Avengers: Endgame Looking At Massive $250 Million Dollar Opening Weekend

The Avengers nearly broke the internet; now they're coming for the box office.

Just days after smashing the record for online advance ticket sales, Avengers: Endgame is being pegged by analysts for a North American debut in the $200-$250 million dollar range, according to The Hollywood Reporter. We're going to go out on a limb and call that figure woefully conservative, and here's why.

First, the pace at which those tickets went when they hit online outlets Tuesday morning puts hotcakes to absolute shame. Potential buyers immediately began reporting wait times of over an hour in some cases, depending on the market, and Endgame didn't so much break the record for advance sales as it did completely obliterate it. The previous record holder was 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which you may recall was the subject of quite a bit of anticipation. Fandango reported that Endgame screamed past the the 24-hour total posted by that flick in a mere six hours. Other online retailers reported a similarly torrid pace, with Atom Tickets seeing its own previous best mark go down in flames in less than half a day; Endgame sold four times as many tickets on that outlet as Warner Brothers and DC's Aquaman, the highest-ever grosser for the DCEU. Regal reported that the flick had outpaced the entire first week posted by last year's Avengers: Infinity War in eight hours. It was utter chaos, is what we're saying. (via Deadline)

Second, these same analysts put Infinity War in the neighborhood of $185-$225 million for its opening frame in advance of its debut last year. A respectable neighborhood, to be sure, but that film ended up raking in $257.6 million in its first weekend, the biggest stateside debut of all time. While that film was certainly also highly anticipated, its advance sales were nowhere near the total posted by Endgame; Fandango has it at #5 on its all-time list. In addition, some analysts are expecting Endgame — which opens in China, a massive market, the same weekend as in the U.S. — to squash Infinity War's $640.5 million dollar global debut, by a lot. A $750 million dollar international opening frame is looking likely, with a total as high as $800 million dollars being seen as a distinct possibility.

All of this despite the fact that, with a runtime of 3 hours and 2 minutes, Endgame simply won't be able to squeeze in as many showings in a day as Infinity War did. It's an absolute certainty that records, and lots of them, are going to fall; the only question is which ones, and by how much. 

We know what you're thinking, because we're thinking the same thing: is the all-time international box office record held by James Cameron's Avatar ($2.788 billion dollars) in danger? Well, if you ask these industry analysts, the answer is: absolutely not. Most of them are of the opinion that Avatar's record is one that will probably stand forever and ever, and it's not unreasonable to think so. The next closest grosser is (this guy again) James Cameron's Titanic, with $2.187 billion dollars in international box office receipts, a pretty wide margin. Hotly anticipated as they were, The Force Awakens ($2.068 billion dollars) and Infinity War ($2.048 billion dollars) couldn't even eclipse that mark, let alone even entertain the notion of unseating Avatar.

Endgame, however, has a few things going for it which neither of those films did. It is (let us check our notes) a film which will feature the final appearances of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, two of the most beloved actor/role combinations in genre film history; the culmination of an overarching narrative spanning a 22-film series which happens to be the highest-grossing franchise of all time by a mile; and a flick which will resolve the mother of all cliffhangers: the Avengers' defeat, and the destruction of half of all life in the universe, at the hands of Thanos at the conclusion of Infinity War.

It seems to us that those analysts tend to err on the side of caution when making their predictions. Heck, some of them are even wondering whether Endgame will outgross Infinity War, which seems like a foregone conclusion in light of the fact that the former nearly broke the internet while the latter did not. So, hey: we like to think that we're just as capable of informed analysis as anyone else, and we've got some predictions of our own. Avengers: Endgame will decimate Infinity War's opening weekend like a big, purple guy with a gauntlet full of magic stones, becoming the first-ever film to cross the $300 million dollar mark domestically in its opening frame. In addition, it will approach — if not breach — the $1 billion dollar barrier worldwide in that same frame. As for the all-time worldwide record... Avatar is probably safe. But Titanic, you're going down. Endgame will close its theatrical run as the #2 all-time international grosser with a take in the neighborhood of $2.4 billion dollars.

This is our informed analysis, and if we end up missing the mark, it's not like you can fault us for the guess. Endgame will be a cultural event like no other in recent memory; we'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll say goodbye to a few beloved characters, and we'll revel in the Mad Titan finally getting his big, purple butt handed to him by Earth's Mightiest Heroes. We'll see you in the theater on April 26.