It may not be June, but for all intents and purposes, summer arrived earlier today when Avengers: Infinity War began its theatrical release. And, as happy as the MCU fandom is, having waited a decade for this very moment, Marvel Studios has a much better reason to feel exultant.
Should current projections hold, which place the Anthony and Joe Russo-directed blockbuster at $45 million Sateside for Thursday, Infinity War will easily become Marvel’s best one night total, ousting Age of Ultron ($27.6M).
If these early estimates do indeed maintain into the night, the film will also become the second best preview ever, tying Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which made $45M, but still a ways behind J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ first night of $57 million.
This forecast comes via Deadline, not Disney, so consume with caution. While the opening night figure for Avengers: Infinity War could rise or fall by morning, with a select few thinking it could potentially drop as low as $36 million-$38 million, still a Marvel record, it’s pretty safe to assume the film will vault itself atop the MCU’s box office chart.
Projected to earn somewhere between $216 million-$235 million domestically this weekend, the event movie will officially launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe past the $15 billion mark at the box office. The MCU approached the milestone earlier this year when Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther hauled in an astonishing $1.3 billion globally and now, it looks set to fly right past it.
Having already sold out 1,000 screenings, according to Fandango, the nineteenth entry into Marvel’s franchise is just getting warmed up, as Deadline also reported that the blockbuster’s three day total could climb as high as $498 million worldwide, making Avengers: Infinity War one of the top five biggest openings of all-time. At this point, the sky’s really the limit and we can’t wait to see how high Earth’s Mightiest Heroes soar.