‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’ SHATTERS MULTIPLE RECORDS – (04/29/2019)

Avengers: Endgame is blowing past even the most seemingly optimistic predictions for opening weekend. After earning the widest release in history (4,662 screens!) the Disney-Marvel film garnered $158 million on its opening day alone, 32% higher than the previous record held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. (The 2015 release snagged $119.1 million). 

Endgame was also the fastest film to gross $100 million domestically, reaching that milestone after 17 hours. The previous record was held by Avengers: Infinity War, which snagged $100 million in 21 hours.

While final tallies are still being finalized, but observers estimate the opening weekend will blow past $350 million, beating the previous record of $257.6 million, or 34%. Avengers: Endgame is also the first ever film to gross $1 billion in its opener, and is on target to become the fifth film to gross $2 billion worldwide.

Other tidbits…

• Biggest opening weekend in history for a film domestically and globally.
• The Wrap claims the movie has broken 144 different box office records.
• The movie was shown 58,000 times this past weekend breaking the record of 48,000 by “Avengers: Infinity War”.
• Earned a record $109 million on Saturday beating the old record held by “Avengers: Infinity War” ($82.1 million)
• The movie cost $356 million to produce and promote
• It took “Avengers: Infinity War” 11 days to break $1 billion

Hooray for Hollywood: Here are this past weekend’s box office results.

1. Avengers: Endgame — $350 million
2. Captain Marvel — $8.1 million
3. The Curse of La Llorona  — $7.5 million
4. Breakthrough— $6.3 million
5. Shazam!— $5.5 million
6. Little— $3.4 million
7. Dumbo — $3.2 million
8. Pet Sematary— $1.3 million
9. Us— $1.1 million
10. Penguins— $1 million

We finally know Taylor Swift’s big surprise – her new single “ME!”, which became available shortly after midnight along with the video. The song is off her upcoming seventh studio album.

Swift appeared with ABC’s Robin Roberts during the NFL draft’s first round, which was a clue she left her followers on Instagram. “Next clue: I’ll be joining the magnificent @robinrobertsgma for a chat tonight on ABC live from Nashville,” she said.

The singer confirmed yesterday that her new track features Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie.

[“It’s going to be a new song and music video. The song is called “ME!” . . . and it’s featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco.”]

Swift said “ME!” highlights individuality and empowering people to be themselves:

[“‘ME!’ is a song about embracing your individuality and really celebrating it and owning it. I think that, with a pop song, we have the ability to get a melody stuck in people’s heads, and I just want it to be one that makes them feel better about themselves.”]

The star praised her fans for also making her feel better about herself and caring so much that it inspires her to have fun with music. Speaking of her fans, she said:

[“The fans are amazing. I cannot believe how dedicated they are, how thoughtful, I can’t believe how much they care.”]

Swift explained that is why she goes to so much effort to create Easter eggs and other fun secret things for fans to discover:

[“You have no idea how fun it is to make stuff for people who care about it that much.”]

Earlier Thursday, Swift did just that when she popped by the Gulch area to take photos at a mural in Nashville painted by artist Kelsey Montague and and give fans yet another clue.

Fans began gathering at the colorful mural of angel wings – which has been rumored to be somehow Swift-related for weeks – in the morning and watched Montague add a “ME!” to the center of her artwork.

Signing autographs and posing for selfies with her fans after her arrival, Swift commended her Swifties for realizing she was going to be making a visit.

“You guys are amazing for figuring this out because no one knew we were coming. No one knew this was a part of the campaign and what we’re doing, so you figured out the clue,” she said. “You’re the best. I love you so much.”

Swift has been teasing fresh music for weeks. She set tongues wagging on April 13th when she shared an Instagram Story photo of a countdown clock set to April 26th. Fans theorized in February she would soon release her new project. The most devoted found clues in Swift’s Instagram posts, which signaled that her seventh studio album was on the horizon. One such hint included an Instagram post of six palm trees, along with a caption that featured seven palm tree emojis.

Taylor also added pastel accents to her wardrobe recently. Swift was even spotted wearing a sweatshirt with her name printed on the sleeve on April 22nd, which some believed could be merchandise to accompany the album.

Brendon Urie took to Instagram to share his thoughts about Swift following the release of their new song. “Wait. This really happened?!” he wrote along with a photo of the duo. “Like for real?!?!”

“Well I can’t begin to describe how incredible it has been to work on this song and video,” he continued. “So I will simply say: Thank you @taylorswift for allowing me to be a part of your beautiful story.”

Swift released her last album, Reputation, in 2017.

Avengers: Endgame is set to drop this weekend, and the film will wrap up the plot lines for the Marvel Universe’s previous 22 films.

The film premiered in L.A. Monday, and while attendees didn’t spill any spoilers, they did seem pretty psyched—and emotional—after the film. Angie J. Han tweeted that the film “is an immensely satisfying payoff, not just to Infinity War but to all the films that came before.”

Rob Keyes echoed the sentiment, tweeting: “Just watched Avengers: Endgame. I don’t believe hyperbole is possible for this movie. It is the ultimate Marvel movie in every way possible and words cannot describe how epic it is.”

But have you heard about the next Avengers film? It debuts in the summer of 2020 and we have exclusive audio from the trailer. It’s a prequel to everything that has happened in the Marvel Universe. Enjoy!

(This is clearly a parody and we are just having fun until the real Avengers: Endgame comes out. Relax!)