DIS Walt Disney Co

By Erich Schwartzel 

LOS ANGELES -- Less than a day after it began screening for audiences, Walt Disney Co.'s "Avengers: Endgame" is already on its way toward a record-setting opening weekend.

The Marvel Studios blockbuster collected a record $60 million from Thursday evening screenings in the U.S. and Canada, Disney said Friday, besting the previous record -- set by Disney's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in 2015 -- by $3 million.

Box-office analysts expect "Endgame" to collect around $275 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, with some estimates approaching $300 million. Either way, it is widely expected to beat the record held by last year's "Avengers: Infinity War," which opened to $258 million.

"Avengers: Endgame" wraps up several story lines that have pulled in audiences since 2008's "Iron Man" kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an interconnected series of superhero epics spanning 21 movies. The series' success has been the envy of Hollywood, prompting other studios to seek franchises of their own.

Demand for the movie -- and its three-hour running time -- have forced exhibitors to turn over an unprecedented number of auditoriums to the movie. "Endgame" will play on about 50% of all screens in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, estimates analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners. Some theaters are playing the movie for 72 hours straight.

The nation's largest exhibitor, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., said Friday "Endgame" was screening a record 58,000 times at its theaters this weekend, more than 10,000 more showings than "Infinity War" had in its debut. Fandango, the top movie-ticketing site, reported this week there were more than 8,000 sold-out screenings of the movie heading into the weekend.

"Avengers: Endgame" began screening in some foreign markets earlier this week, and has collected an additional $305 million from international audiences so far.

Leading the pack: China, where its two-day gross hit $154.5 million. That puts "Endgame" on track to become the highest-grossing Hollywood import of all time in the market. The current record is held by 2017's "The Fate of the Furious," which grossed $393 million there.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 26, 2019 11:33 ET (15:33 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.