Avengers: Endgame's box office record for the highest-grossing opening weekend in a single market has been dethroned by the Chinese blockbuster Detective Chinatown 3.
According to Deadline, Detective Chinatown 3 grossed $398 million in its opening weekend in China, which was timed to coincide with the Chinese New Year. That box office haul puts it ahead of the $357 million domestic opening weekend of Avengers: Endgame. $23.5 million of Detective Chinatown 3's opening weekend came from IMAX showings, a record for IMAX opening weekend grosses in China. Ticket service Maoyan is projecting an eventual final gross of $750 million.
Also debuting to impressive numbers at the Chinese box office over the weekend was the comedy Hi Mom, which opened to $161 million. Maoyan is projecting that title will gross $700 million in total.
These titles are just two recent examples of the Chinese theatrical box office bouncing back after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shut down theaters for six months. Other recent highlights include The Eight Hundred, which grossed $461.34 million and became the highest-grossing movie at the worldwide box office in 2020, as well as the comedy My People, My Homeland, which amassed $422.39 million.
Avengers: Endgame marked the culmination of "The Infinity Saga," which encapsulated all 23 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to that point. Fans got their first glimpse of the Mad Titan Thanos in a post-credits scene in 2012's The Avengers, teasing his search for the six cosmic Infinity Stones (Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space and Time). Thanos would make brief appearances throughout the MCU before finally confronting Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.
Phase 4 of the MCU is currently underway on Disney+ with WandaVision, the first Marvel Studios original series. It will then be followed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which debuts March 19 on Disney+.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos.
Source: Deadline