With the pandemic winding down and moviegoers back in theatres, we’re seeing big grosses again, but looking back at AVENGERS: ENDGAME, which premiered in L.A. on Apr. 22, 2019, and then opened to $357.1M, it shows how times have changed.
Disney/Marvel’s ENDGAME ticket sales certainly weren’t typical for their day, but its boxoffice impact left Hollywood thinking the sky was, indeed, the limit to what a film could gross that delivered what moviegoers really wanted to see. Now with Disney/Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS tracking through the roof, there’s hope it will arrive May 6 in line with Sony/Marvel’s $260.1M opening of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME last December.
ENDGAME’s domestic impact began even before its phenomenal debut. As soon as Fandango and Atom Tickets started selling seats, it became their biggest pre-sale title ever and crashed both websites. With so many sold-out shows, AMC, Regal & Cinemark quickly added overnight screenings to accommodate moviegoer demand.
ENDGAME, which reportedly cost $350-400M to produce, hit $2.790B worldwide in July 2019. It became the all-time top-grossing movie (not adjusted for inflation) by edging past 20th Century Fox’s 2009 epic AVATAR with $2.789B. After a re-release in China, AVATAR regained the boxoffice crown in March 2021. Today, with $2.847B, it’s slightly ahead of ENDGAME’s $2.798B.
Originally, ENDGAME was to be called AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, PART II, and 2018’s AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR was to be AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, PART I. Both films were to be directed by Anthony & Joe Russo, but they told different stories. Marvel decided to give them their own identities, according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, because despite their shared elements he didn’t feel they were “one story that’s cut in half. I would say it’s going to be two distinct movies.”
The film’s first trailer, released on Dec. 7, 2018, made it official that ENDGAME was the title. The studio made the most of it by calling that trailer “Marvel Studios‘ Avengers – Official Trailer,” without actually mentioning the title so as to surprise fans by revealing ENDGAME at the very end.
ENDGAME’s domestic release date was to have been May 3, but it was moved to April 26 just as Marvel had done with INFINITY WAR, which opened Apr. 27, 2018. Those date changes reportedly were meant to keep key storyline points from leaking after earlier international showings.
“This universe is finite. Its resources, finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction.” – Thanos
