“Avengers: Endgame” is already breaking records in China, raking in $83 million (RMB558.2 million) as of 2 p.m. on opening day Wednesday – two days ahead of the U.S. – and putting itself firmly on track to become the biggest Hollywood title ever in the Middle Kingdom.
The Marvel finale has already set a new all-time record for ticket pre-sales, selling more than $110 million ahead of its Tuesday night midnight opening to beat the previous record-holder, domestic title “Monster Hunt 2,” which sold $59.6 million.
The Maoyan online ticketing platform estimates that “Endgame” will haul in a total of $521 million (RMB3.5 billion) over the course of its run, which would make it the top-performing foreign film ever and the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time in China, behind homegrown nationalistic epics “Wolf Warrior II” (RMB5.68 billion), “The Wandering Earth” (RMB4.66 billion), and “Operation Red Sea” (RMB3.65 billion).
Related
The top-performing foreign film has so far been 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious,” with $392.8 million (RMB2.67 billion) haul. Films in China are each given a month-long screening window, but extremely high-performing titles are typically given an extra month’s extension by the authorities, who receive a large cut of ticket sales.
“Endgame” is the sequel to last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” and the final chapter in the 22 film-long saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which began with 2008’s “Iron Man.” “Infinity War” made the biggest debut in China of all time with a $191 million three-day opening weekend. It went on to earn a total of $359.5 million (RMB2.39 billion) at the Chinese box office, making it the 11th-highest-grossing title of all time in the Middle Kingdom.
But “Endgame” appears as if it will smash its predecessor’s performance by a long way, though it will benefit from a five-day opening frame in China instead of just three days. The film has so far accounted for nearly every single movie ticket sold on Wednesday nationwide, taking up 99.2% of ticket sales and accounting for 83% of screenings across the country.