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Avengers: Endgame Breaks Force Awakens' Opening Night Box Office Record
Avengers: Endgame has set its first box office record domestically, as it broke Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opening night sales with $60 million. The excitement for Marvel Studios' 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe cannot be understated. As the culmination of the last 11 years of storytelling, Avengers: Endgame has been at the forefront of the minds of many ever since Avengers: Infinity War ended with Thanos snapping his fingers.
The anticipation for Avengers: Endgame was seen well before the reactions and reviews indicated that the movie lived up to the hype. Box office predictions for the latest directorial effort from Anthony and Joe Russo began calling for the biggest opening weekend of all time before tickets even went on sale. Once they did, the rush to buy them saw ticketing services crash around the world. This buzz has continued as box office tracking reports indicated Avengers: Endgame will likely have the biggest worldwide opening weekend of all-time, as well as domestically.
After just one night in U.S. theaters, Avengers: Endgame is on track to do just that. According to THR, Avengers: Endgame earned $60 million in Thursday night preview showings. This is an all-time record, surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens' $57M opening day in 2015. This performance becomes all the more impressive since Avengers: Infinity War - which had the biggest opening weekend domestically in history - earned only $38M in previews.
With this record-setting opening night, Avengers: Endgame is well on its way to claiming a few other records this weekend. It has a great shot at now dethroning Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opening day gross (which combines the Thursday night previews and Friday box office) of $119M. And, as long as the interest in the film continues to stay high throughout the weekend as fans see it for the first time or go back for additional viewings, then Avengers: Endgame is expected to earn anywhere between $270-$300M in its three-day opening weekend, which would be a new record.
The appeal of Avengers: Endgame is worldwide, though, and has already seen the film break several records internationally. After earning $169M in its first day overseas, the box office now stands at $305M internationally in just two days. With the domestic preview numbers added in, Avengers: Endgame has already made roughly $365M, which is more than The Incredible Hulk made in its entire theatrical run. It won't take much longer for Avengers: Endgame to continue moving up the MCU's box office charts, and it is already looking like it will become the highest grossing one of them all when everything is said and done.
