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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 29 april 2019
'Avengers: Endgame' obliterates records with $1.2B opening

NEW YORK (AP) — The uni- according to studio esti-
verse belongs to Marvel. mates Sunday. The movie
"Avengers: Endgame" shat- had been forecast to open
tered the record for biggest between $260 million and
opening weekend with an $300 million in U.S. and Ca-
estimated $350 million in nadian theaters, but mov-
ticket sales domestically iegoers turned out in such
and $1.2 billion globally, droves that "Endgame"
reaching a new pinnacle blew past the previous re-
in the blockbuster era that cord of $257.7 million, set
the comic-book studio has last year by "Avengers: In-
come to dominate. finity War" when it narrowly
The "Avengers" finale far surpassed "Star Wars: The
exceeded even its own Force Awakens" ($248 mil-
gargantuan expectations, lion or about $266 million in

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, from left, poses with members of the cast of "Avengers: End
Game," Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and
Mark Ruffalo at a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Tuesday, April 23,
2019, in Los Angeles.
Associated Press

inflation adjusted dollars.) set new records. Early ticket 30 million American and
"Endgame" was just as buyers crashed AMC's web- more than 100 million glob-
enormous overseas. World- site. And starting Thursday, al guests that experienced
wide, it obliterated the some theaters even stayed 'Endgame' on the big
previous record of $640.5 open 72 hours straight. screen in one weekend,"
million, also set by "Infinity "We've got some really tired Fithian said. "The numbers
War." ("Infinity War" didn't staff," said John Fithian, are just staggering."
open in China, the world's president and chief execu- Further boosting the results
second largest movie mar- tive of the National Asso- for "Endgame" were good
ket, until two weeks after ciation of Theater Owners. reviews; it currently ranks as
its debut.) "Endgame" set "I talked to an exhibitor in 96% fresh on Rotten Toma-
a new weekend record in Kansas who said, 'I've never toes, the best rating for any
China, too, where it made sold out a 7 a.m. show on Marvel movie aside from
$330.5 million. Saturday morning before,' "Black Panther." Audiences
In one fell swoop, "End- and they were doing it all gave the film an A-plus Cin-
game" has already made across their circuit." emaScore.
more than movies like "Sky- Not working in the film's Single-handedly, "End-
fall," ''Aquaman" and "The favor was its lengthy run- game" led the overall
Dark Knight Rises" grossed ning time: 161 minutes. But weekend at the domes-
in their entire runs, not ac- theaters kept added thou- tic box office to a record
counting for inflation. sands of showings for "End- $400 million in ticket sales,
Alan Horn, Disney chair- game" to get it on more according to Comscore.
man, credited Marvel Stu- screens than any movie "Endgame" accounted for
dios and its president, Kevin before to satiate the frenzy a staggering 88% of those
Feige, for challenging "no- around "Endgame." Joe tickets. The film's grosses
tions of what is possible at and Anthony Russo's film were aided by 3-D screen-
the movie theater." ties together the "Aveng- ings (a record $540 million
"This weekend's monumen- ers" storyline as well as the in global ticket sales) and
tal success is a testament previous 21 releases of IMAX screenings (a com-
to the world they've envi- the Marvel "cinematic uni- pany record $91.5 million).
sioned, the talent involved, verse," begun with 2008's "Our partners in exhibition
and their collective pas- "Iron Man." have done a great job with
sion, matched by the irre- For an industry dogged by us on this film. As they saw
pressible enthusiasm of fans uncertainty over the grow- the need, they opened
around the world," Horn ing role of streaming, the up screens," said Cathleen
said in a statement. weekend was a mammoth Taft, distribution chief for
To accommodate de- display of the movie the- Disney. "While there may
mand, the Walt Disney ater's lucrative potency. Fi- have been a concern — Is
Co. released "Endgame" thian called it possibly "the there going to be enough
in more theaters — 4,662 most significant moment in seats available? — I think
in the U.S. and Canada — the modern history of the that exhibition met that
than any opening before. movie business." demand and rose to the
Advance ticketing services "We're looking at more than occasion."q