Walt Disney Co.’s superhero epic “Avengers: Endgame” became the first movie to gross more than $1 billion in its debut at the world-wide box office.
Erich Schwartzel of The Wall Street Journal had the news:
The Marvel Studios blockbuster, powered by record-setting hauls in the U.S. and China, collected an estimated $1.2 billion in its first five days of release. An estimated $350 million of that total came from the U.S. and Canada, an amount that blew past the previous opening-weekend record set last year by “Avengers: Infinity War” by about $92 million.
Hollywood had expected “Endgame” to set a record, but the movie’s performance stretched the limit of what many studio executives thought was even possible in an opening weekend. Demand forced exhibitors to dedicate about half the nation’s screens to the superhero movie, with dozens of locations screening it round-the-clock and even 2 a.m. showtimes selling out.
Over the past 11 years, Marvel’s superheroes have reigned at the box office, a result of a strategy set by the studio in 2008 with the release of “Iron Man.” Interconnected story lines and characters—from Thor to Doctor Strange to Captain Marvel—have helped place Disney on an unprecedented winning streak at the box office. In just over a decade, Marvel’s success has prompted rival studios to hunt for their own franchises, provided a much-needed boon to a struggling exhibition industry and turned comic-book superheroes into one of America’s most popular exports.
Andrew Liptak of The Verge reported that the movie was helped by a strong China performance:
Notably, Endgame’s numbers are helped this time around by the Chinese box office, pulled in an estimated $329 million during its opening weekend. This wasn’t the case with last year’s Avengers: Infinity War — it premiered in China a couple of weeks later. Endgame also isn’t the only Disney film to join that club this year: Captain Marvel crossed the line earlier this month.
This success at the box office didn’t happen overnight — it’s an enormous payoff for Marvel’s superhero franchise, which kicked off 11 years ago with Iron Man. That film included an end-credits scene that opened up the possibility of the larger, interconnected universe which has since played out over 22 films. Avengers: Endgame is the fruit of a decade’s worth of labor for that larger story, building on the characters and stories that came with each film.
Sonaiya Kelley of the Los Angeles Times reported that the movie also had a Thursday record:
“Though ‘Endgame’ is far from an end for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these first 22 films constitute a sprawling achievement,” said Disney Chairman Alan Horn in a statement. “Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios team have continued to challenge notions of what is possible at the movie theater both in terms of storytelling and at the box office.”
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the time-altering film posted a record $60 million in Thursday previews and was screened in a record 4,662 theaters. It was extremely well received, with an A+ CinemaScore (the third MCU film to do so after “The Avengers” and “Black Panther”) and a 96% “fresh” score from review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. AMC set attendance records on Saturday with more than 2.6 million guests, with 19 locations operating for 24 hours from Thursday night through Sunday.
In a single weekend, “Endgame” outgrossed the entire domestic runs of 13 Marvel Cinematic Universe titles including “Iron Man,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
