Avengers: Endgame projected to make more than $1 billion in the next week

This story was originally published on April 25 and updated on April 26.

As the Avengers vow: "Whatever it takes."

After a year of anxious breath-holding, the follow-up to Infinity War, Endgame, has finally arrived. Ahead of its North America preview screenings on Thursday, the three-hour blockbuster first bowed in 25 foreign markets and is already shattering box office records with debuts well above its predecessor.

In its first day abroad, the movie snapped its gauntlet'd fingers to $169 million, with $107.2 million of that massive figure coming from China. That's the best single-day opening in China, eclipsing last year's Monster Hunt 2, which only mustered $85 million in the first 24 hours. Korea came in second with $8.4 million, Australia in third with $7 million, France in fourth with $6 million, Italy in fifth with $5.8 million, and Germany in seventh with $5.6 million. 

In North America, the film is estimated to make around $315 million during its first weekend alone, willing Infinity War's record of $257.7 million right out of existence. Should projections hold true, Endgame will hold the biggest weekend opener in domestic box office history.

Credit: Marvel Studios

With an estimated first global weekend opening of $900 - $950 million, it's almost assured that Endgame will surpass the $1 billion mark in just one week. That projection is over $100 million more than the one from a month ago. Like Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Infinity War, this film is all-powerful and seemingly unbeatable.

At home, the feature is receiving the widest theatrical release in history, playing at 4,600 locations. According to Fandango, more than 4,000 showtimes were sold out, but new ones are being continually added in order to keep up with demand. In fact, AMC announced earlier in the week that certain theaters would remain open for three days straight starting tonight.

“The wait is finally over,” Fandango's Managing Editor Erik Davis said in a statement. “Avengers: Endgame is a masterful epic. It’s everything fans would want: a true culmination of 22 MCU films that not only concludes the story, but expands upon it.”

In a new announcement today, Fandango confirmed that Endgame had replaced Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the top preseller in the company's history. When tickets first went on sale earlier this month, the fourth Avengers movie shattered TFA's 24-hour presale record in just six hours. It toppled Episode VII once again after the first week.

The Top 5 Fandango presellers are still all Disney-owned features:

• Avengers: Endgame (2019)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

“It’s pacing to be our biggest box office weekend of all time,” added Davis. “We’ve never seen so many new screens and new showtimes added to meet the demand. I expect fans to go back for repeat viewings of Endgame throughout the weekend to catch all the things they missed in the film’s three-hour running time.”

That's exactly what's happening: The film snagged the biggest Thursday-night opening of all time in North America with a whopping $60 million, unseating The Force Awakens yet again, which broke the record in 2015 with $57 million. There was no contest with last year's Infinity War, which took in $39 million from Thursday-night previews.

Early social media reactions and critics' reviews have universally praised the long-awaited movie, and it currently holds a ludicrously high 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

(Box office numbers via The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, & Variety)