Although it’s already been a record-breaking year at the ticket booth for Marvel Studios, the taste of victory got even sweeter yesterday when the Disney subsidiary saw its total revenue soar over $3 billion at the worldwide box office, a personal best.
That’s right, barely six months into 2018 and the MCU has efficiently made work of the previous record holder, $2.6 billion, set in 2017 (thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok).
The current haul for Marvel Studios in 2018 stands at $3.03B, earned by Black Panther ($1.34B) and Avengers: Infinity War ($1.69B). Unbelievably, the motion picture studio has yet to release Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6th), their third and final entry of the year. While undeniably not the strongest movie to close out a banner on, expect the Peyton Reed-directed sequel to contribute significantly, nonetheless.
Over the last week alone, Avengers: Infinity War opened to $200 million-plus in China, and outstripped Jurassic World ($1.672B) as the highest-earning summer film ($1.675B). Having grossed an unprecedented $250 million-plus stateside opening weekend, and subsequently becoming the fastest film to reach the $1 billion plateau, Infinity War appears destined to eclipse the $2 billion mark at this point.
Unfortunately, we won’t get to see Earth’s Mightiest Heroes reunite on the big screen – well, what’s left of them – until next year. Colloquially referred to as Avengers 4, apart from a release date of May 3rd, 2019, and that co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo will be returning behind the camera, not much is known about the twenty-second MCU installment.
However, co-writer of Avengers: Infinity War, Stephen McFeely, stated the other week that the star-spangled man himself, Captain America, will have a “very intense arc” in the upcoming sequel. So, those disappointed that Steve Rogers didn’t get much of the spotlight the last time we saw him on the big screen should be pleased with how the character is handled in next May’s blockbuster.
