By Chris Kavan - 04/28/19 at 09:36 PM CT
While there was no surprise to what film topped the box office, the big question of whether Avengers: Endgame was going to walk away with records was answered emphatically. Endgame just didn't break records, it washed over them like a Thanos-Snap sized tsunami - as both domestic and international records fell like dominoes. It's hard to foresee any film in the future (yes, that includes the next Star Wars film) bringing in anywhere close to these kind of numbers, so Endgame may remain the box office champ for quite some time. Bear with me, this is going to be a big write up this time.
1) AVENGERS: ENDGAME
The 22nd film in the MCU, and the one that tied the previous 21 together in epic fashion, opened to epic numbers. The film smashed pretty much every record it could with a $350 million domestic debut and $1.2 billion global opening (for comparison, Captain Marvel just hit $1.1 billion after 8 weeks in release). How many records did it break? Oh so many - and my thanks to Box Office Mojo for doing the heavy lifting here: Biggest Domestic Opening: $350 million, destroying the $297.69 million of Avengers: Infinity War. This includes: The Biggest Thursday Preview ($69 million), Biggest Friday ($156.7 million); Biggest Saturday ($109 million); Biggest Sunday ($84.3 million); Biggest Market Share of the Box Office (90%); Bigger per-Theater Average ($75,075 per theater); Fastest Film to hit $100, $150, $200, $250, $300, $350 million domestic and $1 billion global; Biggest International Opening ($869 million); Biggest Global Opening ($1.2 billion); Global 3D Opening Record ($540 million); Global IMAX Opening Record ($91.5 million). It opened 36% higher than Infinity War - better than the 35% jump between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 to Part 2. The film delivered the biggest opening in 44 international markets, including a massive $330.5 million in China alone. Most of the above-mentioned records were set either by Avengers: Infinity War or Star Wars: The Force Awakens. After just its opening weekend, it already ranks as the 18th largest film of all time and sixth largest worldwide release in the MCU. It's a foregone conclusion it will top the MCU in short order. About the only records in question is whether it will ultimately top Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($937 million domestic) and Avatar ($2.788 billion) in terms of total grosses. Otherwise, Avengers: Endgame should have a long, lucrative run ahead of it with the biggest competition coming in the form of Detective Pikachu on May 10th. Still, final numbers are up in the air at this point but it's going to be huge and these records are likely to stand for quite some time.
2)
CAPTAIN MARVEL
The MCU was happy to share the love as Captain Marvel dipped a minuscule 11.6% and jumped from 4th to 2nd place with $8.05 million, giving the film a new total of $413.5 million and a worldwide total of $1.1 billion. The film passed over the likes of Captain America: Civil War ($408 million), Iron Man 3 ($409 million) and Wonder Woman ($412.5 million) and now stands as the 9th biggest domestic superhero film of all time. It also ranks as the 24th best global total of all time as well (even if it did get beat by Endgame in its opening weekend). Even if this bump is short lived, Captain Marvel has a good shot at hitting $425 million domestic before it ends its run (likely a total Endgame will top by next weekend). Still, the MCU is dominating on all fronts right now and it's going to make 2019 a year to remember.
3)
THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA
While Captain Marvel is sitting pretty in second, the not-quite-a-Conjuring-but-actually-pretty-much-a-Conjuring-series film The Curse of La Llorona took a hefty 71.5% hit - much bigger than the typical Conjuring series film, but more in line with a typical horror movie, especially one that doesn't endear itself to critics or audiences. With $7.5 million over the weekend, La Llorona stands at $41.28 million. The film only carries a $9 million budget, so it's going to do fine in the long run - $50 million is guaranteed at this point at least - but hopefully The Conjuring universe rights the ship with the next Annabelle film and puts this in the rear-view. It also has $87 million global at this point and will cross $100 million to a total in the $120 million or so range.
4)
BREAKTHROUGH
The uplifting drama Breakthrough took a 44% hit, bringing in $6.3 million for a new $26.11 million total. For a faith-based film, that is still a solid total, though it's not going to challenge the most popular but hopefully means we get a few more feel-good faith-based films rather than shove-my-message-down-your-throat films in the future. But I have my doubts.
5)
SHAZAM!
No doubt the biggest casualty of Avengers: Endgame's monster opening - Shazam! took a 66.5% hit and dropped from second to fifth place with $5.5 million and a new total of $131.1 million. Now it remains to be seen if the DCEU's newest hero can limp to the $150 million mark in the face of such competition. The quite fun superhero romp has taken in $346.4 million globally and, with a $100 million budget, is going to turn out just fine in the long run.
For once, there isn't anything else to report - but Avengers: Endgame gave us plenty enough to be thankful for. Next week four movies will try to muscle in on Endgame: the animated UglyDolls, comedy Long Shot, thriller The Intruder as well as the wide expansion of crime/drama El Chicano.
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