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We’re finally starting to see bigger opening weekend grosses again, but looking back at AVENGERS: ENDGAME, which premiered in L.A. Apr. 22, 2019 and opened domestically four days later to $357.1M, shows how times have changed.

Although Disney/Marvel’s ENDGAME ticket sales weren’t typical for their day, its huge boxoffice impact left Hollywood thinking the sky was, indeed, the limit to what a film could gross that delivered what moviegoers really wanted to see.

Of course, since then the global COVID pandemic and the subsequent rise of streaming have moved the theatrical fences way in. Domestic launches like Universal/Nintendo/Illumination Entertainment’s THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE just had to $131.7M are now considered fabulous and a welcome sign that exhibition is alive and well.

ENDGAME’s domestic impact began before its phenomenal debut. As soon as Fandango started selling seats, it became the service’s biggest pre-sale title ever and crashed its website. With so many sold-out shows, AMC, Regal & Cinemark quickly added overnight screenings to accommodate moviegoer demand.

ENDGAME, which reportedly cost $356M to produce, did $2.799B worldwide. It became the all-time top grossing movie (not adjusted for inflation) by edging past 20th Century-Fox’s 2009 epic AVATAR with $2.789B at the time. After a re-release in China in March 2021, AVATAR regained the boxoffice crown by adding another $57,995,770 in ticket sales.

Originally, ENDGAME was going to be called AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, PART II and 2018’s AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR was to have been  AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, PART I. Both films were to be directed by Anthony & Joe Russo, but they told different stories. They were given their own identities, according to Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, because despite shared elements he didn’t feel they were “one story that’s cut in half. I would say it’s going to be two distinct movies.”

The film’s first trailer, released Dec. 7, 2018, made it official that ENDGAME was the title. The studio made the most of it by calling that trailer “Marvel Studios’ Avengers – Official Trailer,” without mentioning the title to surprise fans by revealing ENDGAME at the very end.

ENDGAME’s domestic release date was to have been May 3, but it was moved to April 26 in line with what Marvel had done with INFINITY WAR, which opened Apr. 27, 2018. Those date changes reportedly were meant to keep key storyline points from leaking after earlier international showings. The Russo Brothers asked in an online campaign #DontSpoilTheEndgame & #ThanosDemandsYourSilence that fans not reveal any ENDGAME spoilers.

Those spoilers are now well known to Avengers fans, so they won’t be an issue when Disney re-releases ENDGAME in theatres 9/25. But avoiding spoilers will be a likely concern when the new AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY hits theatres 12/18.