Before this weekend, no film had ever opened with more than a $641M weekend world-wide. Endgame took in an ungodly $1.209B. That B stands for billion!
In the portion of the world outside the USA, Endgame took in $859M. The previous record was $443!
From the comment section:
“There are some other interesting ways to look at this weekend’s Box Office. The # 2 movie this weekend was Captain Marvel which earned about 1/44th of what Endgame earned, but it does give Marvel the top 2 spots. Not bad for a studio that releases at most 3 films a year. Of course Captain Marvel also appears in Endgame. Shazam on the other hand was the #5 film this weekend, meaning that 3 out of the top 5 films this weekend featured a Captain Marvel (sort of).
I think it’s natural to root for a favorite film to do well at the box office, because box office success determines whether or not there will be a sequel. The MCU is just on another level to the point that I find myself rooting for their box office success the way I root for the Mets (with far fewer disappointments).”
The best part is, that somehow thanks to the heart of creativity in the film industry (the bookkeeping department), the film will never make a profit.
I heard Ah-nuld talking about this on the radio today (Howard Stern reruns). He said the way around this is for established performers to finance their own films whenever possible, and to keep the budgets reasonable. After adding in cable rights, and home video profits, he made something like fifty million dollars on Twins, which was only a moderate success, and which he owned only about 20% of.
So imagine how much Mel Gibson made on The Passion of the Christ!
Of course it isn’t so simple to finance a film like Endgame. Schwarzenegger made Twins for something like $15 million, while Endgame had a budget approaching $400 million! Then again, Avengers is filled with potential star/investors. If you get 25 big stars investing $16 million each, you could pull it off. Given that Endgame will gross at least five times its investment at the box office alone, excluding licensing and ancillary, such an investment could be sweet for everyone.
The big obstacle there is distribution and promotion. If big companies like Disney don’t want you to get your foot in the door, that foot is going to stay out unless you have a creative solution.
In addition, I suppose it’s not easy to find 20 stars with drawing power who don’t already have some kind of non-compete clause involving either space movies or super-hero movies. Disney seems to sign up and lock in superstars en masse, like the New York Yankees of film.
There are some other interesting ways to look at this weekend’s Box Office. The # 2 movie this weekend was Captain Marvel which earned about 1/44th of what Endgame earned, but it does give Marvel the top 2 spots. Not bad for a studio that releases at most 3 films a year. Of course Captain Marvel also appears in Endgame. Shazam on the other hand was the #5 film this weekend, meaning that 3 out of the top 5 films this weekend featured a Captain Marvel (sort of).
I think it;s natural to root for a favorite film to do well at the box office, because box office success determines whether or not there will be a sequel. The MCU is just on another level to the point that I find myself rooting for their box office success the way I root for the Mets (with far fewer disappointments).