Full Avengers: Infinity War Box Office Analysis | UK Box Office Report Apr 27-29th 2018

Posted on by Joseph Wade

Avengers: Infinity War has wielded the power of the infinity gauntlet to crush all in its path and establish a new highest grossing opening weekend of 2018, hitting £23million across its four days of release and leaving all other films in its planet-sized shadow. Here are the top 5 films at the UK box office for the weekend of April 27th-29th 2018:

The actual total for the opening weekend of Avengers: Infinity War is £23,100,677, the highest grossing opening weekend at the UK box office of any Marvel Studios release, and by far the highest grossing opening of any superhero film released since the beginning of 2016.

Here’s a chart of the opening weekends of every Marvel Studios film to date:

  1. Avengers: Infinity War – Apr 2018 – £23.1million
  2. Avengers: Age of Ultron – Apr 2015 – £18million
  3. Black Panther – Feb 2018 – £17.7million
  4. Avengers Assemble – Apr 2012 – £15.8million
  5. Captain America: Civil War – Apr 2016 – £14.5million
  6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Apr 2017 – £13.1million
  7. Thor: Ragnarok – Oct 2017 – £12.million
  8. Iron Man 3 – Apr 2013 – £11.4million
  9. Spider-Man: Homecoming – July 2017 – £9.4million
  10. Doctor Strange – Oct 2016 – £9.3million
  11. Thor: The Dark World – Nov 2013 – £8.7million
  12. Iron Man 2 – Apr 2010 – £7.7million
  13. Guardians of the Galaxy – July 2014 – £6.4million
  14. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Mar 2014 – £6million
  15. Iron Man – May 2008 – £5.4million
  16. Thor – Apr 2011 – £5.4million
  17. Ant-Man – July 2015 – £4million
  18. The Incredible Hulk – June 2008 – £3.25million
  19. Captain America: The First Avenger – July 2011 – £3million

Here’s a chart of the opening weekends of every superhero film released 2016-present:

  1. Avengers: Infinity War – Apr 2018 – £23.1million
  2. Black Panther – Feb 2018 – £17.7million
  3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Mar 2016 – £14.6million
  4. Captain America: Civil War – Apr 2016 – £14.5million
  5. Deadpool – Feb 2016 – £13.7million
  6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Apr 2017 – £13.1million
  7. Thor: Ragnarok – Oct 2017 – £12.4million
  8. Logan – Mar 2017 – £11.9million
  9. Suicide Squad – Aug 2016 – £11.3million
  10. Spider-Man: Homecoming – July 2017 – £9.4million
  11. Doctor Strange – Oct 2016 – £9.3million
  12. Kingsman: The Golden Circle – Sept 2017 – £8.5million
  13. LEGO Batman – Feb 2017 – £7.9million
  14. X-Men: Apocalypse – May 2016 – £7.4million
  15. Justice League – Nov 2017 – £7.3million
  16. Wonder Woman – May 2017 – £6.2million

Including Thursday previews, the overall box office accumulation for Infinity War is £29.4million, making it the third highest grossing movie of 2018 after just four days of release, sitting behind only Peter Rabbit and fellow Marvel release Black Panther in the overall charts.

Infinity War has therefore had the third highest grossing opening weekend in the history of the UK box office, sitting only behind Spectre (£43.1million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£34million) when including previews, and behind only The Force Awakens (£24.3million) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (£23.8million) when not including previews.



In North America, the story is even better for Infinity War as the latest Avengers movie set all-time record high totals for Saturday and Sunday to accumulate $257,698,183 (£189million) in its opening weekend, setting the new record for an opening total in the region, surpassing former record holder Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ accumulation of $247.9million (£182million). In total, the movie earned 84.3% of all box office takings in North America over the weekend, the 2nd highest percentage ever behind only Avengers: Age of Ultron which set the record of 84.5% in May 2015.

All combined, Avengers: Infinity War took the historic mantle of highest grossing opening weekend of all time in a worldwide context, taking $640million (£470million), just under $100million (£73.4million) more than previous record holder The Fate of the Furious (2017) and around $110million more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned in 2015. Somewhat remarkably, Infinity War achieved this record despite not yet being released in China – a market that was vital to the total The Fate of the Furious reached in 2017 – with the film being held back for a further 2 weeks. If Infinity War does nearly as strongly as its Avengers predecessor Age of Ultron did in the country ($260million), then the film will be way beyond $1billion by mid-May, and given solid staying power could become the highest grossing movie in history when all is said and done.

Elsewhere in the top 5, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society found success as an alternative to the big superhero movie of the weekend, earning more in its 2nd weekend at the UK box office than it did in its debut weekend, taking £968,681 compared to £825,777. The movie, promoted as being from the producers of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, is clearly being aimed at an alternative audience to that of the superhero action team-up, and upon setting such a hold in its 2nd weekend is proving that it could be around for at least a few more weeks, raising the possibility of the little known British movie topping up further its already quite impressive £3,043,623 total accumulation.



Here are the 15 highest grossing movies at the UK box office for the weekend of 27th-29th April 2018:

  1. Avengers: Infinity War – weeks on release: 1 – weekend: £23,100,677 – total: £29,400,000
  2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society – 2 – £968,681 – £3,034,623
  3. A Quiet Place – 4 – £920,235 – £9,871,073
  4. Rampage – 3 – £735,856 – £7,816,910
  5. Peter Rabbit – 7 – £585,713 – £39,634,873
  6. The Greatest Showman – 18 – £300,947 – £45,974,245
  7. Truth or Dare – 3 – £246,426 – £2,193,619
  8. Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982) – £225,428 – £2,079,998
  9. Cendrillon – Met Opera 2018 – 1 – £212,366 – £212,366
  10. Ready Player One – 5 – £203,129 – £15,884,060
  11. Black Panther – 11 – £185,217 – £50,205,573
  12. Beast – 1 – £166,295 – £166,295
  13. Duck Duck Goose – 5 – £143,716 – £3,530,841
  14. Love, Simon – 4 – £143,540 – £3,540,552
  15. Isle of Dogs – 5 – £120,808 – £5,735,046

The biggest news from further down the chart is the sudden and substantial drop-off of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, which dropped around 65% between its 4th and 5th weekends to move from 4th in the chart to 10th in one fell swoop; likely signifying the end of its box office chart run this coming weekend. The likely explanation for such a drop off is the arrival of Avengers: Infinity War at competing screens in some of the country’s biggest multiplexes, but does signify that Ready Player One will likely top out at £16million here in the UK. Worldwide, the film has done pretty well for Warner Bros, so far accumulating $545million (£400million) in spite of its debut coming at a time of the year where box office success is not usually guaranteed. This current total is just over 3-times that of its production cost, signifying a success as far as original action-scifi movies go in the contemporary marketplace.

In contrast to Ready Player One’s drop-off however is the performance of The Greatest Showman which seems to defy the odds week after week to stay in the top 10, this weekend rising from 7th to 6th with a total of £300,947, only £3,500 less than it made last week – the 17th weekend of its run. Should the Hugh Jackman starring musical land a top 10 spot again this coming weekend, it will mark 19 weekends and 5 entire months as a top 10 box office hit and likely surpass the £46.4million takings of Despicable Me 3 to become the 4th highest grossing 2017 release here in the UK.

And finally, Marvel’s other blockbuster box office hit Black Panther also set a landmark this week, surpassing a total accumulation of £50million to make it the 4th highest grossing movie of the past few years, behind only Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£82.2million), Beauty and the Beast (£67million) and Dunkirk (£55.9million), though it is seemingly on its last legs.

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