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Avengers: Endgame Opening Weekend Box Office Could Reach $350 Million
Avengers: Endgame may earn as much as $350 million domestically in its opening weekend. More than a decade ago when Kevin Feige and company launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe (building its foundation on arguably second-tier comic book characters), a lot of people felt the master plan was overly ambitious. Never before had anything like this been attempted in the film industry, but Marvel swung for the fences. Back in 2012, The Avengers became a massive critical and commercial success, firmly establishing the MCU as one of the top franchises in the business.
Nowadays, Marvel is in a position where they virtually can do no wrong. Prior to Endgame opening, the 21 films in the franchise collectively grossed $18 billion worldwide, making international movie stars out of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel (among countless others). It all led up to Endgame, which was widely expected to rewrite the box office record books during its opening weekend. But even the rosiest optimist probably didn't see this coming.
According to Exhibitor Relations, Endgame earned a whopping $156.7 million domestically on its opening day. That far and away tops Star Wars: The Force Awakens' previous first day record of $119.1 million. Right now, Endgame is on pace to gross an unfathomable $350 million this weekend - a figure that would be nearly $100 million more than Infinity War's $257.6 million from last year.
In a single day, Endgame has outgrossed all but three movies released so far in 2019. As of this writing, it trails Captain Marvel ($408 million), Us ($172 million), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World ($159.5 million) on the charts, so it's only a matter of time before Endgame climbs up to second. It's also quite feasible Marvel's latest lands in the top 50 all-time domestically after one weekend, as $350 million would top the unadjusted total of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($342.5 million). It goes without saying that these figures are unlike anything in movie history and may stand for a very long time. Infinity War was a $2 billion blockbuster, and Endgame sold five times as many tickets on Fandango. The signs were there that this was going to be a massive event nobody wanted to miss out on.
As crazy as this sounds, it's not outside the realm of possibility Endgame makes $1 billion this weekend. The film is already at $643.7 million globally, and only the earnings up until Friday, April 26 have been accounted for. This illustrates the sheer magnitude of the MCU and how big it's become. Audiences have seen multiple bona fide cinematic events this decade (including the ballyhooed return of the Star Wars franchise), and none of them could come close to Endgame. It truly is the premier movie release of an entire generation and is something that will never be duplicated. Obviously, Endgame won't be the last MCU installment, but if it was, this would be a great note to go out on.
