Avengers: Infinity War sprints past $300 mn mark in China, becoming Disney and MCU's highest-grossing film

Anthony and Joe Russo's boundary-busting blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War has sprinted past the $300 million mark in China, making it the highest-grossing Disney film in the area. It's also the top-earning movie of MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in the PRC, comfortably surpassing the records set by MCU's 18 films released before Infinity War.

When Avengers: Infinity War landed in China, two weeks after its domestic release, on 11 May, it clocked impressive records in the world's second-largest movie market with a mammoth opening weekend bow of $200 million (1.27 billion yuan). It's been 11 days since the film burst onto mainland screens and the cumulative gross now stands at a peachy $306.5 million.

A still from the trailer of Avengers: Infinity War.

Avengers: Infinity War breached the coveted $300 million mark on Sunday (20 May), and topped the daily box-office chart for ten continuous days before it was pushed to the second spot yesterday (21 May) by the local fantasy rom-com How Long Will I Love You, which amassed a $5.95 million gross on Monday against Infinity War's $5 million.

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Now, Infinity War is the fourth highest-earning import film in China, only behind The Fate of the Furious ($392.8 million), Furious 7 ($390.9 million) and Transformers: Age of Extinction ($320 million). While galloping its way to the $300 million mark, the Marvel juggernaut surged past the lifetime takings of other top-grossing imports such as Kung Fu Yoga, Transformers: The Last Knight, Zootopia, Warcraft, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World.

Infinity War is now the fourth import film to break into the $300 million club in China after Furious 8, Furious 7 and Transformers 4 and the 11th top-grossing film of all time in the Middle Kingdom. It has also supplanted Steven Spielberg's VFX extravaganza Ready Player One ($220 million) to become the highest-earning foreign film of 2018 in China.

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Currently standing at 1.96 billion yuan cumulative gross in local currency, Avengers: Infinity War is edging towards the 2 billion yuan mark and is just 17.7 million yuan short of China's third highest-grossing import film Transformers: Age of Extinction. AIW is the third MCU film to surpass the 1 billion mark after Ultron and Captain America: Civil War and will soon become the third import film in the history of China to race past the 2 billion yuan mark after The Fate of the Furious and Furious 7.

John Krasinski and Millicent Simmonds in A Quiet Place. AP

John Krasinki's word-of-mouth sensation A Quiet Place debuted in China on 18 May and delivered a good $17.7 million opening weekend bow. The Paramount production, with its $2 million Monday gross in the PRC, has raked in an international total of $122.3 million and the global tally is inching towards the $300 million mark with an excellent standing total of $298.5 million.

The worldwide earnings of Avengers: Infinity War, until the fourth weekend of 20 May, stands at a massive $1.81 billion, with an offshore total of $1.218 billion (67%). It's now the fourth 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). The film's overwhelming reception in China helped dethrone Jurassic World's $1.61 billion global earnings to push it to the fifth place in the all-time pantheon.

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The $42 million second weekend theatrical revenue from the Middle Kingdom has propelled Avengers: Infinity War as the third largest international release of all-time, only behind the James Cameron epics — Avatar ($2.02 billion) and Titanic ($1.52 billion).

Deadpool 2 promo. Image via Twitter

20th Century Fox's Deadpool 2 registered a mighty $301 million opening weekend bow globally, uncrowning Infinity War from its number one spot in the domestic box-office with a $125 million opening. AIW pulled in nearly $29 million in its fourth weekend stateside, pushing its domestic total to $595 million. It's now the eighth top-grossing domestic release of all-time and is expected to trump the lifetime domestic sales of Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($620 million), The Avengers ($623.5 million) by the end of its month-long run.

Now the billion dollar question is whether Avengers: Infinity War will break into the $2 billion club worldwide. It's currently short of approximately $185 million and with Disney's Solo: A Star Wars Story opening on 25 May and Fox's Deadpool 2 catering well to its viewers as expected, the chances look slim but not impossible.