Box office analysts are predicting that Avengers: Endgame will set a new opening weekend record domestically. Marvel Studios has created the most successful movie franchise of all time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, at least financially speaking. The MCU has earned over $17.5 billion at the box office through the twenty films that have been released in the last ten years. This total is set to climb even higher in the very near future with Captain Marvel’s opening weekend projections coming in very high.
However, the biggest film on Marvel’s slate - and maybe the entire release calendar for 2019 - is Avengers: Endgame. The anticipation is already insanely high thanks to the cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War and the character based marketing Marvel’s employed so far. With no official photos or a second trailer released to this point, the excitement for the film can arguably still only grow as the release date approaches, the marketing picks up, and people begin to see it. Endgame has long been expected to follow in Infinity War’s footsteps and be another $2 billion hit for Marvel Studios, but it’ll need a big opening weekend around the world to make that possible. Lucky for Marvel, predictions are starting to roll in that point to this being the case.
Jeff Lock, the Senior Analyst for Exhibitor Relations, told Bloomberg that Endgame’s opening weekend domestically could hit a record $282 million. It’s unclear what basis (such as social media activity, trailer views, etc.) this prediction is made from, but the expectation is that Endgame will break the all-time opening weekend record set by Infinity War, which opened to $257M last year.
Even though this isn’t yet actual tracking for Endgame’s box office run, the prediction is not that crazy. The hype for the fourth Avengers film began the moment Infinity War ended, and the MCU may have even more fans by the time Endgame hits theaters. The film has been one of the biggest topics of movie-related conversations for almost a year and new fans may be brought into the larger story through Captain Marvel. Once tickets for Endgame go on sale (which could happen within the next few weeks), the pre-sale numbers can start to give everyone a better understanding of where exactly the anticipation level is at.
If Endgame fails to top Infinity War and doesn’t become the biggest opening weekend of all time, it may come down to the runtime. This was Bock’s only real concern for whether or not the record will be Endgame’s, as the constantly rumored three-hour runtime could limit the amount of showings and reduce the amount of tickets that can be sold. But, even if that runtime holds, the lack of competition that Avengers: Endgame has in its first two weeks will allow it to earn plenty of money - regardless of a possible record setting opening.
MORE: An Avengers: Endgame Intermission Could Hurt Its Box Office
Source: Bloomberg
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