Monday Update: Calling it the most stunning opening weekend in box office history might, if anything, be an understatement.

Prior to release, the debate was whether Avengers: Endgame might just possibly — if everything lined up perfectly — set two new records by debuting with $300M domestic and $1B globally.

Instead, it started with $357.1M domestic and $1.223B globally. That shatters the previous records, both held by Avengers: Infinity War with $257.6M and $640.5M.

The records don’t stop there.

Top per-theater average for a wide release with $76,601, crushing the previous record of $59,982 from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Largest market share with 89.7% of the weekend’s top 12 films’ earnings, beating the previous record of Avengers: Age of Ultron with 84.5% in 2015.

Top overseas opening weekend with $866.5M, destroying the previous record of $443.1M by The Fate of the Furious in 2017.

Widest release of all time at 4,662 theaters, beating the previous record of last July’s Despicable Me 3 at 4,535.

Domestically, Endgame is already the fourth-highest grossing film of the past year, just from its opening weekend.

All in all, certainly a weekend to remember at the box office.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $401.9M.

That’s +268.1% above last weekend and +28.0% above this same weekend last year, when predecessor Avengers: Infinity War led with a then-record $257.6M.

Year-to-date box office stands at $3.35M. That’s -11.1% behind this same date last year, up considerably from -16.2% after last weekend.

Most analysts are still predicting 2019’s box office to ultimately beat 2018’s, on the strength of this year’s anticipated strong upcoming slate of films, especially sequels.

Demographics

The audience demographics for Avengers: Endgame on its opening weekend were 59.7% male and 53.4% over age 25.

The audience demographics for The Curse of La Llorona and Penguins were not immediately available.

Among the other eight films in the top 10…

The most male audience in this weekend’s top 10 was Shazam! at 65.2%, while the most female audience was Little at 65.9%.

The most under-25 audience in this weekend’s top 10 was Avengers: Endgame at 46.6%, while the most over-25 audience was Breakthrough at 74.7%.

A full demographic breakdown of the top 30 movies this weekend, courtesy of BoxofficeProfile by Vertigo, is below. (Click to expand.)

Weekend Actuals (Domestic)

FRI, APR. 26 – SUN, APR. 28

Sunday Update: Avengers: Endgame exploded into multiplexes this weekend to resounding acclaim and extraordinary box office returns, smashing nearly every record in the books and stunning even the most bullish of industry pundits on its way to an unbelievable $350 million opening, far surpassing the $257.6 million record held by last year’s Avengers: Infinity War and becoming the first movie in history to surpass $300 million in its opening weekend in North America. The debut represents an enormous 36% jump over Infinity War‘s already-massive debut weekend and the highest per-theater average of all time ($75K) for a film opening in wide release, easily besting Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ previous record of $59,982.

Overseas, Endgame easily broke not only The Fate of the Furious‘s international opening-weekend record of $443.1 million but Infinity War‘s global opening weekend record of $640.5 million (which didn’t include China, where Endgame made a record $330.5 million over its first five days) with a jaw-dropping $859 million, bringing the 22nd installment in the MCU to an unprecedented $1.209 billion globally in just five days. It is the first film ever to surpass $1 billion global in its opening weekend, and the eighth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to have crossed that threshold.

The powerhouse debut lifted the overall weekend box office to record levels–a feat accomplished by Endgame alone–and served as a remarkable climax to cinema’s most profitable franchise ever.

Going into the weekend, no one questioned whether Endgame–the finale to the current cycle in the franchise–would break the all-time record. Not only is it one of the most anticipated films in history, it’s the culmination of an epic storyline that has unspooled over an unbelievable 22 films in just over a decade and redefined modern moviegoing as we know it. In truth, the episodic nature of the film series and Infinity War‘s cliffhanger ending  made Endgame less like the final installment of a movie franchise than the series finale of a beloved TV show–albeit one with a mega budget that played in multiplexes as opposed to people’s living rooms.

Heading into the weekend, Endgame set a pre-sales record on Fandango, having sold five times as many tickets as Infinity War in advance of its release and selling out over 8,000 showings by Wednesday morning. Demand skyrocketed so high that many theaters added extra showings of the three-hour plus film over the weekend, with some even screening it on a 24-hour basis to accommodate the overwhelming clamor by audiences to see it right out of the gate. That helped overcome the film’s epic 181-minute running time, which would ordinarily have limited the number of screenings offered per day.

It certainly didn’t hurt that Endgame debuted on the highest number of screens ever in North America at 4,662, eclipsing Despicable Me 3‘s 4,529 (not to mention Infinity War‘s 4,474). With a 96% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, reviews also surpassed those for Infinity War (which came in at 85%) and nearly every other Marvel Cinematic Universe installment aside from Black Panther, which finished just a tick higher at 97%. Audiences predictably ate it up, with Endgame receiving a perfect “A+” CinemaScore and a 92% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Believe it or not, Endgame wasn’t the only film in theaters this weekend. Its MCU stablemate Captain Marvel benefitted from the hype by rising two spots to second place in its eighth weekend, finishing the weekend with an estimated $8.05 million and a super-powered $413.5 million to date. It has now surpassed both Captain America: Civil War ($408.08 million) and Iron Man 3 ($409.01 million) to become the fifth highest-grossing MCU installment of all time. 

In third place, last weekend’s No. 1 finisher The Curse of La Llorona brought in an estimated $7.5 million, a steep 72% drop from its $26.3 million debut. Nonetheless, the Warner Bros./New Line horror film now has a good $41.2 million after ten days. Fellow sophomore release Breakthrough boasted a better second weekend hold with faith-based audiences, dipping 44% to an estimated $6.3 million for a total of $26.1 million after 12 days of play. 

After holding well over the last two weekends, Warner Bros./New Line’s superhero comedy Shazam! took an understandably sizable hit in fifth place thanks to the overwhelming market presence of Endgame, dropping 66% to an estimated $5.5 million in its fourth weekend and a $131.1 million total to date.

Sixth place went to Universal’s Little, which brought in an estimated $3.4 million, bringing the wish-fulfillment comedy to a decent $35.8 million after three weeks of release. In seventh was Disney’s Dumbo, which dipped 51% to an estimated $3.2 million, giving the live-action remake a total of $107 million after five weeks. of release.

Rounding out the Top 10, Paramount’s Pet Sematary dipped to eighth with an estimated $1.29 million and a total of $52.6 million after four weeks, ninth went to Universal’s Us with an estimated $1.14 million in its sixth weekend for a $172.8 million total to date, and Disneynature’s Penguins fell 54% to tenth with an estimated $1.05 million and $5.7 million after 12 days of release.

Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, APR. 26 – SUN, APR. 28