After overwhelming demand for advance “Avengers: Endgame” tickets crashed multiple sites on Tuesday, box office analysts have estimated that the “Infinity War” follow-up will open to $200-250 million in the first round of tracking.
But all bets are off for just how big the opening weekend for Marvel Studios’ 22nd film will be. Last year, tracking for “Avengers: Infinity War” opened at $180-225 million and blew away expectations with a record-setting $257.6 million domestic launch. With “Endgame” shattering first-day presale records in just a few hours, analysts widely expect that all box office records will be broken yet again when the film opens in three weeks.
The only hurdle for this film is its runtime, which is just over three hours. By comparison, “Infinity War” was two hours and 29 minutes. While “Endgame” will be shown on far more screens at multiplexes than opening blockbusters usually get, the runtime will mean one less showtime on each of those screens per day.
“Endgame” is also expected to set a new record for the largest global opening ever, as unlike “Infinity War,” it will open in China on the same day as the rest of the world. An $800 million global opening is highly likely, and “Endgame” has an outside chance of becoming the first film ever with a $1 billion global launch.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, “Avengers: Endgame” sees the original Avengers struggling to cope with their defeat at the hands of Thanos and the erasing of half of all life in the universe. With the help of Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, and other “Infinity War” survivors, the Avengers come up with one last, desperate plan to undo Thanos’ genocide at any cost.
The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Danai Gurira, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, and Josh Brolin, with Brie Larson joining the cast after making her Marvel debut in “Captain Marvel” last month.