Box office history has been made. After its seventh weekend in theaters around the world, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” will become only the fourth film in history — and the first released in the summer — to gross more than $2 billion worldwide.
The milestone was hit on Monday after the film made $17.7 million this past weekend — putting it just $2 million short of the $2 billion target on Sunday. This past weekend “Infinity War” passed the domestic total of “Jurassic World” with a running count of $654 million, while its overseas cume eclipsed the global total of “Black Panther” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with $1.34 billion.
These achievements are just the latest in a long line of box office conquests “Infinity War” has claimed since it came out in April, starting with its record $258 million domestic opening and $640 million global launch. Since then, it has become the fastest film in movie history to gross $1 billion, and a month ago it became the highest-grossing summer release of all time.
Now it is in the most elite of all box office clubs, joining “Titanic,” “Avatar,” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” as cinema’s only $2 billion grossers. What’s notable is that “Titanic” needed two re-releases to reach that mark, and all three of the previous films to hit the milestone were released in December, where they were able to increase their later-week ticket sales in the competition-free January and February.
“Avengers,” meanwhile, had only three weeks where it was the only major blockbuster in theaters before competition arrived in the form of “Deadpool 2.” But despite that, the overwhelming hype for this film — which was first teased in the credits of “The Avengers” six years ago — turned it into a can’t-miss event for the devout fanbase Marvel Studios has spent the past ten years building up.
Then, in mid-May, the final hurdles on “Infinity War”‘s path to $2 billion were cleared when it earned a stunning $200 million opening in China, the second-highest opening in that country for a Hollywood import. With a current total of $368 million in that country, “Infinity War” is currently the third-highest grossing western release in Chinese history. It is so popular that it earned a theatrical run extension from China’s film board, a rarity for Hollywood films.
In total, Marvel Cinematic Universe films have grossed more than $16 billion worldwide, and should hit $17 billion when “Ant-Man and the Wasp” opens next month.