'Avengers: Infinity War' Crossing $1B at the Box Office in Record Time

Movies


Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War is crossing $1 billion at the worldwide box office faster than any film in history.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the superhero mashup will achieve the milestone Friday night or early Saturday, its 10th and 11th day in release, respectively. That supplants the 12 days it took for fellow Disney title Star Wars: The Force Awakens to join the billion-dollar club. (The clock begins on the day a film opens overseas, which, in the case of Infinity War, was April 25.)

Infinity War finished Thursday with a worldwide total of $905.1 million, including $338.4 million in North America, where last weekend it eclipsed the December 2015 launch of Lucasfilm’s Force Awakens ($248 million) to score the top domestic opening of all time with $257.8 million. 

The film’s international total of $556.7 million through Thursday is all the more impressive for the fact that it doesn’t set sail in China until May 11. It debuted in Russia on Thursday to $4.9 million, the biggest opening day of all time there.

Infinity War becomes the 34th movie to cross $1 billion at the global box office, not accounting for inflation. The Disney empire lays claim to 17 of those titles, including six Marvel films (The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Panther, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War).

Topping the list overall is Fox’s Avatar ($2.788 billion), Paramount/Fox’s Titanic ($2.187 billion) and Disney/Lucasfilm’s Force Awakens ($2.068 billion). They are the only three films that have earned north of $2 billion, and all three were released over the year-end holidays. Universal’s Jurassic World ($1.671 billion) and The Avengers ($1.518 billion), both released in summer like Infinity War, round out the top five.

Avengers: Infinity War has already outperformed a slew of superhero films. On Thursday, it surpassed the entire worldwide run of Spider-Man 3 ($890.9 million), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880.2 million), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($873.6 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($863.8 million).

That’s after passing up Thor: Ragnarok ($854 million), Wonder Woman ($822 million) and Spider-Man ($822 million) on Wednesday, and Deadpool ($783 million), Guardians of the Galaxy ($773 million), The Amazing Spider-Man ($758 million), X-Men: Days of Future Past ($748 million) and Suicide Squad ($747 million) on Tuesday.

The other major Hollywood studios continue to hold off unfurling their big summer pics because of Infinity War. Instead, a trio of smaller films brave the waters at the domestic box office this weekend, where the Avengers tentpole will easily dominate with a haul in the $105 million to $125 million range, one of the biggest sophomore outings of all time, according to early Friday returns.

Force Awakens is the record holder for biggest second weekend ($149.2 million), followed by Black Panther ($111.7 million), Jurassic World ($106.6 million) and The Avengers ($103.1 million).

MGM’s and Lionsgate’s Pantelion Films opens its remake Overboard in 1,623 theaters. Popular Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris star in the romantic comedy, which is tracking to earn $13 million to $15 million in its debut, good enough for a second-place finish, followed by holdover A Quiet Place at No. 3.

Last year, Derbez’s How to Be a Latin Lover opened to $12.3 million on its way to a domestic total of $32.1 million. His credits also include Instructions Not Included (2013), the top-grossing Spanish-language film of all time in the U.S. ($44.5 million). Overboard grossed a solid $675,000 in Thursday previews from 1,400 cinemas.

Focus Features’ new dramedy Tully, reuniting Charlize Theron with her Young Adult director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, could find itself in a close race for No. 3 with A Quiet Place and fellow holdover I Feel Pretty, starring Amy Schumer. Based on matinee grosses, Tully is projected to debut to $4 million to $5 million from 1,353 cinemas.

Tully stars Theron as a mother of three, including a newborn, who forms a unique bond with a night nanny (Mackenzie Davis) gifted by her rich brother (Mark Duplass). The R-rated pic has sparked controversy in some quarters for its depiction of postpartum depression.

The weekend’s third new nationwide offering is Bad Samaritan, directed by Dean Devlin and marking the first wide release from Devlin’s distribution venture, Electric Entertainment. The film, starring David Tennant as a low-level hustler caught up in a nefarious kidnapping plot, is pacing to open to $1 million to $2 million from 2,007 locations.

New offerings at the specialty box office include Magnolia and Participant Media’s documentary RBG, about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

May 4, 1 p.m. Updated with revised weekend projections.

Box Office Updates Avengers: Infinity War RBG

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