The mega-superhero mashup supplants ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ which achieved the global milestone in 12 days.
Disney’s and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War is crossing $1 billion at the worldwide box office faster than any film in history.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the superhero mashup will achieve the milestone Friday or early Saturday, its 10th and 11th day in release, respectively. That supplants the 12 days it took for fellow Disney title Star Wars: The Force Awakens to join the billion-dollar club. (The clock begins on the day a film opens overseas, which, in the case of Infinity War, was April 25.)
Infinity War finished Thursday with a worldwide total of $905.1 million, including $338.4 million in North America, where last weekend it eclipsed the December 2015 launch of Lucasfilms’ Force Awakens ($248 million) to score the top domestic opening of all with $257.8 million.
The film’s international total of $556.7 million through Thursday is all the more impressive for the fact that it doesn’t set sail in China until May 11. It debuted in Russia on Thursday to $4.9 million, the biggest opening day of all time.
Infinity War becomes the 34th movie to cross $1 billion at the global box office, not accounting for inflation. The Disney empire lays claim to 17 of those titles, including six Marvel films (The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Panther, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War).
Topping the list overall is Fox’s Avatar ($2.788 billion), Paramount/Fox’s Titanic ($2.187 billion) and Disney/Lucasfilm’s Force Awakens ($2.068 billion). They are the only three films that have earned north of $2 billion, and all three were released over the year-end holidays. Universal’s Jurassic World ($1.671 billion) and The Avengers ($1.518 billion), both released in summer like Infinity War, round out the top five.
Avengers: Infinity War has already outperformed a slew of superhero films. On Thursday, it surpassed the entire worldwide run of Spider-Man 3 ($890.9 million), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880.2 million), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($873.6 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($863.8 million).
That’s after passing up Thor: Ragnarok ($854M), Wonder Woman ($822M) and Spider-Man ($822M) on Wednesday, and Deadpool ($783M), Guardians of the Galaxy ($773M), The Amazing Spider-Man ($758M), X-Men: Days of Future Past ($748M) and Suicide Squad ($747M) on Tuesday.
The other major Hollywood studios continue to hold off unfurling their big summer pics because of Infinity War. Instead, a trio of smaller films brave the waters at the domestic box office this weekend, where the Avengers tentpole will easily dominate with a sophomore outing in the $100 million to $125 million range.
MGM’s and Lionsgate’s Pantelion Films opens its remake Overboard in 1,623 theaters. Popular Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris star in the romantic comedy, which is tracking to earn $10 million to $15 million in its debut after earning $675,000 in Thursday previews from 1,400 cinemas.
Last year, Derbez’s How to Be a Latin Lover opened to $12.3 million on its way to a domestic total of $32.1 million. His credits also include Instructions Not Included (2013), the top-grossing Spanish-language film of all time in the U.S. ($44.5 million).
Focus Features’ Tully, opening in 1,353 cinemas, reunites Charlize Theron with director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, who worked together on Young Adult.
Tully stars Theron as a mother of three, including a newborn, who forms a unique bond with a night nanny (Mackenzie Davis) gifted by her rich brother (Mark Duplass). The R-rated pic, which is tracking to open to $3 million to $4 million from 1,353 cinemas, has sparked controversy in some quarters for its depiction of postpartum depression.
The weekend’s third new nationwide offering is Bad Samaritan, directed by Dean Devlin and marking the first wide release from Devlin’s distribution venture, Electric Entertainment. The film, starring David Tennant as a low-level hustler caught up in a nefarious kidnapping plot, isn’t expected to earn much more than $2 million from 2,007 locations.
New offerings at the specialty box office include Magnolia’s and Participant Media’s documentary RBG, about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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