Weekend Wrap-Up: Infinity War Opened as Close to Infinity as Any Film
April 30, 2018
Infinity War was expected to dominate the box office over the weekend. However, not a lot of people thought it would break the all-time record, but it did. Not only did it break the record, it smashed it, topping The Force Awakens by nearly $10 million at $257.70 million. The MCU now has six of the top ten openings of all-time. Remember, when Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion, a lot of people thought they overpaid. Disney’s share of just the domestic box office numbers is close to $4 billion at this point. The overall box office rose 150% from last weekend to $312 million. This is within a rounding error of the record and we might get there as smaller studios report their numbers later in the week. This is 212% higher than the same weekend last year; granted, this is because summer started a week early this year. Year-to-date, 2018 has retaken the lead by $140 million or 4.0% at $3.78 billion to $3.64 billion. However, and this is important, this is a misleading number, because summer started a week early this year. I would wait till Deadpool 2 comes out to judge the year-to-date numbers. It will take that long for Infinity War coming out a week early to fully balance out. You will probably make solid judgments before then, but I think it is wise to be a little cautious.
Infinity War opened with $257.70 million over the weekend. This is the biggest domestic weekend of all-time. Not only that, but the film showed impressive legs earning the fourth biggest previews, second biggest Friday, while rising to the top for Saturday and Sunday. Its reviews are middle of the road for the franchise, but that’s still better than most blockbusters can dream of, while it earned a solid A from CinemaScore. It would take a multiplier of 2.72 to get to $700 million domestically, which is not out of the question, especially since it has two weeks of no significant competition to deal with. This still might not be enough to be number one on the yearly chart.
A Quiet Place actually held on better than expected with $11.00 million over the weekend for a total of $148.53 million after four weeks of release. It will remain in the top five for at least one more week, maybe two.
I Feel Pretty was next with $8.18 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $29.62 million. The film only cost $32 million to make, so it is very close to that figure already. It just needs a little help internationally to break even during its initial push into the home market.
Rampage was crushed by Infinity War, plummeting 64% to just $7.21 million over the weekend for a total of $78.03 million after three weeks of release. Unless it bounces back next week, its chances of getting to $100 million domestically are slim. That said, studio’s share of the film’s worldwide box office is about $130 million, which is more than its $120 million production budget. This means it should break even early in its home market run.
Black Panther returned to the top five for the first time in three weeks with $4.74 million over the weekend for a total of $688.36 million after eleven weeks of release. This puts $700 million domestically back on the table. If the film falls less than 40% next weekend, then it has a real shot at that rare milestone. Since its theater average was the third best in the top ten, it should be able to hold onto the vast majority of its theaters. In fact, it might actually gain some.
Super Troopers 2 was treated even worse by Infinity War plummeting 75% to $3.73 million over the weekend for a total of $22.21 million after two weeks of release. Traffik was the only other sophomore film outside the top five. It held up a little better down 58%, but it started slower and only managed $1.65 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $6.79 million.
- Avengers: Infinity War Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Rampage, Super Troopers 2, A Quiet Place, I Feel Pretty, Traffik, Marvel Cinematic Universe