Superheros win battles and the battle for box office records has just begun for “Avengers: Infinity War”. Since its release on Friday, the film soared passed predictions and expectations as “Infinity War” broke both the domestic opening-weekend box office record and the worldwide opening record.
Marvel’s newest superhero flick raked in an estimated total of $258.2 million at the US box office over the weekend, blasting past “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” by almost $11 million with the snap of a finger.
Hulk smash! And even though the green guy barely made an appearance in the movie, “Infinity War” smashes too! More records that is… The newest addition to the MCU franchise brought in $640.9 million worldwide over the weekend making it the highest grossing global opening of all time, beating out “Fate of the Furious” by almost $90 million.
The film was perfectly positioned to have an opening weekend of galactic proportions when you factor in the fact that the movie is 10 years in the making and the culmination of 18 films previously released by Marvel Studios, all tied together for this latest film against the galaxy’s biggest threat yet, the mad titan, Thanos.
“Marvel spent 10 years methodically and carefully creating a universe of characters, worlds and stories that all led to this and, in doing so, created an event unlike anything the business has ever seen,” said Dave Hollis, Disney’s distribution chief.
The tentpole cost close to $300 million to produce and the money has already been well worth it. Infinity War’s box-office box office win was helped by the biggest Saturday of all time in North America ($83m), as well as the biggest Sunday ($69m).
In 2009, Walt Disney Co. chief Bob Iger paid $4 billion to acquire Marvel Entertainment, even though many of the superhero characters in Marvel’s stable were unproven. Debuting with $207.4 million in 2012, the original “Avengers”, had the highest opening to date for a Marvel film.
“Avengers: Infinity War” will next set its sights on records like the fastest film to reach $1 billion and the highest gross ever. With opening box office numbers like this, it’s not hard to imagine this film sitting at number one as the highest grossing of all time, taking yet another record from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.
The film stars Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman, and Zoe Saldana just to name a few. They reunite two years after the events of “Captain America: Civil War” for “Infinity War,” which also stars Josh Brolin as Thanos, the intergalactic force bent on destruction. Joe and Anthony Russo directed the film which was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.