It’s official: Avengers: Infinity War just had the best opening weekend of any movie in all of time.
Alissa Wilkinson covered film and culture for Vox. Alissa is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.
In North America, the Marvel movie opened to more than $250 million, blowing past Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $247.9 million. When combined with $380 million at the foreign box office, that’s more than $630 million — the biggest opening of all time.
What’s more, the $380 million the movie made abroad is second only to Fate of the Furious, but there’s one big difference: Infinity War has not yet opened in China, while Fate did on its first weekend. It opens there on May 11.
That record-setting opening is impressive on its own, but even more so when you consider that Avengers: Infinity War is technically the 19th movie in the Marvel Studios franchise, if you count character-focused movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, and Black Panther.
In fact, combining those franchises may have boosted its appeal for various audiences — main characters from all three of those movies appear in Infinity War, along with Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, and the various Avengers. (The credits for Infinity War, which seem to include every movie star on the planet, in fact verge on the absurd.)
But just because a movie combines superheroes — even beloved ones — doesn’t guarantee success. Warner Bros.’ Justice League, which opened last November, included Wonder Woman, who headlined her own record-breaking film earlier in the summer. But Infinity War has already crushed that film’s entire North American box office haul (about $229 million) — in its first weekend — and will almost certainly crush Justice League’s entire worldwide haul (about $658 million) when it opens in China next weekend.
A few other things likely propelled the movie toward its massive opening. Infinity War is in many ways the movie that the whole series has been driving toward for the past 10 years, since the release of Iron Man in 2008. The main Avengers series has always performed well with audiences. The most recent installment in the MCU, Black Panther, has been busting box office records since its debut 11 weekends ago, leaving a positive impression in audiences’ minds. And while it didn’t garner raves from critics on the whole, Infinity War’s pre-release buzz was still positive, by and large.
Black Panther continues to do well, making $4.6 million over the weekend to add to its huge $688 million domestic haul and more than $1.3 billion worldwide. It’s the first time since The Incredible Hulk opened in 2008 that two MCU films have been in theaters on the same weekend.
Marvel’s films have now collectively grossed $15 billion worldwide and show no signs of slowing down, even in the face of ongoing speculation about “superhero fatigue.” And Infinity War’s wild ending sets the stakes even higher for the next Avengers installment, as well as upcoming films like Captain Marvel. For now, at least, the Marvel juggernaut looks unbeatable.
Note: A previous version of this article stated that Black Panther had made $688 million worldwide. It has made $688 million in North America.
By Alex Abad-Santos
By Alex Abad-Santos
