Avengers: Infinity War becomes fifth-largest global release of all-time after its stint in China

Disney/Marvel’s box-office behemoth Avengers: Infinity War landed in China on 11 May and notched up impressive records in the world’s second-largest movie market with a mammoth opening weekend bow of $200 million (1.27 billion yuan). Despite a two-week delay in the mainland release — the Russo brothers-directed superhero crossover spectacle released worldwide on 27 April — PRC moviegoers welcomed the Marvel juggernaut with open arms by thronging to theaters in droves. [caption id=“attachment_4456635” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Avengers: Infinity War. Twitter.[/caption] Avengers: Infinity War registers second highest opening weekend record in China Although the three-day opening cumulative of $200 million is lesser than the initial frame of 2017 action blockbuster The Fate of the Furious ($185 million, unadjusted for inflation), the box-office numbers should be calculated in local currency (Chinese renminbi; RMB), which made AIW settle for the second spot in industry history. If the local currency is taken into account, Avengers: Infinity Wars’ three-day opening weekend of 1.27 billion yuan fell 80 million yuan short of Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham’s money-spinner The Fate of the Furious’ 1.35 billion yuan last year.

Avengers: Infinity War is already placed in the 24th position in China’s all-time highest-grossing films list and is also the second highest-earning superhero film, only behind Avengers: Age of Ultron, which raked in a lifetime theatrical revenue of 1.46 billion yuan.

With these opening weekend numbers, AIW has already surpassed Marvel’s previous best finishes including C_aptain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Iron Man 3_ and Doctor Strange. It is currently the 11th highest-grossing import film of all-time and will soon dethrone Ready Player One, Jurassic World and Age of Ultron in the next few days. AIW also posted the highest pre-sales record of all-time in China with a total of 400 million yuan ($63 million). With an excellent 386 million yuan (US$60.91 million) opening day gross on Friday, AIW is now the third highest-opening film in the PRC, only behind this year’s local blockbuster Monster Hunt 2 (546 million yuan; $86.18 million) and The Fate of the Furious, which pulled in 417 million yuan ($65.8 million) on day one. [caption id=“attachment_4467695” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The Avengers poster[/caption] On Saturday, AIW recorded a whopping 491 million yuan ($77.49 million), making it the second highest single-day total ever in the mainland, only behind Monster Hunt 2’s 546 million yuan ($86.18 million) opening day. The Saturday gross of $77.49 million is the best single day gross ever of all-time for a foreign film in China. Now, Avengers: Infinity War, with its massive $258.2 million stateside— the highest domestic opening of all-time—and a peachy $200 million from China, has become the first movie in the history of cinema to score a $200 million debut in both domestic and Chinese screens. It must be noted that import films such as Ready Player One, Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Rampage opened bigger in China than the American market this year. $200 million opening weekend haul in China powers Avengers: Infinity War’s international total to $1.05 billion. Now, AIW is the fifth highest-grossing film of all-time in international markets, only behind Avatar ($2.02 billion), Titanic ($1.52 billion), Furious 7 ($1.16 billion), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($1.13 billion). The film has supplanted the lifetime international total of films such as Jurassic World ($1.019 billion) and The Fate of the Furious ($1.010 billion), courtesy of the extraordinary opening in China, as of May 13. It’s also the first superhero film to breach the $1 billion mark in international total, besting Ultron’s $946 million global takings and The Avengers’ $895 million. Fifth-highest global release of all-time and eighth-highest domestic release. After amassing $61.8 million in domestic screens and $281.3 million from international markets in its third weekend, the running worldwide total of AIW now stands at a staggering $1.61 billion gross. It’s now the fifth-largest global release of all-time, behind such films as Avatar ($2.788 billion), Titanic ($2.187 billion), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.068 billion), and Jurassic World ($1.671 million). It will soon dethrone the lifetime total of Jurassic World to emerge as the fourth-highest worldwide release. [caption id=“attachment_4449181” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Avengers: Infinity War/Image from Twitter.[/caption] During the weekend, AIW raced past the lifetime domestic total of films such as Beauty and the Beast ($504 million), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532 million) and The Dark Knight ($534 million) to become the eighth-highest domestic release of all-time. It’s now the third highest-grossing superhero film stateside, only behind The Avengers’ $623 million and Black Panther’s $696 million. Now, trade pundits and box-office enthusiasts are waiting with bated breath to see if AIW will touch the $2 billion mark in global total and join the company of Avatar, Titanic and Force Awakens. The third week and fourth-weekend run would be crucial to the film’s final results since 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool 2 is slated to release on 18 May in 4,250 locations.