‘Avengers: Endgame’ Obliterates Records With $1.2 Billion Global Debut
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – It’s truly the Avengers’ world. The opening weekend of “Avengers: Endgame” demolished box office records with a stunning $350 million in North America and $1.2 billion worldwide.
Disney-Marvel’s fourth and final Avengers superhero movie has captivated moviegoers, accounting for more than four of every five tickets sold domestically. “” topped the year-old “Avengers: Infinity War” records by nearly $100 million domestically and a jaw-dropping $560 million worldwide. China generated an astounding $329 million over its five-day launch weekend.
The film, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, has a star-studded cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper and Josh Brolin.
“Avengers: Endgame” is the 22nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which launched in 2008 with “Iron Man.” Those films have now eclipsed $19 billion in worldwide box office. Here’s a rundown of all the records “Endgame” will break or has already broken this weekend.
“‘Endgame’ represents the culmination of a decade long commitment of Marvel to the audience and the fans devotion to the beloved characters of the MCU,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “This massive and historic debut shows that by delivering consistently great movies coupled with characters inhabited by perhaps the most perfectly cast group of actors in cinematic history, Marvel has literally rewritten the rule book and in the process has made box office history.”
Critics have strongly supported “Avengers: Endgame” with a 96% score from Rotten Tomatoes — the second best ever earned by a Marvel release after “Black Panther” at 97%. ComScore/Screen Engine reported that 61% of this weekend’s North American audience bought their tickets online ahead of time. Disney opened the movie at 4,662 locations, another new record.3,3
“Avengers: Endgame” is providing a badly needed jolt to the North American box office, which for 2019 was down 16.7% to $2.94 billion as of April 24. As of Sunday, the gap had dropped to 13.3%, according to Comscore.
“The Avengers, by assembling the biggest movie debut in history, have proven that another of their superpowers is the ability to knock several percentage points off the year-to-date deficit,” Dergarabedian said. “‘Endgame’ has truly started the momentum rolling on potentially the biggest revenue generating summer (and year) in box office history.”
Imax reported that “Avengers: Endgame” broke its worldwide opening record with $91.5 million, 92% above previous record-holder “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
“Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios team have continued to challenge notions of what is possible at the movie theatre both in terms of storytelling and at the box office,” said Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn. “Though ‘Endgame’ is far from an end for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these first 22 films constitute a sprawling achievement, and this weekend’s monumental success is a testament to the world they’ve envisioned, the talent involved, and their collective passion, matched by the irrepressible enthusiasm of fans around the world.”
Disney-Marvel’s eighth weekend of Brie Larson’s “Captain Marvel” finished a very distant second with $8.1 million at 2,435 North American sites. Its 52-day domestic total has gone past $413 million.
Warner Bros.’ second weekend of horror-thriller “The Curse of La Llorona” came in third with $7.5 million at 3,372 sites, pushing the 10-day total past $41 million. “Llorona” won last weekend’s domestic box office with $26.3 million.
Fox’s faith-based drama “Breakthrough” finished fourth with $6.3 million at 2,913 venues in its second weekend, lifting its 10-day take to $26 million. Warner’s fourth weekend of “Shazam!” followed in fifth with $5.5 million at 3,631 sites, giving the superhero saga a domestic total of $131 million.
Universal’s third weekend of “Little” came in sixth with $3.4 million at 2,119 locations for a 17-day total of nearly $36 million. Disney’s fifth weekend of “Dumbo” followed with $3.2 million at 2,380 venues and crossed the $107 million mark.
A trio of titles were battling for the eighth spot, with Paramount’s fourth weekend of “Pet Sematary” leading with $1.3 million at 1,655 sites. Universal’s sixth frame of “Us” and Disney’s “Penguins” followed with $1.1 million each.
On the foreign front, “The Curse of La Llorona” was the second-leading title with $7.9 million — or less than 1% of “Avengers: Endgame,” with grossed $859 million — to lift its worldwide total to $87 million. “Dumbo” followed with $6.4 million internationally and has topped $220 million internationally and $327 million worldwide.
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