“Avengers: Endgame” Moves to No. 2 All-Time

By Kip Mooney • On • In Weekend Box Office Report Weekend Box Office Report Comments Off on “Avengers: Endgame” Moves to No. 2 All-Time

BOX OFFICE REPORT

May 3-5, 2019

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Avengers: Endgame  $145.8 million
The Intruder $11.0 million
Long Shot  $10.0 million
UglyDolls $8.5 million
Captain Marvel  $4.2 million

Though it's probably done breaking any weekend records, Avengers: Endgame is still shooting up into the sky like Captain Marvel. Endgame took in an estimated $145.8 million, that's the second-biggest second weekend of all time after Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Stateside, it's nearly past the original Avengers, which was the third-biggest movie ever when it finished its run in 2012. Now Endgame will beat that in 11 days. By next weekend, it will have passed Black Panther to be the biggest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and thus the biggest comic book movie ever). That means it will have just Avatar and The Force Awakens to top, though topping either will be tough. Internationally, it's the second-biggest movie of all-time, the same spot once you factor in the North American take. But unseating Avatar will take some doing, as it will have serious competition starting next week.

Of the new releases, none did very well. Surprisingly, it was the ridiculous-looking thriller The Intruder that audiences flocked to. The film featured Dennis Quaid as a former homeowner who terrorizes the couple who moves into his old place. Despite terrible reviews, the film earned around $11 million, already exceeding its $8 million budget. Long Shot only managed $10 million, which is truly disappointing, considering its crowd-pleasing premise and excellent cast. It's seeming more and more likely that movies for adults – at least those that aren't poised to win awards – are doomed at the box office.

UglyDolls had a truly hideous opening. Not even kids wanted to see this, as it took in just $8.5 million. That's not quite as bad as I predicted last week. (It's not on the level of Strange Magic or Battle for Terra, but still atrocious.) Even with home video and a streaming series coming soon, this was far from the success STX was hoping for. Captain Marvel made it nine weeks in the top 5. Only Black Panther, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Star Wars: The Force Awakens have managed that recently.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Non-Fiction, the latest dramedy from Juliette Binoche and writer-director Olivier Assayas. The French film averaged $14,528 on its pair of screens.
  • El Chicano had the second-worst opening of 2019 (after Teen Spirit), taking in just $700,000 on more than 600 screens.
  • Even with the higher ticket prices and the momentum Stephen King adaptations seem to be having, the new Pet Sematary won't make as much as the 1989 version. The remake will finish a few million shy of the original.

Next week: 

Avengers: Endgame might fall from No. 1, but it depends on how much its main competitor can pull off. Detective Pikachu has been one of the biggest question marks of the summer. Will it bring together fans young and old, and be a huge international hit? Or will it be a mere nostalgia exercise like Power Rangers, starting off strong, but forgotten almost immediately? I'm going with the former, betting on an opening in the $75-80 million range. That should be enough to take the top spot. None of the other competitors – The Hustle, Poms or Tolkien – will have an impact.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.