Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese recently expressed his distaste for Hollywood's "repulsive" obsession with box office results. To him, whittling a movie's value down to its profit inherently "belittles" cinema. Though there may be some merit to what he's saying, opening weekend box office numbers are more or less essential to determining a movie's overall success. Per Filmmaking Lifestyle, how well a movie performs in it's opening week is a good sign for how well it will ultimately do: indeed, it's estimated that "most films will make up 75% of their total gross within that one week.”

One franchise that pretty much excels at out-grossing its competition is the MCU. Particularly during the last few years, which saw a pandemic-related shift in how cinema-going habits, the MCU has reigned supreme at the box office, due to its dedicated fanbase, the continuity of its overarching narrative, and the sheer scale and spectacle of its titles. With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releasing in November 2022, MCU Phase 4 has officially come to a close, so now's a great time to look back and see how each movie ranks, according to opening weekend box office gross.

7 Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) — $139M

Shang-Chi movie
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

It's kind of a surprise to see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in the last spot, but given the time of its release, it only makes sense. Released on September 3, 2021, which happened to be Labor Day Weekend in North America — a cinematic black hole (via Collider) — the movie completely turned it out around by earning $139 million in its opening weekend. In doing so, it beat the 14-year-old record held by Rob Zombie's Halloween. The introduction of a new Asian superhero took the world by storm, receiving praise left and right for its action sequences, depiction of Asian culture, the three-dimensional characters, and Destin Cretton's direction. It's almost as if people were reluctant to go see the film in theaters upon its release, but once positive word got around, the box office gross kept doubling.

Related: Biggest Thanksgiving Weekend Movies at the Box Office, Ranked

6 Eternals (2021) — $161.7M

eternals-chloe-zhao
Marvel Studios / Disney

Phase Four was full of introductions to new superheroes, and in Eternals, there was an abundance of it. Chloé Zhao's film introduced us to ten new superheroes, all with distinctive powers and personalities, who have emerged from hiding after thousands of years to protect the Earth from Deviants. Despite the battering in reviews, the ticket pre-orders still managed to outperform Shang-Chi prior to its release. Eternals eventually grossed $161.7 million at the worldwide box office during its opening weekend. It went to conquer the second box office weekend and break $300 million at the global box office.

5 Black Widow (2021) — $215M

black widow main
Marvel Studios

It was a lot trickier with Cate Shortland's Black Widow, as it was released during COVID-19's peak. July 2021 wasn't exactly yet the time when most people were eager to get back to cinemas. Disney feared it would impact the numbers, hence why they decided to release the film simultaneously in theaters and through Disney+ with Premier Access. After the many delays due to the pandemic, the Natasha Romanoff story dominated both Doctor Strange and Spider-Man: Homecoming in ticket pre-sales. The long-awaited movie topped its opening weekend box office with $215 million. It then slumped completely in week two, for which Disney's immediate release of the film on streaming platforms — and piracy — was to blame.

4 Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) — $303.2M

Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder struggled to impress critics right from the beginning. However, that didn't stop it from projecting $300 million during opening weekend, and eventually grossing $303.2 million at the global box office. The film focuses on Thor as he tries finding peace in his life, but is forced to recruit a team once again to stop Gorr the God Butcher from eliminating all Gods. The intriguing plot didn't help much in the end: as time went by, it became the lowest-rated Thor movie on Rotten Tomatoes, falling behind even Thor: The Dark World.

Related: These MCU Movies Had the Best Opening Weekends at the Box Office

3 Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (2022) — $450M

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Marvel Studios

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was projected to have a huge opening weekend one month prior to its release. Fans had been waiting for a second Doctor Strange film for over six years, the longest stretch of time between an MCU movie and its sequel. This time, the movie focuses on Strange protecting America Chavez, who can travel through the Multiverse, from Wanda Maximoff. Fans were pretty excited as it had the highest ticket pre-sale of 2022, and it obliterated the weekend box office, earning $450 million globally. It ended up conjuring $955 million, making it 2022's highest-grossing MCU movie (so far, at least).

2 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) — $550M

Letitia Wright as Shuri in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The final addition to Phase Four, Ryan Coogler's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was released just last month and is still playing in theaters. The plot focuses on the leaders of Wakanda as they fight to protect their homeland in the wake of King T'Challa's death. Considering the success of Black Panther in 2018, Wakanda Forever was naturally projected to have a huge opening weekend, and the projections surely weren't wrong, as it pulled $550 million at the global box office. It's slowly starting to break records, such as becoming the highest-grossing November opening weekend ever, and still remains at the top of the box office.

1 Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) — $601M

Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Sony Pictures Releasing

It's probably no surprise that Spider-Man: No Way Home takes the number one spot. Given the craze it caused due to the quality and the reintroduction of other Spider-Man heroes and all the villains in the franchise, it's only natural it made $601 million in its opening weekend at the global box office. The ticket sales alone broke the internet before its release. No Way Home quickly became the biggest movie of the year; its release being in December 2021 only intensified the record. It also became the first movie since 2019 to cross $1 billion at the box office.