‘Infinity War’ opens with record $250M
A whole lot of superheroes added up to a whole lot of ticket sales. The superhero smorgasbord “Avengers: Infinity War” opened with predictable shock-andawe, earning $250 million in box office revenues over the weekend and edging past “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to set the highest opening weekend of all time.
“Infinity War,” which brings together some two dozen superheroes in the 10-year culmination of Marvel Studio’s “cinematic universe,” also set a new global opening record with $630 million even though it’s yet to open in China, the world’s second-largest movie market. It opens there May 11.
According to the Walt Disney Co.’s estimates Sunday, “Infinity War” overwhelmed the previous global best (“The Fate of the Furious” with $541.9 million) but narrowly topped “The Force Awakens” in North America. The “Star Wars” reboot debuted with $248 million in 2015, which would translate to about $260 million accounting for inflation.
But both intergalactic behemoths belong to Disney, which now owns nine of the top 10 opening weekends ever — six belonging to Marvel releases. That includes “Black Panther,” which has grossed $1.3 billion since opening in February and still managed to rank fifth at this weekend’s box office.
No new wide releases dared to compete with “Infinity War,” which played at 4,474 theaters in North America. In a very distant second place was John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place” with $10.7 million in its fourth week.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released today.
1. “Avengers: Infinity War”: $250 million
2. “A Quiet Place”: $10.7million
3. “I Feel Pretty”: $8.1million
4. “Rampage”: $7.1million
5. “Black Panther”: $4.4 million
6. “Super Troopers 2”: $3.6million
7. “Truth or Dare”: $3.2million
8. “Blockers”: $2.9 million
9. “Ready Player One”: $2.4 million
10. “Traffik”: $1.6 million