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?

Indeed, the whole "endgame" line was first teased in 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" but, more directly, was set up when Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange says, "We're in the endgame now" in the third act of "Infinity War." As for the actual filming of "Endgame," the Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios originally planned to shoot it concurrently with "Infinity War."

Somewhat late in the game, they decided to shoot the films back-to-back instead, believing that was the best way to do the massive job before them. That, understandably, resulted in its own brand of chaos. Producer Trinh Tran described the chaos that was the production in the 2021 book "The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

"The first hour would be 'Infinity War' additional photography. The second hour would be 'Endgame,' with five units shooting across the Pinewood Atlanta Studios; The Russos would be running around with two separate filming units, while as many as three second unit directors would be shooting scenes at the same time. Then, at three o'clock, Tran and the Russos Would run across the street to postproduction and take a quick look at an Infinity War sequence that they had spent the entire previous night looking at."

Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had their own challenges. They didn't have a solid plan to get out of what they did at the end of "Infinity War." It wasn't until they entertained the "stupidest' idea they had, which was time travel, that things came together. As Markus explained in the "Endgame" commentary track:

"This [scene] ... sort of mirrors us sitting in a room, trying to figure out how the hell to get out of the corner we wrote ourselves in at the end of 'Infinity War,' and entertaining the idea of a time machine, and then feeling that that was the stupidest idea you could possibly have. But then realizing that the 'Ant-Man' franchise, which we hadn't dealt with yet, had legitimately — if you believe the science — the seeds of a time machine in it, which was a breakthrough."

In 2008 when "Iron Man" became an unlikely hit that birthed the MCU, hardly anyone in the general public was familiar with the character. By 2019? Robert Downey Jr. was the biggest actor in the world and Tony Stark was an icon. Comic book culture had become so mainstream thanks to these films that "Avengers: Endgame" had become the collective cultural event of the year. Hence, the movie's three-hour runtime wasn't an issue as the moviegoing masses were all-in on seeing this story play out.

Naturally, all of Hollywood steered clear of "Endgame" when it hit theaters on April 26, 2019, exactly one year after "Infinity War" opened. Naturally, tracking was through the roof and estimates had the film pulling in as much as $800 million worldwide on its opening weekend alone. It turns out, those projections were wildly conservative. The Russo Brothers' giant superhero crossover opened to a record-shattering $357 million domestically. Globally, "Endgame" opened to an insane $1.2 billion. When we consider that only 54 movies have ever made $1 billion or more in their entire theatrical runs, that is difficult to grasp.

Even against a gigantic budget in the $350 million range (plus a gigantic marketing spend), the film was pretty much in profits by the time Monday morning rolled around. Yes, the Marvel Comics epic dropped nearly 59% in its second weekend, but that still amounted to $147 million domestically. Most movies would kill for that kind of money on opening weekend. To say that it was a hit would be an insulting understatement.

The world had never seen such feverish demand for a movie at the outset. It was a cultural phenomenon without comparison. The only thing that even came close was when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" arrived in 2015. For what it's worth, that movie still holds the global domestic box office record with $936 million.

Looking back, it's dizzying to consider what the average movie can learn from "Avengers: Endgame." The fact that it came together at all is nothing shy of a miracle. The fact that it's widely considered to be a great movie on top of the fact that it merely exists? Incredible. It's a specific confluence of events that may never, ever happen again. For those who lived through it, we're probably looking at one of those "you had to be there" moments we'll all be telling the younger generation someday.

Looking at the state of the MCU five years later, there is one key lesson here worth examining. Part of what made "Endgame" so effective is that it felt like a true event that had been earned by years of cinematic storytelling. It also felt like the closest thing to a conclusion we were ever going to get. Were it not for the pandemic delaying "Black Widow" and the rest of Phase 4, the MCU would have just rolled right along. Even with the pandemic delay, the MCU has struggled, by and large, to achieve such heights again.

Yes, we had "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in 2021 pulling in $1.9 billion worldwide. That's in no small part because that film, in its own right, was teed up as the conclusion of nearly 20 years worth of Spidey on the big screen. Other than that, we've had more misfires such as "Eternals" or last year's disastrous "The Marvels." The MCU has struggled to find an identity in the post-Infinity Saga years.

I'm keenly aware that the money machine that is Disney would never allow it, but there's something to be said for taking a break. If Marvel ever wants to find its way back to the palpable excitement audiences once had for these characters and this universe, they need to have a second to breathe. Audiences need to have the chance to want it again.