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| Karen Gillan, left, and Don Cheadle in “Endgame.”Disney/Marvel Studios, via Associated Press |
LOS ANGELES — “Avengers:
Endgame” had record-breaking ticket sales over the weekend.
The superhero movie — the 22nd
in a series from Disney’s Marvel Studios — collected roughly $350 million in
the United States and Canada. 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 on
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.
To keep up with demand, AMC
Theaters added 5,000 last-minute show times 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.”
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Article from The New York Times
