'Avengers: Infinity War' Friday box office beats most movies' opening weekends
There's a bigger box office story to come for Avengers: Infinity War, but for now let's look at opening day.
Disney estimates a Friday box office total of $106 million in the United States, capping off what started as a record preview performance on Thursday night. It's the second-largest first day performance ever for a domestic release, slotting in between two Star Wars movies: The Last Jedi ($104 million) and The Force Awakens ($119 million).
Here's the stat that will really boggle your mind: Only 42 domestic releases to date have managed to earn more than $106 million across their entire opening weekends. Infinity War earned more in one day than The Jungle Book (2016), Wonder Woman, and many other Hollywood megahits did in their first three days.
Putting it another way: Infinity War pulled in $73,611.11 per minute on Friday.
The Avengers opening day also marked another big milestone for Disney: 117 days into the year, the company's combined releases have amassed more than $1 billion in domestic ticket sales. It's the fastest ever for Disney, the studio notes, beating 2016's 128 days to reach the same point.
(In related news, Disney movies make a shit-ton of money.)
In case it's not clear, the latest Avengers is on the road to a record-setting opening weekend. Disney's current estimate expects the weekend to close somewhere between $225 million and $240 million, which would make Infinity War's first weekend the second-biggest of all time in U.S. theaters.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
