After a solid month of speculating over which records AVENGERS: ENDGAME would or could break, it seems the movie is on track to smash every record on the book. After starting on a strong note by breaking the opening day record in China, ENDGAME has started its conquest on this side of the world by making a staggering $60 million from Thursday night previews, breaking the preview record of $57 million set by THE FORCE AWAKENS over three years ago.
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Comparing to a more recent example, last year’s AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – which went on to claim the largest opening weekend record ever at $257 million – opened to $39 million from Thursday night shows. At right about three hours long, analysts were having a hard time predicting if ENDGAME could hit those same highs, but clearly, none of that seemed to matter as audiences went along for the long, epic ride. This $60 million will contribute to the movie’s overall first-day total, and INFINITY WAR went on to make $105 million while FORCE AWAKENS has the record at $119 million.
Once tickets went on sale last month it became clear that ENDGAME was poised for box office greatness beyond what was expected, as websites crashed, and records held by movies like INFINITY WAR and THE FORCE AWAKENS were broken within hours. As a result, in recent days projections for the movie’s opening weekend have risen, with many pundits thinking the movie could open close to $300 million this weekend.
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This clearly bodes well for the success of the movie come the rest of the weekend, even though it’s hard to determine how much of the movie’s opening will account for frontloading. Audiences likely didn’t want to wait another minute to see how the events of INFINITY WAR were followed up, and that could explain why ENDGAME’s Thursday was so much higher than INFINITY WAR’s. However, should ENDGAME keep similar pacing to its predecessor it has a shot at beating the best opening day of all time, making that march to the best opening weekend all the easier.
We all knew the movie would open big, but already its surpassing expectations and crushing all the other records. It will be a big weekend for Marvel and the fans who are piling into the theaters, who are no doubt turning out en masse for this conclusion to the 11-year Infinity Saga. I'm amazed by how big this thing is going to be, and it proves these movies are unlike anything we've seen in the industry before.
AVENGERS: ENDGAME is in theaters now.