Records were broken and history was made this weekend, as Marvel’s culmination of their cinematic universe wound up with the biggest opening weekend in history – both domestically and worldwide. Clocking in a stunning $1.2 billion globally since its opening, Avengers: Endgame is already one of the highest grossing films of all time – and it’s only getting started.
Endgame shocked the world from the get-go with its record breaking pre-sales that broke nearly every online ticketing website on the internet, ultimately selling more than $140 million worth of tickets before the weekend had even begun. From there, the question remained of just how high it could go by the time all was said and done.
Not only is Avengers the first film to open to $300 million, it’s also the first film to open to $350 million, bulldozing two records that many thought wouldn’t be broken in this decade. Coincidentally, nearly every major box office milestone has been broken by a Marvel related film; Spider-Man was the first to $100 million back in 2002, Spider-Man 3 was the first to $150 million, 2012’s The Avengers was the first to $200 million, while Infinity War was the first to $250 million. By surpassing two of those milestones in one go, Endgame is a testament to just how massive and beloved the franchise has become over the past eleven years.
Perhaps the most impressive part of this massive opening was how much higher Endgame was than Infinity War; while Part 1 was a record-breaker at $257 million, Endgame was nearly 40% higher on opening weekend, which is a jump many sequels struggle to even comprehend. It didn’t hurt that Disney managed to make it the widest opening weekend on record, unleashing the film in a whopping 4,662 locations. That number is even more impressive considering it also managed the highest per-theater average for a wide release in history, even adjusting for inflation. The previous high was Return of the Jedi at roughly $65K (again, adjusted for inflation, and playing in only around 1,000 locations) while Endgame was at a stunning $75K.
Reportedly, several of the highest grossing locations were above $350K, mostly theaters in New York City which benefit from higher ticket pricing and more Premium locations. Speaking of which, Endgame also set records for IMAX ticket sales, which is hardly a surprise to anyone paying attention to Fandango; a simple look at the charts shows that basically any Premium theater (Dolby Cinema, RPX, IMAX etc.) with reserved seating was completely sold out through opening weekend.
From here, the question remains just how much more cash is left in store for Endgame. Without much in the way of meaningful competition, it seems like a foregone conclusion that it winds up above Avatar‘s domestic total of $760 million, though the $936 million tally for The Force Awakens isn’t as much of a sure thing; not to say it’s impossible, but a total in the $800-850 million range seems like a safe bet.
In second place, thanks to a horrible second weekend performance from The Curse of La Llorona, Marvel was able to hold both the top two positions at the box office, as Captain Marvel jumped from 4th place to second, down just 11% despite losing over 200 locations. The origin story has now clocked in over $413 million, and was presumably benefited by audiences doing double features, or simply checking it out one last time before seeing Endgame. Still, for any franchise to hold the two top spots at the box office in one weekend is nothing short of spectacular.
Last weekends winner, The Curse of La Llorona, was unsurprisingly vanquished in its second weekend. Down 72%, the paranormal horror thriller has clocked in just $41 million in ten days, despite opening over $26 million, making it one of the most front-loaded wide releases in recent memory. Don’t shed too many tears for Warner Brothers, though, as the $9 million production has already made nearly ten times its budget worldwide, so don’t be surprised if murmurs of a sequel hit the presses within the next week or two. As expected, Shazam took its biggest hit to date, down 66% to just $5.5 million. Not to kick it while its down, but it is rather stunning to think that its total domestic gross will wind up $10-15 million below what Endgame made in a day.
Of all the other films in wide release, many such as Pet Sematary, Us and Missing Link were in the 70-73% territory, mostly because they lost huge amounts of theaters to Endgame. In fact, the only title in the top 10 to drop less than 50% was last weekends Breakthrough, which was clearly appealing to a different demographic.
Check back next week to see how Endgame performs in its second weekend, as well as whether or not The Intruder and Long Shot can effectively work as counter programming for older audiences.
Bombs and Blockbusters 