WhileAvengers: Infinity Warbroke box office records this weekend, it was bothInfinity Warand Marvel’s other smash hit,Black Panther, that helped push the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole past $15 billion worldwide. Marvel also pulled off a rare feat with bothInfinity WarandBlack Pantherin the top 5, with the $258.1 million opening weekend ofAvengers: Infinity Warsetting a new all-time record, whileBlack Panther’s $4.3 million brought its domestic tally to $688 million, the third highest of all time, and its worldwide total to $1.331 billion, 10th highest of all time, just behind the $1.332 billion ofStar Wars: The Last Jedi.
With $6.2 billion domestic and $15.4 billion worldwide, theMarvel Cinematic Universeis by far the highest-grossing franchise in the world, and the only other one that is even close isStar Wars, with $4.3 billion domestic and $9.089 billion worldwide. While theStar Warsfranchise will still continue throughout the indefinite future, the Marvel Cinematic Universe now releases three films a year, and if they continue to be as successful asBlack PantherandAvengers: Infinity War, it seems unlikely that any franchise will be able to stop its reign atop the domestic and worldwidebox office.
What’s alsoimpressive about the domestic opening weekendofAvengers: Infinity Waris that it already vaulted the movie into 13th place domestically of the 19 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. This means that in just three days,Avengers: Infinity Warhas out-grossed the six lowest-grossing movies in the MCU,Doctor Strange($232.6 million),Thor: The Dark World($206.3 million),Thor($181 million),Ant-Man($180.2 million),Captain America: The First Avenger($176.6 million) andThe Incredible Hulk($134.8 million). As of now,Black Pantheris the highest-grossing MCU movie domestically with $688 million whileThe Avengersis the highest-grossing worldwide with $1.5 billion, but it’s possible both those records will be broken by the timeAvengers: Infinity Warfinishes its run.
Avengers: Infinity Waralso set a global box office record with $640.9 million, with its international tally of $382.7 million the second highest in history behind the $443 million earned byThe Fate of the Furiouslast year. What makesAvengers: Infinity War’s tally perhaps even more impressive thanThe Fate of the Furious' international debut is that it was done without the help of the second largest box office market in the world, China, whereInfinity Warwill open on May 11. $185 million ofThe Fate of the Furious' $443 million opening weekend came from China alone, so it will be interesting to see how the Middle Kingdom fans react toAvengers: Infinity War.
Avengers: Infinity Warisshaping up to be the biggest movie of 2018, which would snap the streak of three years in a row whereStar Warsmovies have taken the top spot.Star Wars: The Force Awakenswas the top movie in 2015 with a record-breaking $936.6 million, a tallyAvengers: Infinity Warmay be able to top, whileRogue One: A Star Wars Storywas the highest-grossing movie of 2016 with $554.8 million andStar Wars: The Last Jediwas last year’s top-grossing movie with $620.1 million. Forbes broke the news about the MCU passing $15 billion over the weekend.
