Everyone remembers when The Avengers was the first film to open above $200 million for a single weekend. Then last year, people were shocked again when Infinity War reclaimed the opening weekend record for Marvel with an unprecedented $257 million opening. But the MCU wasn't done there. They had their real big boy waiting in the wings. Avengers: Endgame successfully earned the white hot anticipation, and not only beat Infinity War's benchmark, but destroyed it. Endgame brought in about $100 million more on opening weekend, an unbelievable $357.1 million! That is an unheard-of number for just a short amount of time, and speaks as a testament to how much of a cultural touchstone Marvel's movie universe has become. Endgame opened in a record 4,662 theaters, and brought in a per-theater average of $76,601. That easily trumps Star Wars: The Force Awakens' $59,000 per-venue average for the biggest per-theater average (unadjusted for inflation) for a wide release's opening weekend.How crazy is Endgame's opening? The film was already past half of the MCU's films' entire runs by Sunday, ranking just behind Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2's $389 million final gross. It also beats out every DC film's entire runs, including Aquaman ($335 million) and Batman v. Superman ($330 million). It also already ranks in the Top 50 all-time highest-grossing movies domestically, just ahead of Inside Out's $347 million final gross.
The film shattered multiple records, including the largest Thursday preview gross ($60 million), largest opening day on record ($157.5 million), largest Saturday on record ($109.3 million), largest Sunday on record ($90.4 million), fastest movie to $100 million, $200 million, $300 million and $350 million. The film also managed to be the first film in history to earn over $1 billion in just an opening frame.
Endgame amassed $859 million internationally in just five days, including an insane $330 million in China alone. That just about doubled the previous biggest international opening, which was The Fate of the Furious' $443 million start. The worldwide start is $1.2 billion, which already ranks in the Top 20 biggest movies worldwide, and it's not even close to done yet.
Benefiting from strong reviews and a rare "A+" CinemaScore, Endgame will probably be more front-loaded than usual for typical Marvel movies. This is mostly because many fans rushed out to see it over the weekend, but there is the potential for repeat business from fans who want to see it more than once. Don't be surprised if it does drop hard in its second weekend, with maybe more stabilizing when it gets late into its' run. At this point, a domestic finish above $700 million seems very likely, with a great chance at taking out Avatar's $760 million stateside final gross for second place on the all-time list. I would not be surprised if it reached $800 million either (Star Wars: The Force Awakens currently has first place, unadjusted at $932 million stateside).
As for overseas, the film will probably also be front-loaded, but it will easily get above $1.5 billion overseas. At this point, a worldwide finish near $2.5 billion is pretty likely as well. That would get it past Infinity War ($2.04 billion) and The Force Awakens ($2.08 billion) for second place behind Avatar ($2.78 billion) on the all-time list. Of course, it could very well end up in first place if it gets repeat business in many countries. But May is looking pretty competitive, with Detective Pikachu likely to steal audiences in Asia and fellow Disney release Aladdin arriving shortly after. But, regardless if it does or not, its' still a massive success. Disney and Marvel projected a weekend debut above $250 million.
Endgame also crashed one more record, in that it took a record 90% of the weekend market share. It truly was an event film for a generation this weekend.
Disney and Marvel also took second place this weekend with Captain Marvel. Benefiting from fans wanting to catch up with it before Endgame (as well as double-features), their female superhero was off just 9% from last week to $8.3 million. In eight weeks of release, Carol and her crew have pulled in a strong $413.8 million stateside, which tops Wonder Woman's final gross ($412 million) domestically and gives Marvel bragging rights for female superheroes. Business from Endgame could continue to benefit this particular title in the coming weeks as summer kicks off.
Of course, most other films fell apart this weekend. After a strong start last week, The Curse of La Llarona plummeted 70% in its sophomore frame to $8 million. In 10 days, the Conjuring title has pulled in a very solid $41.8 million (against just a $9 million budget). Having one of the best holds of the list was the faith-based film Breakthrough (which Disney also had a hand in releasing). The feel-good drama was down 40% in its sophomore frame to $6.8 million. Since its' debut 12 days ago, the Chrissy Metz-starrer has earned a decent $26.6 million and will look to have stronger holds going forward.
Taking a direct hit from Marvel, DC's Shazam! fell 66% to $5.6 million. However, Warner Bros.' latest superhero flick has earned a solid $131.2 million in 24 days, along with almost $350 million worldwide. The film should manage better holds the next couple weeks before the brunt of summer releases takes away more of its screens. Meanwhile, Disney's remake of Dumbo continued to disappoint. The PG flick was off 47% in its fifth weekend to $3.5 million, for a disappointing $107.3 million gross in one month of release, with not too much further to go (its also almost at $350 million worldwide).
Basically tied with the baby elephant was Little, which had its teenage audience stolen by the superheroes. The Universal comedy fell 58% to $3.5 million, for a solid $35.9 million pick-up in 17 days. The PG-13 flick should end up close to $45 million stateside. In a distant eighth and ninth place, the two horror flicks had the weekend's worst drops. The Pet Sematary remake was down 73% to $1.3 million, for a fairly decent $52.6 million in 24 days. Meanwhile, Us fell 72% to $1.2 million. However, Jordan Peele's latest has still pulled in a strong $172.9 million in six weeks of release (and $250 million worldwide). It now looks like it might falljust short of Get Out's $177 million final gross, but I doubt Universal is worried.
Disney pulled off another record feat this weekend. They managed to have half of the films in the Top 10 this weekend, as their nature documentary Penguins jumped to 10th place. It didn't hold well, down 50% to $1.1 million. With a weak $5.8 million in 12 days, there's a reasonable chance this could be the final theatrical release for the Disneynature label (the studio announced their next film will be on the Disney+ service when it launches in November).
And that's about it. I will have reviews of Endgame and The Best of Enemies up by Thursday, along with a weekend predictions post for next week. Three more moderate releases debut (animated flick Uglydolls, thriller The Intruder and R-rated comedy Long Shot), but the superhero team-up will remain in first. Hope all is having a great week so far! :)
