5 Years Ago, Avengers: Endgame Took The MCU To A Record-Shattering Box Office Peak
(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)
“No amount of money ever bought a second of time.” Those are the words uttered by Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in “Avengers: Endgame” during a pivotal scene after he traveled back in time to save the world, only to run into his own father. It’s true, money can’t buy time. But in 2019, audiences shelled out money in record-breaking amounts to spend lots of time in movie theaters all around the world to see the conclusion to the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to that point. Money, in this case, bought something like 10,800 seconds of shared experience the likes of which hasn’t been seen before or since.
By 2019, the MCU had become the single most popular franchise in the history of cinema by weaving together disparate, individual franchises for big crossover events, with 2012’s “The Avengers” serving as a proof of concept that redefined blockbuster filmmaking. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had a vision, and that vision captured the attention of millions of people around the world. Those people were so wrapped up in these heroes and their battle with the Mad Titan known as Thanos that they were about to make history by turning out in droves to bring the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and moviegoing as a collective activity — to its cultural peak.
In this week’s Tales from the Box Office, we’re looking back at “Avengers: Endgame” in honor of its fifth anniversary. We’ll go over how “Infinity War” set sky-high expectations for the follow-up, what happened when the movie hit theaters, how it briefly held a record that was stolen back by James Cameron in short order, and what lessons we can learn from it several years removed. Let’s dig in, shall we?