Captain America: Civil War notches fifth-best opening weekend ever

Captain America: Civil War came in with a smashing debut this past weekend, pulling in an estimated $181.79 million from Friday through Sunday — good for the fifth-highest domestic opening weekend of all time (without adjusting for inflation).

Although Civil War received better reviews than last year's Avengers: Age of Ultron, it came in slightly behind that film at the box office. Age of Ultron pulled in $191.27 million during its first weekend of release — about 5.2 percent more than Civil War did — for what remains the fourth-best U.S. opening weekend ever.

Disney and Marvel can't be too sad, however. The Marvel Cinematic Universe currently holds spots three through six on the list of highest all-time domestic opening weekends with The Avengers, Age of Ultron, Civil War and Iron Man 3, in that order. Civil War also did much better than its predecessor, 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which raked in $95.02 million during its opening weekend.

Plus, Civil War handily beat its nearest competitor this spring, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with a debut that was 9.5 percent higher than that film's $166 million opening weekend in March. Civil War is also expected to have better staying power than Batman v Superman, which fell off rather quickly after its undeniably strong opening.

It was a great weekend for Disney, which also claimed the No. 2 and No. 7 spots at the box office with The Jungle Book ($21.87 million) and Zootopia ($2.68 million).