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Avengers: Endgame’s astonishing box office soars past $2 billion

Endgame has surpassed Titanic and now just has Avatar to catch on the all-time charts.

Ant-Man flanked by Hawkeye and Nebula in Avengers: Endgame.
Ant-Man flanked by Hawkeye and Nebula in Avengers: Endgame.
Ant-Man flanked by Hawkeye and Nebula in Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel Studios
Alex Abad-Santos
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.

Avengers: Endgame is now the second-biggest movie in history (unadjusted for inflation), crossing the $2 billion box office benchmark in a record-breaking 11 days.

After spending its second weekend at the top of the charts, with an estimated haul of $146 million domestic and $282 million overseas, Endgame’s total global box office sits at $2.189 billion — surpassing 1997’s Titanic ($2.187 billion) on the list of film’s highest grossers. Further perspective: Only five films have ever reached the $2 billion mark — and none have done so faster than Endgame.

The question now, after the film’s two massive weekend hauls, is if Endgame can catch up with 2009’s Avatar, which remains the highest-grossing movie with an intake of $2.7 billion dollars. Box office insiders believe the enormous Marvel movie could be the movie to surpass Avatar, based on just how quickly Endgame is climbing up the charts. Avatar took 47 days to reach the $2 billion mark, compared to Endgame’s 11 — helped along by its massive $1.2 billion opening weekend, (a record-setting feat that’s already bested Avatar’s opening numbers) — and Endgame is only just now rearing into the third week of its theatrical run. Avatar’s theatrical run lasted 34 weeks.

Endgame’s astonishing haul is the payoff of Marvel Studio’s 11-year strategy of interlocking superhero films. A linchpin for the 22-movie universe was the team-up movies preceding — The Avengers, Age of Ultron, and Infinity War — which all brought in big earnings on their own; Infinity War is also part of the $2 billion club. Endgame has already eclipsed them all, and is nowhere near done yet.

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