Early ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Tracking Suggests a Record-Breaking Opening
Avengers: Endgame is shaping up to be an absolutely massive hit for Marvel Studios – and quite possibly set a new franchise (and all-time) record for biggest opening weekend at the United States box office.
Bloomberg reports that Researcher Exhibitor Relations expects Avengers: Endgame to open to a $282M over its first three days in the United States, a notable increase from Avengers: Infinity War‘s $258M. Researcher Exhibitor Relations had their senior analyst Jeff Block send in a brief explanation of this lofty estimate through an e-mail:
“Infinity War left audiences with a cinematic cliffhanger. The only thing that could really affect the opening weekend would be a running time that exceeded three hours, which has yet to be confirmed by Disney.”
That seems a little bare-bones analysis considering the magnitude of that estimate. For the time being, however, I’m going to keep my expectations in check for this one. The running time on the movie is said to be roughly three hours unless significant cuts are made – and the directors and studio are both happy with the current length, even if theaters might not be. As Block said, if it’s left unchecked, that running time is something that will impact the number of screenings that will be available per day, which would ultimately impact how much revenue that the film brings in.
A solution to this problem would be to take the Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows route: have almost every single theater in the multiplex play Avengers: Endgame on its opening weekend to accommodate for everyone who wants to see it. That would certainly suck if you’re one of Disney’s competitors, but considering the magnitude of an event film that we’re dealing with here, they should probably know what kind of competition that they’re going up against. For now, I’d expect at least the second-biggest opening in Avengers history as the floor for how well this movie can do, and the biggest opening weekend of all time as the ceiling.
Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26, 2019.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
