Avengers: Endgame just broke the record for the biggest opening weekend ever. This was 100% expected, as everybody knew Endgame would top the record Infinity War set last year at 257 Million. What was not expected was how Endgame completely decimated that record. A few though Endgame had a chance at cracking 300 million, including yours truly, but NOONE foresaw what looks to be a mind boggling 360 million weekend from Endgame, which would top the previous record by over 100 Million!
What makes that so newsworthy is that breaking the opening weekend record is not actually something that is a rare feat. Not at all in fact. In 1975 Jaws set the opening weekend record when it made $7 million in its first three days. Yes, 7 million was the record which seems laughable now. Endgame recently became the 28th movie to break the previous record holder in 44 years. Do the math and that means the opening weekend record gets broken on average about once every 1.5 years. What is incredible about what Endgame did this weekend is that the opening weekend record has never lasted for more than 4 years without being broken but Endgame just decimated the previous record by so much it feels out of reach for a long time. I'd say theres a good chance it will be the first movie ever to hold the opening weekend record for more than 4 years and I'd bet it will last at least ten years, which is unprecedented.
Why does the opening weekend record get broken so often? There are a lot of factors but three very major ones.
1. Social media gets bigger and more popular every year. In the technology age, even waiting a week to see a movie feels too long as the potential to run across spoilers is dangerous and everyone wants to join in online discussions of the movie. No one wants to feel left out so they rush to see the movie right away.
2. As recently as twenty years ago movies opened on Friday mornings and that was the way it was. Then midnight screenings came into the picture and gave movies more time to make more money on opening weekend. Then about 7 years ago studios just started playing new movies on Thursday nights and called it "preview night." This basically gives movies a whole extra day to make money opening weekend than they used to get. The first playings of Endgame were at 6PM on Thursday.
3. Increase in ticket prices: This one is obvious. Movie ticket prices have skyrocketed since 1975, even since 2000. The average ticket price in 2019 is $9.01, in 2009 it was $7.50 and in 1999 it was $5.08.
Here are some notable movies to break the record, how much they made and also in parentheses how much they would have made if the average ticket price had been $9.01 like they are for Endgame.
1981: Superman 2. 14 Million (45 Million)
1983-Return of the Jedi: 21 Million (96 Million)
1989-Batman: 40 Million (96 Million)
1993-Jurassic Park: 47 Million (109 Million)
2001-Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone: 90 Million (143 Million)
2002-Spider-Man: 114 Million (178 Million) (First movie to make 100 Million Opening Weekend)
2006-Pirates of the Carribean 2: 135 Million (186 Million)
2007-Spider-Man 3: 151 Million (197 Million)
2008-The Dark Knight: 158 Million (198 Million)
2011-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 169 Million (191 Million)
2012-The Avengers: 207 Million (230 Million) (First movie to make 200 Million Opening Weekend)
2015-Jurassic World: 208 Million (228 Million)
2015: Star Wars Episode 7: 247 Million (256 Million)
2018: Avengers: Infinity War: 257 Million (247 Million), yes the average movie ticket has gone down since last year.
2019: Avengers: Endgame: 357 Million (First movie to make 300 Million Opening weekend)
As you can see, even if you give every movie 2019 ticket prices, none of them come even with 100 million of endgame, really putting into perspective how unreal this opening weekend is. When will it be topped? I am betting on 2030 at the earliest.
No comments:
Post a Comment