We’re many things around these parts – geeks, pranksters, people who hate cheesecake because they thought it’s real cheddar cheese baked into cake (hey, Darryn!) – but what we’re not, are liars. So when we said that Avengers: Endgame was going to make ALL THE MONEY on its release, we weren’t telling no fibs, man!
In what is only fitting for arguably the biggest pop culture movie event of the decade, Avengers: Endgame blew away all the competition with a multiple record-shattering debut that beggars belief. Let’s start with the big one, as Endgame’s global tally for the weekend ended up on an unprecedented, history books-rewriting $1.2 billion! That is insane and completely destroys the $640.5 million record set by predecessor Avengers: Infinity War last year. It has to be noted though that Infinity War didn’t have a same-day release in China (more on that further down), but this is still a jaw-dropping achievement as it exceeds even the wildest early predictions.
As for the regional breakdown, Marvel’s domestic total clocked in at a massive $350 million, blowing past Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $305.5 million US debut in 2015. Outside of the US, it also left The Fate of the Furious’ previous record of $443 million (which did include China) far in the rearview mirror to claim the crown for the biggest international opening ever with a whopping $859 million.
Endgame’s record-breaking prowess doesn’t stop there as it was already rewriting the history books on Friday. The $156.7 million that it earned domestically (which includes the biggest Thursday previews ever), was the biggest single-day total, biggest Friday total, and biggest opening day total of all time. It was also the fastest a film had ever reached the $150 million mark in the US. Hell, its earnings on that one day was already enough to give it the 2nd-largest weekend opening for the year at the time. It’s now also the fastest film to ever hit $1 billion (five days, if you include the previews) and is already the 18th highest grossing film of all time in just one weekend.
Outside of the US, the biggest contributor to this achievement is China, the second biggest movie market on the planet. Endgame earned a massive $330.5 million from the Asian market, destroying the $191 million record set by Infinity War last year. Yesterday was a workday in China to compensate for the upcoming four-day week, so the numbers fell off a bit after a crazy start, but Endgame’s IMAX earnings in the Middle Kingdom from Friday alone ($28.2 million) already surpassed the $26.9 million Infinity War made from an entire week of IMAX screenings. Globally, it’s also claimed the crown of the biggest IMAX opening with $91.5 million, which is pertinent as this is only the second film shot entirely with IMAX cameras.
You can check out a list of all the records the movie has broken, but be warned it’s a long one. If Endgame keeps up this historic momentum – and really, there’s no indication of it slowing down – it should hit the $2 billion global mark easily by the time it’s done. Will it be the film to finally take the crown from Avatar and its $2.7 billion record though? Well, that’s a bit trickier as James Cameron’s sci-fi epic had the simply unheard of advantage that it was always playing somewhere in the world from its debut in December 2009 all the way to March 2011. To put it simply, that’s just cheating!
As for the rest of the weekend, as far-fetched as it may seem, there were actually other movies playing at the cinema. And one of them was another Marvel hit in Captain Marvel. Buoyed by the Marvel fever due to Endgame, Captain Marvel actually climbed back up the rankings in its 8th week on the charts. Most importantly, the $8 million it earned in the US was enough to push its domestic total over $413 million to have it surpass Wonder Woman as the biggest female-led comic book movie of all time. It’s also the second-biggest superhero origin movie of all time in the US behind Black Panther ($700 million).
Let’s see what the rest of the US box office chart looks like [AND PLEASE DON’T DISCUSS ANY SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW]:
| No. | Movie Name | Weekend gross | Percentage change | US Domestic gross | Worldwide gross | Last Week's Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avengers: Endgame | $350 million | NE | $350 million | $1.209 billion | NE |
| 2 | Captain Marvel | $8 million | -11% | $413.5 million | $1.110 billion | 4th |
| 3 | The Curse of La Llorona | $7.5 million | -71% | $41.2 million | $86.9 million | 1st |
| 4 | Breakthrough | $6.3 million | -44% | $26.1 million | $33.7 million | 3rd |
| 5 | Shazam! | $5.5 million | -66% | $131.1 million | $346.3 million | 2nd |
| 6 | Little | $3.4 million | -58% | $35.8 million | $42.4 million | 5th |
| 7 | Dumbo | $3.2 million | -51% | $107 million | $327.6 million | 6th |
| 8 | Pet Sematary | $1.2 million | -73% | $52.6 million | $102.3 million | 74th |
| 9 | Us | $4.81.1 million | -72% | $172.8 million | $249.4 million | 8th |
| 10 | Penguins | $1 million | -54% | $5.7 million | $5.7 million | 12th |
NE = New Entry
Last Updated: April 29, 2019
For the Emperor!
April 29, 2019 at 08:41
Engame was good. Really good. Had tears of laughter, and really tugged the emotions at other times. Really a good ride.
Kromas
April 29, 2019 at 09:05
Just had plain tears near the end but it was a big spectacle of epic proportions that only worked because of the 11 years of movies before it.
Still I feel like going to watch it again.
Admiral Chief Flammenwerfer
April 29, 2019 at 09:50
Same, really want to watch it again
Original Heretic
April 29, 2019 at 09:28
I contributed!!
For the Emperor!
April 29, 2019 at 09:58
On a side note, while I did like Captain Marvel, I feel it is riding the Endgame hype-wave to propel it further than it actually “deserves” on its own merit. Or it could be that combined with the groundwork that was laid by Wonder Woman, which in my opinion was a better movie than Captain Marvel
Magoo
April 29, 2019 at 10:26
Jinkies!