In the wake of Avengers: Endgame’s record-breaking debut, Mark Ruffalo has shared a message thanking both his fans and all the theater employees who had to work over this very busy weekend.
In a new tweet, the Hulk actor shared the film’s latest TV spot (which arguably spoils more from the movie than Ruffalo ever did), along with the following message:
“Thank you to everyone that went to see #Endgame is weekend, reminding us how great it is to watch movies with others. And a special thank you to the people working at theaters this weekend. Love you 3000”
As those of you who’ve seen Endgame will know (and if you haven’t, then maybe skip to the next paragraph), that last sentence is a reference to a line from Morgan Stark, who says she loves her father 3000 in one of the earliest scenes of the Avengers: Infinity War sequel. Tony later repeats the line back to his daughter near the end of the movie in a recorded message.
But going back to Ruffalo’s remark about cinema employees, it’s true that a lot of people were working some long, late and hectic hours in these last few days. In fact, Anthony and Joe Russo’s latest film now holds the record for widest domestic release of all time, coming out in a total of 4,662 theaters. On top of that, 18 AMC theaters were open nonstop Thursday through Saturday, while an additional 17 locations kept going into Sunday, staying open for 72 hours straight.
As a result, Avengers: Endgame finished its first weekend with a domestic haul of $356 million and a worldwide total of $1.222 billion. A phenomenal start, to say the least, but it’ll be interesting to see how well the film sustains its success, now that the initial rush is over.