A big Thursday opening for ‘Avengers’ sets the stage for a record weekend
Faster than the Milano on its way to Xandar with Korath the Pursuer hot on its trail, “Avengers: Endgame” took in a domestic record of $60 million in Thursday night preview shows, setting the picture up for what many predict will be an all-time high opening this weekend.
“Endgame” has already set a $107 million record for single day ticket sales in China, where it opened Wednesday. Previews began Thursday at 6 p.m. in the U.S. and Canada. The film spreads to 4,662 theater screens Friday, another industry record.
Outside the U.S. and Canada, the film has grossed about $305 million in its first two days.
The film, the latest installment from Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel studio, caps a 22-movie storyline that began with “Iron Man” in 2008. The Avengers superheroes, including Captain America, Hulk and Black Widow, are now battling the intergalactic villain Thanos, who was last seen wiping out half the living creatures in the universe.
Estimates for the weekend grosses in North America run as high as $300 million, according to BoxOfficePro and BoxOffice Mojo. Exhibitor Relations puts the three-day number at $295 million, while the Hollywood Stock Exchange predicts $292 million.
Anything above $258 million will set the record, one established just last year by Marvel’s earlier installment: “Avengers: Infinity War.”
“ ‘Endgame’ is the culmination of an entire universe of films,” said Exhibitor Relations’ Jeff Bock. “It’s the bookend to an anthology unlike anything cinema has ever seen, and because of its predecessors’ critical and financial success, the only thing shocking would be if ‘Endgame’ didn’t turn the record books into dust.”
“Endgame” has already achieved status as a pop-culture moment, with theaters running marathon screenings of the 21 previous movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Websites like IGN.com are even suggesting the best times to use the bathroom during the new film’s 3-hour-plus running time.
Critics have generally praised the picture, which earned a stellar 96 percent aggregate approval rating from reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes.
“A film that should feel overlong and overstuffed rings purposeful, weighted with existential truth even as it flashes before our eyes,” the Chicago Reader’s Leah Pickett wrote in her review.
Next comes speculation of what other records “Endgame” might break. With this kind of juice, there’s every reason to believe it will challenge the $2.07 billion worldwide gross of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” set in 2015. Only two other films in Hollywood history have taken in more: “Avatar” in 2009 and “Titanic,” released in 1997.
One thing is clear: The Marvel machine has been a huge moneymaker for Disney. Last year’s “Infinity War,” for example, earned an estimated $985 million in profit, including TV, toys and theater ticket sales, according to estimates from Kagan, S&P Global Intelligence.