'Avengers: Infinity War' Breaks 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens All-Time Box Office Record

It looks like Marvel Studios did the impossible. Not only did they combine 10 year’s worth of characters and storylines into one film, but the film has conquered a record that many thought was out of its reach. “Avengers: Infinity War,” is now the owner of the best opening weekend of all time.

Weekend estimates give ‘Infinity War’ a 3-day opening of $250 million. That number beats the previous record of $247.96 million held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”  (Update: Actuals have come in and the figures look closer to $258 million). However, don’t underestimate just how massive this opening is for ‘Infinity War.’ When ‘The Force Awakens’ shattered the opening weekend record back in 2015, many believed that its opening would never be beaten. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was a sequel over three decades in the making, a supposedly once-in-a-lifetime event.

However, Marvel Studios gave fans a film they’ve been clamoring to see for a decade. Featuring just about every character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the two-and-a-half hour epic paid off storylines that have been set up over the previous 18 films. That was no easy feat, and judging by the ‘A’ CinemaScore, it looks like fans are happy with what Marvel presented.

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Throughout the weekend, the Marvel film impressed. While the $39 million Thursday night “previews” wasn’t a record, it was still the best Thursday night for a Marvel film. The Friday total of $106 million (which includes the Thursday night total) was the second-best single-day in box office history. But it was Saturday when the film really started to show its power. The Saturday total of $83 million easily beat the previous Saturday record of $69.6 million (“Jurassic World”). Then, the Sunday estimate of $61 million, barely beat the previous record of $60.5 million (‘The Force Awakens’). We can expect more records to fall in the coming weeks.

Ultimately, unlike even ‘The Force Awakens,’ which had a massive first day, ‘Infinity War’ is showing signs of incredible word-of-mouth and great legs over the weekend. This means that the next three weeks are going to be huge for Marvel Studios, as the film pretty much has zero competition until “Deadpool 2” on May 18.

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But it’s when you look at the global picture, that the numbers start to really get ludicrous.

Estimates show that “Avengers: Infinity War” had a $630 million weekend globally. That number demolished the previous record of $541.9 million set last year by “The Fate of the Furious.” However, to really understand the record-beating showing by ‘Avengers,’ you have to take into account that the Marvel Studios film hasn’t even opened in two of the biggest overseas markets – China and Russia. If it had opened all over the world, which is what “The Fate of the Furious” did, then you’d probably be looking at something well over $700 million. It’s just unbelievable.

Honestly, there’s no other way to say it other than to say that “Avengers: Infinity War” has set such a huge bar for opening weekends that it’s hard to imagine another film even coming close to these numbers again. Perhaps, ‘Avengers 4’ could get there, but as we’ve seen with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” you can’t replicate that special feeling so close together. However, if we’ve learned anything about Marvel Studios after the first half of 2018, it’s that you can never really underestimate how dominating they are going to be at the box office.

Now, the real question is, how big will the film be long-term? Unlike ‘The Force Awakens,’ which had a holiday season of dominance, ‘Infinity War’ has some real competition ahead. It’s definitely not going to reach the domestic totals of ‘The Force Awakens,’ but it does have a shot at “Black Panther.” The barometer for the film’s long-term success will definitely be next weekend. If it can have a stronghold, then the sky’s the limit.

READ MORE: Let’s Talk About The End Of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ & Its Potential Reneging MCU Implications

Speaking of “Black Panther,” the Ryan Coogler film saw an amazing 11th weekend, where the film jumped from the #8 spot all the way to #5, with a total of $4.4 million. That means that Marvel Studios had 2 films in the Top 5. Never has a franchise been able to do that. The $4.4 million gives ‘Panther’ an 11-week domestic total of $688 million.

The rest of the top 10 is less-than-stellar, as to be expected. #2 went to previous week’s champ, “A Quiet Place,” with $10.65 million, with its largest weekend-to-weekend drop to date of -49%. Sadly, for the rest of the films, ‘Infinity War’ just sucked all the life out of the weekend. The film hit hardest was one of the surprises from last weekend. “Super Troopers 2,” which beat all opening weekend estimates, saw a -76% drop in its second frame, with a $3.6 million weekend. However, the studio can’t be too upset, as the film is still going to turn a profit after everything is all said and done.

Next weekend sees the release of a few films, but none are expected to have massive openings, as ‘Infinity War’ tries to add more records. “Tully,” “Overboard,” and “Bad Samaritan” are all opening in less than 2,000 theaters.

Here’s the rest of the Top 10 for April 27 – 29.

1. Avengers: Infinity War — $258M (Debut)
2. A Quiet Place — $10.65M ($148M Overall)
3. I Feel Pretty — $8.1M ($29.6M)
4. Rampage — $7.1M ($77.9M)
5. Black Panther — $4.4M ($688M)
6. Super Troopers 2 — $3.6M ($22.1M)
7. Truth or Dare — $3.2M ($35.3M)
8. Blockers — $2.9M ($53.2M)
9. Ready Player One — $2.4M ($130M)
10. Traffik — $1.6M ($6.75M)