Gee, didn’t see this one coming.
The latest Marvel Studios blockbuster Avengers: Infinity Warowned the global box office this weekend, dropping records left and right in the process. In North America, the super-sized superhero flick passed Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the biggest domestic opener of all time while the overall global amount left the previous record held by The Fate of the Furious in the dust.
In its first three days at 4,474 North America venues, Avengers: Infinity War commanded a superb $250 million. The 19thfilm from Marvel Studios is only the sixth film to open north of $200 million following The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jurassic World, the first Avengers movie and this year’s Black Panther. The opening for Infinity War accounted for 81% of business in the marketplace this weekend.
The daily box office breakdown was $39 million on Thursday night, $67 million from Friday, a record-setting $83 million on Saturday –Jurassic World held the previous record with $69.6 million- and Sunday business is being estimated at $61 million. Should Sunday’s approximation hold, it would beat the $60.6 million record set by The Force Awakens three years ago.
IMAX venues contributed $22.5 million of this weekend’s domestic gross, which of course set a record for a Marvel opening in the large screen format. However, this is one area where the film did not become the new king. The overall record for biggest IMAX venue opening still belongs to The Force Awakens with $30 million.
Internationally, Infinity War banked a massive $380 million. That massive gross was attained without the benefit of such lucrative markets such as China, Russia and Japan. The United Kingdom led the foreign box office charge with $42 million, followed closely by Korea ($39.2 million), Mexico ($25 million), Australia ($23 million) and Brazil ($19 million).
Reviews were solid for the first part of the big showdown between Marvel’s Finest and Intergalactic badass Thanos. Infinity War scored a solid 84% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, right between the 92% for the 2012 original and 75% for 2015’s Age of Ultron. The new Avengersepic also earned a 68/100 from Metacritic and a solid “A” from opening day viewers on CinemaScore, the same score they gave Age of Ultron (the first Avengers scored an “A+”).
Elsewhere on the chart…
Paramount’s A Quiet Place held its own against Thanos’ arrival, earning an estimated $10.6 million from 3,565 screens in its fourth weekend. Down 49% from the previous round, A Quiet Place has scared up a great $148 million so far and should finish close to $180 million. Internationally, the film has brought in $87.2 million so far.
STX Films’ I Feel Pretty was feeling 49% less attractive in its second round on 3,440 screens. The Amy Schumer comedy scored an estimated $8.1 million in third place to bring its ten-day total to $29.5 million. A final near $45 million is a possibility for the $32 million production.
Warner/New Line’s Rampagecrumbled a massive 65% in its third weekend on 3,508 screens to earn an estimated $7 million, good enough for fourth place. The new total for Rampage after three weeks is $78 million. If the film wants to become the latest Dwayne Johnson $100 million hit, it will need Jumanji-type stamina over the next few weeks in order to do so. Overseas, Rampage has earned $256.7 million.
While Infinity War inflicted damage on most films in the market, it helped fellow superhero flick Black Panther leap back up the chart from eighth to fifth place. Now in its eleventh week of release, Panther dipped a mere 11% to gross an estimated $4.3 million from 1,650 venues. The new domestic total for King T’Challa stands at an astounding $688 million. Could the film hit $700 million before it heads off into the home video sunset in mid-May? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it did.
- Super Troopers 2 (FoxS) $3.6 million (-76%); $22 million
- Truth or Dare (Universal) $3.2 million (-59%); $35.3 million
- Blockers (Universal) $2.9 million (-57%) $53.2 million
- Ready Player One (Warner) $2.4 million (-67%); $130.6 million
- Traffik (Lionsgate) $1.6 million (-59%); $6.7 million
Next weekend sees the arrival of Bad Samaritan, Tully and the remake of 1987’s Overboard. Of course, Infinity War will remain the most popular film at the box office. The question is how far the drop will be in its second weekend. Should it incur a drop similar to Ultron’s second round -60%- then it should see itself with a $100 million sophomore session.
