Avengers: Endgame obliterates box office records
After only five days in release, Marvel’s mammoth event movie is knocking down every box office record in its mighty path.
The Marvel extravaganza Avengers: Endgame is storming the box office around the world, obliterating every record in its path — and by a considerable margin.
Endgame is the fastest movie to cross the $US1 billion ($A1.41 billion) threshold, taking in a mammoth $US1.2 billion ($A1.7 billion) in just five days around the world. The previous record holder, Avengers: Infinity War, did it in 11 days.
Endgame is now on track to topple the highest-grossing movie (not adjusted for inflation), Avatar, at $US2.7 billion.
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Since its release on Wednesday, the movie has taken in $44.34 million in Australia, which catapults it to number one on the yearly chart, overtaking its stablemate Captain Marvel, which was sitting at the top with $40 million.
Endgame broke the individual industry day records for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Australia.
It’s the highest ever opening locally, breaking the record set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, which clocked in $27.2 million.
Even though The Force Awakens was released on a Thursday, and Endgame opened on a Wednesday, if you took away Endgame’s record-breaking $10.29 million opening day, it would still be higher than The Force Awakens on a four-day comparison.
Endgame also broke the Australian record for presales having sold $18 million in tickets before its release.
Endgame’s $US1.2 billion global opening includes a $US350 million-plus ($A496 million) opening day in the US, besting former record holder Infinity War by almost $US100 million.
Endgame has proven especially popular in China where moviegoers bought $US330 million ($A486 million) worth of tickets since Wednesday.
Its $US859 million ($A1.2 billion) non-US takings broke the biggest international debut, surpassing The Fate of the Furious’ $US443 million ($A629 million).
The latest box office numbers put the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe’s total box office at close to $US20 billion ($A28.4 billion).
Endgame is one of the most expensive movies ever made with a budget estimated to be close to $US400 million ($A568 million) and another $US200 million ($A284 million) spent on marketing.
The culmination of 11 years of Marvel movies, Endgame is the 22nd film in the franchise and stars a cavalcade of A-list stars, including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin and Paul Rudd.
The movie is a direct sequel to Infinity War and features the MCU superheroes teaming up to reverse a catastrophic genocide by the villain, Thanos.
Not just a hit with fans, Endgame is also critically successful, sitting on a 96 per cent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Originally published as Avengers: Endgame obliterates box office records
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