“Avengers: Infinity War” is now the biggest superhero release of all-time after making $61.8 million domestically in its weekend and opening to $200 million in China for a global weekend total of $343 million.
With a worldwide count of $1.6 billion, “Infinity War” has passed the $1.51 billion made by the first “Avengers” in 2012, and later this week will pass “Jurassic World” to become the biggest summer release of all-time.
Domestically, “Infinity War ” performed above analyst expectations, which pegged the film for a $55-60 million result this weekend. But the Marvel movie’s higher-than-expected $27 million on Saturday has kept this weekend’s drop-off to just 48 percent.
In China, “Infinity War” posted the second-biggest opening weekend in that country’s history, blowing past the previous Marvel opening record in China with a launch 28 percent above the $156 million made by “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” It also became the biggest opening weekend on IMAX screens in China, accounting for 10 percent of the film’s launch with $20.5 million. For a more in-depth look at the humongous opening “Avengers” made in the Middle Kingdom, check out our China report here.
Well below “Avengers” are two new releases, Warner Bros/New Line’s “Life of the Party” and Universal’s “Breaking In,” which had very different outings at the box office this weekend. “Life of the Party” made an estimated $18.5 million from 3,656 screens, scoring the lowest opening for its lead star, Melissa McCarthy. Audiences and critics have been lukewarm to the film, giving it a 42 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a B on CinemaScore.
While McCarthy has had success as a lead star with action comedies like “The Heat” and “Spy,” the more traditional adult comedies she has made with her husband and director Ben Falcone have had diminishing returns. “Life of the Party” is the third collaboration between McCarthy and Falcone following “The Boss” and the 2014 film “Tammy.”
In third place is “Breaking In,” which may be a much darker film than “Life of the Party” but has a much sunnier box office outlook. Produced by Will Packer and starring Gabrielle Union as a mom who takes up arms to protect her kids from a band of home invaders, the thriller cost only $6 million to make and has hit the upper end of tracker expectations with $16.5 million from 2,537 screens.
As with many of Packer’s films, women made up the majority of moviegoers, with CinemaScore reporting 65 percent of opening crowds being female. They were much kinder to the film than critics, giving it a B on CinemaScore compared to a 27 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from reviews.
In fourth is Pantelion/MGM’s “Overboard,” which is holding on strong with Latino audiences with $10.1 million in its second weekend, just 31 percent down from the Pantelion-record $14.7 million opening that the Eugenio Derbez romcom earned last weekend. The film now has a 10-day total of $29.6 million. Completing the top five is Paramount’s “A Quiet Place,” which added $6.3 million in its sixth weekend to push its domestic total to just under $170 million.
Next week will see the reign of “Avengers” atop the box office charts come to an end at the hands of another, far more naughtier Marvel film, Fox’s “Deadpool 2.” The sequel, which stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular mercenary and “Infinity War” star Josh Brolin as the mercenary Cable, is expected to at least match the $132 million made by the first “Deadpool” in 2016, which was a then-record for February releases.