Avengers: Endgame breaks Australian box office records with $34m opening weekend
The final movie in the current phase of the Avengers franchise, Avengers: Endgame, has smashed Australian box office records, taking $34.1m across the opening weekend.
The film beat the record previously set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015 which took $27.25m in its first weekend.
Image: MPDAA
Dumbo sat in the second spot in the weekend ranking, taking $690,908 after its fifth week in cinemas, for a cumulative $11.5m. Both Dumbo and Avengers: Endgame are distributed by Disney.
Third place went to Paramount’s Wonder Park. The animated film about a young girl’s imaginary theme park took $685,715 for its third weekend, giving it a cumulative total thus far of $5.76m.
The final two spots in the top five were filled with Warner Bros films – superhero movie Shazam and The Lego Movie 2 took $633,251 and $403,460 respectively over the weekend.
Period drama The Chaperone also debuted last weekend, landing in eighth position with $349,785. It showed across just 175 screens compared to Avengers: Endgame which showed across 1,112 screens.
Avengers: Endgame also shattered the worldwide opening record with an estimated US$1.2 billion taking in ticket sales globally.
Disney currently holds five of the top 10 opening weekend spots in Australia and a majority of the worldwide records.
Avengers: Endgame was well received by critics, despite initial concerns over the 181 minute runtime. It currently holds a 96% rating on review aggregation platform Rotten Tomatoes.
The film combines the storylines of all 21 Marvel films to come before it, beginning in 2008 with Iron Man. It was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo who also directed the previous Avengers film, Infinity War, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.
| Title (Distributor) | Weekend B/O | Screens | Total B/O |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avengers: Endgame (Disney) | $34,116,525 | 1112 | $44,394,082 |
| Dumbo (live Action) (Disney) | $690,908 | 232 | $11,511,456 |
| Wonder Park (Paramount) | $685,715 | 278 | $5,870,194 |
| Shazam! (Wb) | $633,251 | 303 | $16,220,180 |
| The Lego Movie 2 (Wb) | $403,460 | 233 | $10,582,403 |
| Captain Marvel (Disney) | $372,644 | 107 | $41,189,395 |
| The Curse Of The Weeping Woman (Wb) | $350,635 | 214 | $1,763,074 |
| The Chaperone (Studiocanal) | $349,785 | 175 | $595,043 |
| Five Feet Apart (Roadshow) | $234,531 | 182 | $7,007,506 |
| The Aftermath (Fox) | $214,879 | 127 | $1,669,444 |
| Little (Universal) | $175,118 | 124 | $2,289,637 |
| Gloria Bell (Roadshow) | $158,222 | 38 | $250,481 |
| Us (Universal) | $110,136 | 84 | $9,256,568 |
| Missing Link (Roadshow) | $83,863 | 249 | $1,076,004 |
| Burning (Palace) | $74,978 | 17 | $383,803 |
| Pet Sematary (Paramount) | $56,293 | 73 | $3,129,982 |
| Kalank (Mindblowing Films) | $55,982 | 65 | $797,908 |
| Woman At War (Hi Gloss Entertainment) | $48,691 | 30 | $356,213 |
| They Shall Not Grow Old (Wb) | $39,660 | 45 | $485,145 |
| The Hummingbird Project (Madman) | $36,968 | 32 | $44,430 |
