Marvel’s ‘Infinity War’ takes historic spot at top of movie charts

Fresh off the success of Black Panther, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War is off to a record-breaking start, making history, with a $250 million opening weekend. It’s the biggest opening of all time, beating the record of $248 million previously held by 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were talking about the box office dominance of Black Panther, but this new Marvel blockbuster — which features the Wakandan heroes — appears to be out to smash all previous records.

The movie — the 19th Marvel hero film — brings together an all-star cast of Marvel heroes, including Black Panther, Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy to take on Thanos as he collects the powerful Infinity Stones.

The film has also brought in $380 million internationally, for a total of $630 million worldwide, which is a new global record. Infinity War is one of six films in history to top $200 million in its opening weekend, joining The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jurassic World, The Avengers, and, of course, Black Panther.

Speaking of Black Panther, nearly 3 months after its release, it is still No. 5 in theaters with $4.4 million this weekend so far. It has grossed $688 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.

“This isn’t an old franchise that their parents saw when they were 20,” Greg Foster, head of entertainment for IMAX, told the Associated Press. IMAX screenings accounted for a record $41 million of the weekend’s global ticket sales.

“This is theirs. The Marvel universe is the group of characters that this generation owns.”