been heavily promoted for its connection to the upcoming Avengers: Endgame, which in turns follows up 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.

Originally published March 7, 2019 and will be continually updated as box office numbers are reported.