'Avengers: Endgame' breaks 144 box office records in $1.2 billion opening weekend

Avengers: Endgame has made a staggering $1.2 billion (£927.6 million) over its extended opening weekend, breaking a baffling number of other box office records in the process.

It beat predecessor Avengers: Infinity War’s opening tally in the US by $100 million, and making $350 million, with a further $330 million coming from the film’s release in China.

Read more: Every MCU film coming after Endgame

But US industry magazine The Wrap has counted 144 box office records broken so far, with the movie demolishing everything from advance ticket sales to opening weekend records around the world.

It’s the largest overseas opening for a movie of all time, and thanks to the massive $330 million from China, it made $859 million outside the US, beating Infinity War’s $640 million.

The blockbuster beat opening weekend records in 44 countries, and it already ranks as the 18th highest grossing movie of all time, after just five days on release.

That means its made more than Captain America: Civil War and Captain Marvel did in their entire theatrical runs.

It also means that breaking Avatar’s $2.7 billion gross from 2009 (adjusted to just over $3 billion with inflation) is well within the movie’s sights, which would make it the highest-grossing movie behind Gone With The Wind, which made $3.7 billion, adjusting for inflation.

Endgame landed to sterling reviews on Thursday, with its Rotten Tomatoes score now settled at a sterling 96 percent approval among critics.

Read more: What the ending of Endgame means for the MCU

The movie is the culmination of 22 films so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing together strands of a story established by the first Iron Man movie, directed by Jon Favreau back in 2008.

Phase Three of the MCU fully concludes with Spider-Man: Far From Home, due out in July.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, and Josh Brolin – and many, many more – it’s out now across the UK.