Summer has come early & it has brought Avengers: Infinity War. We all knew it would be big but the film smashed box office records this weekend and now we have a new opening weekend record in its wake.
Infinity War was estimated to have grossed $250 million over the weekend but the final numbers have rolled in and the film surged even higher with a gross of $258.2 million. This bests the previous record held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens which opened to $247.9 million in 2015. It honestly looked like the record was safe Thursday and Friday but Infinity War surged to a record-setting $83 million on Saturday and a reported record-breaking $69.2 million on Sunday which pushed it over the edge. The original record-holder for largest Saturday was Jurassic World with $69.6 million while The Force Awakens held the Sunday record, until now, with $60.5 million. Box office insiders noted that Disney under-estimated Black Panther’s $202 million opening by nearly $10 million on Sunday and they also under-estimated The Avenger’s performance by $7 million. They did the same thing with Age of Ultron by $3.6 million so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by the weekend surge given their history.
Internationally the superhero mash-up delivered an outstanding $382 million which brought its global total to $640.9 million, besting the previous record of $541.9 million set by The Fate of the Furious. It also did this without the big China box office boost as it doesn’t open there until May 11.
The film received a positive “A” CinemaScore so word of mouth is positive & Marvel is looking at another $600M+ grosser this year after the massive success of Black Panther.
Believe it or not, people saw other movies over the weekend and way back in second you’ll find A Quiet Place, which grossed an estimated $10.6 million. The film saw its largest decline since its huge opening of about 49.1% but that was due to the Infinity War rush. A Quiet Place has been profitable since its opening day weeks ago so all of this is extra coin at this point. The film has a domestic total of $148.1 million on a $17 million budget.
Maintaining its third place position for the second weekend in a row is I Feel Pretty, which grossed an estimated $8.1 million. I thought this would hold up better as it’s solid counterprogramming to Infinity War but it dropped a hefty 49.3%. The film has a domestic total of $29.5 million on a $32 million budget which will make this a minor hit for the studio if it can hold a bit better next week but Amy Schumer may need to do something drastically different to surprise us because her films seem to be consistently dwindling at the box office.
Dropping to fourth is Rampage with an estimated $7.1 million. Rampage was likely affected the most by Infinity War as it dropped a massive 64.6%. The film has grossed $77.9 million domestically and likely won’t hit the $100 million mark in the states but international numbers are saving this one. Worldwide the film has grossed $334.6 million on a $120 million budget.
Getting the Infinity War halo effect but in a much different way is Black Panther which rounds out the top five with an estimated $4.3 million. The film dropped a slim 11.2% and what’s even more amazing is that last week the film placed eighth on the chart so this jump is just another win for Marvel. If you would’ve told me Black Panther would be in the top five-weekend box office when Infinity War opened 11 weeks after its release, I’d call you crazy, but I guess the lesson here is to never under-estimate Marvel. The film has grossed $688 million to date and now the question at hand is if it has enough gas in the tank to crack $700 million? Again, don’t under-estimate Marvel.
Check out the full top ten results below:
- Avengers: Infinity War – $250 million (NEW)
- A Quiet Place – $10.6 million (-49.1%, $148.1 million)
- I Feel Pretty – $8.1 million (-49.3%, $29.5 million)
- Rampage – $7.1 million (-64.6%, $77.9 million)
- Black Panther – $4.3 million (-11.2%, $688 million)
- Super Troopers 2 – $3.6 million (-76.3%, $22 million)
- Truth or Dare – $3.2 million (-58.8%, $35.3 million)
- Blockers – $2.9 million (-56.9%, $53.2 million)
- Ready Player One – $2.4 million (-67.2%, $130.6 million)
- Traffik – $1.6 million (-58.9%, 6.7 million)
