The superhero movie — the 22nd in a series from Disney’s Marvel Studios — collected roughly $350 million in the United States and Canada, according to Comscore, which compiles box-office data. That easily beat “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015), which had opening-weekend sales of $248 million, which translates to about $270 million in today’s dollars.
“Avengers: Endgame,” which received euphoric reviews from critics, took in an astounding $1.2 billion worldwide, arriving as the No. 1 movie in at least 54 countries. Disney said Sunday morning that the movie set a record for the largest opening weekend in 44 overseas markets, with Imax theaters contributing an outsized portion of ticket sales, particularly in China.
“It shows the power of theaters — the ability, even in a hyper-fragmented culture, to deliver that wildly big communal experience,” Megan Colligan, president of Imax Filmed Entertainment, said in an interview.
Scrambling to keep up with demand, AMC Theaters added 5,000 last-minute showtimes in the United States over the weekend, lifting its total number to more than 63,000. Nineteen AMC locations played “Avengers: Endgame” around the clock. On Saturday alone, 2.3 million people turned up at AMC cinemas.
)
)
)
“Young moviegoers will remember where they were when they saw ‘Endgame,’ who they saw it with, and what it felt like,” said John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners. “That will pay off for years to come in the same way that moviegoers who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s still talk about the impact that ‘Star Wars’ had on them.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.