"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is opening Friday and is expected to have a huge box-office weekend. Not only should it have the largest box-office opening weekend for an April release but also of 2014 so far.
Currently, "The Winter Soldier" is commanding 82% of the Fandango's advanced weekend ticket sales. That's ahead of advanced tickets sales for "Thor: The Dark World" at the same point.
That sequel brought in $85.7 million opening weekend last November.
The film is also out-pacing ticket pre-sales of the fifth “Fast & Furious” movie, 2011’s “Fast Five” which debuted to $86.2 million.
Estimates are placing "The Winter Soldier" anywhere from $90-$97 million this weekend.
Fandango's Chief Correspondent Dave Karger tells Business Insider fan's anticipation of next summer's "Avengers" sequel is one reason the movie is already selling like a summer hit.
"This movie is the closest thing that we're going to get to an Avengers film all year and the Marvel fans know that," says Karger.
Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow is another driving force behind strong ticket sales.
"Scarlett is a huge factor in the early success of this film," says Karger. "She has a huge fanbase, and early reviews have really trumpeted her position in the movie as a strong female co-lead."
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" opened up in Europe a week ahead of its US release and has already made $75.2 million overseas.
Here are the numbers to beat this weekend for April openings:
| Movie | Studio | Opening Weekend | Release Date |
| "Fast Five" | Universal | $86.2 million | 4/29/2011 |
| "Fast and Furious" | Universal | $70.9 million | 4/3/2009 |
| "Clash of the Titans" | Warner Bros. | $61.2 million | 4/2/2011 |
Here are the largest worldwide 2014 box-office openings:
| Movie | Studio | Opening Weekend | Release Date |
| "The LEGO Movie" | Warner Bros. | $69 million | 2/7 |
| "Divergent" | Lionsgate/Summit | $54.6 million | 3/21 |
SEE ALSO: The 'Captain America' sequel is one of the best Marvel movies ever made
