Avengers: Infinity War Box Office is Fastest to $1 Billion

Avengers: Infinity War marks the 10th anniversary for Marvel Studios’ MCU, as well as the supposedly “most ambitious crossover event in history” (clearly someone on the film’s hype machine hadn’t heard of the Allied Powers in WWII). And by all accounts, the build-up has been more than worth it for joyous Marvel fans… not tomention Disney’s accountants. Indeed, following an opening weekend of $257.7 million, Avengers: Infinity War had another nine-figure weekend, earning $112.4 million this weekend. For context, that is more in its second North American weekend than Justice League in its first. So as last year blew past Disney’s own Star Wars: The Force Awakens for opening weekend record, this weekend saw an even more daunting feat as Infinity War crossed $1 billion by the end of this weekend–making it the fastest film to ever reach the elusive blockbuster milestone, as it’s only been 11 days since the film’s global premiere.

For more context, its current 1.17 billion cume is higher than the entire box office runs of other successful superhero and franchise films, including Captain America: Civil War ($1.2 billion), Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($1.12 billion), Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ($1.119 billion), and Skyfall ($1.108 billion). In fact, the only superhero movies ahead of it in its genre are the two other Avengers movies and Black Panther, all of which look passable.

This is a major coup worthy of bragging rights by Disney’s superhero vertical, which has become the arguable star of box office and blockbuster entertainment in North America and Asia ever since 2012’s The Avengers also took this record by being the first movie to cross the $200 million-line in its opening weekend ($207.5 million to be more specific). That number has since been surpassed by Jurassic World and both of Disney’s “numeral” Star Wars movies (The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi). However, unlike the Star Wars saga, Marvel’s films have the benefit of playing very well in some foreign markets, like China, who have rarely warmed to the universe created by George Lucas.

In contrast, Avengers: Infinity War’s global cume is even more impressive considering it is estimated to have opened to a tune of $640 million during the opening weekend, breaking the previous record holder, last year’s The Fate of the Furious, which saw a gross of $543 million in its global opening. Of that intake, $380 million was earned in non-North American countries. But what is especially eyebrow raising is the fact that the biggest non-American market, China, has yet to see Avengers: Infinity War open. So its seeming quest to gross “all the money in the world” is off to a hefty start.

These numbers follow another finely tuned marketing campaign by Disney, which had the benefit of good reviews and good audience WOM from all previous MCU mvoies. Additionally, the marketing sold Avengers: Infinity War as “the beginning of the end” of the Avengers franchise, which could arguably be misleading but still certainly did prepare audiences for a rather hard-hitting MCU superhero brawl. Of course a direct sequel is due out in roughly the same frame next spring, however the final Infinity War film did feel like the end of things as we know it. And audiences and critics largely agreed, as the film received a favorable Rotten Tomatoes score (currently sitting at 84 percent) and an “A” CinemaScore, which gauges audience word of mouth.

What might be interesting to see is how it compares to this year’s other major box office success story, Marvel’s Black Panther. While Black Panther opened smaller than Infinity War at $202 million, it also had euphoric WOM (an “A+” CinemaScore) and a long, leggy run in North America. So far it has grossed $688 million at the North American box office (the highest number achieved by any superhero movie), which means it’s had a multiplier of about 3.4x—an unusually robust run for a modern blockbuster. Hence the curiosity around whether Infinity War can catch it in America, because despite its higher opening, it is also a heavier, darker film with a longer running time (which means fewer screenings in a day). And it also will see perhaps fiercer competition when Fox’s Deadpool 2 opens in three weeks.

But it’s really all moot, because at the moment, it seems like everything is coming up Marvel.