NEW YORK- It’s truly the Avengers’ world. “Avengers: Endgame” has obliterated the record for biggest opening weekend with an estimated $350 million in North America and $1.2 billion worldwide.
The Marvel Studios superhero blockbuster far exceeded even its own mighty expectations. The movie’s domestic haul tops the previous record of $257.7 million, set last year by “Avengers: Infinity War.”
“Endgame” was just as big overseas. Worldwide, it shattered the previous record of $640.5 million, also set by “Infinity War.” (“Infinity War” didn’t open in China, the world’s second-largest movie market, until two weeks after its debut.) “Endgame” set a new weekend record in China, too, where it made $330.5 million.
In one fell plunge, “Endgame” has already made more than movies like “Skyfall,” ″Aquaman” and “The Dark Knight Rises” grossed in their entire runs, not accounting for inflation.
Alan Horn, Disney chairman, credited Marvel Studios and its president, Kevin Feige, for challenging “notions of what is possible at the movie theatre.”
To accommodate demand, the Walt Disney Co. released “Endgame” in more theatres than any opening before. Advance ticketing services set new records. And some theatres even stayed open 72 hours straight.
“We’ve got some really tired staff,” said John Fithian, president and chief executive of the National Association of Theater Owners. “I talked to an exhibitor in Kansas who said, ‘I’ve never sold out a 7 a.m. show on Saturday morning before,’ and they were doing it all across their circuit.”
Not working in the film’s favour was its lengthy running time: 181 minutes. But theatres kept added thousands of showings for “Endgame” to get it on more screens than any movie before to satiate the frenzy around “Endgame.” Joe and Anthony Russo’s film ties together the “Avengers” storyline as well as the previous 21 releases of the Marvel “cinematic universe,” begun with 2008′s “Iron Man.”
For an industry dogged by uncertainty over the growing role of streaming, the weekend was a mammoth display of the movie theatre’s lucrative potency. Fithian called it possibly “the most significant moment in the modern history of the movie business.”
“We’re looking at more than 30 million American and more than 100 million global guests that experienced ‘Endgame’ on the big screen in one weekend,” Fithian said. “The numbers are just staggering.”
Further boosting the results for “Endgame” were good reviews; it currently ranks as 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the best rating for any Marvel movie aside from “Black Panther.” Audiences gave the film an A-plus CinemaScore.
Single-handedly, “Endgame” led the overall weekend at the domestic box office to a record $400 million in ticket sales, according to Comscore. “Endgame” accounted for a staggering 88% of those tickets. The film’s grosses were aided by 3-D screenings (a record $540 million in global ticket sales) and IMAX screenings (a company record $91.5 million).
The cast of “Avengers: End Game” includes Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo.
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