Avengers assemble… all the way to the bank! Holy moly, the latest movie to feature our favourite gang of superheroes has made an eye-watering amount of money.
I mean, it goes without saying the blockbuster was always going to match and then exceed box office expectations. But this much? To infinity and beyond! Fans will know what I mean there!
Infinity War has opened with an estimated $630 million worldwide, smashing previous-holder The Fate of the Furious with $542 million.
It also set a new record for an opening weekend at the domestic box office, with a projected $250 million. It’s since overtaken the record set by The Force Awakens, which garnered $248 million.
The movie, which along with Avengers 4, will serve as the grand finale to the MCU, sees Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finally go up against Thanos (Josh Brolin) as he attempts to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet.
To fight off the evil Titan, the three will assemble the biggest Avengers team yet, featuring Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and countless other heroes from across the cinematic universe.
The movies, of course, also star Stan Lee. The OG of Marvel Comics.
Avengers: Infinity War co-director, Joe Russo, confirmed the 95-year-old comic book legend will appear in Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Avengers 4.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Russo – who has previously directed both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War – revealed the plans for Lee’s appearances.
He said:
So, Stan, typically we try to get him out – he doesn’t love to fly – so we try to get him out for his cameos around the same time.
So if we have other movies shooting on the same lot that we’re on, for instance Ant-Man 2 or Avengers 4, we group his cameos together and then move him from one set to the next and kind of get him through his cameos in one day.
But Lee was making cameos long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe came into existence.
He first appeared in 1989’s The Trial of The Incredible Hulk as a juror and has since made screen-time in an incredible 33 superhero films overall.
Most recently, eagle-eyed fans will have spotted Stan taking Black Panther’s chips just after the King walked away from the gambling table.
[UPDATE]
The Initial figure of $630 million has since been revised to $640 million.
