Avengers: Infinity War shattered all types of box-office records, but Avengers: Endgame is poised to do even better. The film’s already a guaranteed blockbuster, of course, given that every Marvel fan wants to know whether half the universe can be brought back from the dead (or from within the Soul Stone, as some theories hold) after Thanos’ snap. Let’s get real, though. Everyone mostly wants to know if Spider-Man survived his tragic dusting.
With that said, Infinity War scored a key opening weekend record of $258 million, and Researcher Exhibitor Relations (via Bloomberg) is predicting a $282 million opening weekend haul for Endgame. That’s only a domestic prediction, and god only knows how well this movie will fare on a global level. At the very least, it will ease some of the Star Wars pain for Disney. There may be one complicating factor, however, which would be the film’s reported three-hour runtime. Bloomberg spoke with one researcher on that end:
“Infinity War left audiences with a cinematic cliffhanger,” Jeff Bock, the researcher’s senior analyst, said in an email. “The only thing that could really affect the opening weekend would be a running time that exceeded three hours, which has yet to be confirmed by Disney.”
Technically speaking, yes, a longer movie means fewer timeslots available to show that movie in any given theater. However, the multiplexes will surely accommodate by sliding this movie into as many theaters as possible (there won’t be much competition that weekend) after Captain Marvel greases the wheel on March 8. Given the recent trend toward Godfather-esque runtimes, people are getting used to the relative pain and won’t be discouraged from actually nabbing a set during opening weekend. And although they will complain, apps are available to advise on the most optimal “pee break” times, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Avengers: Endgame arrives on April 26.
(Via Bloomberg)