Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War has just hit theaters internationally starting last Friday, astonishingly the film has already broken records in Canada on its opening weekend, making it the highest grossing weekend opening film in Canadian history.
CGmagazine got the opportunity to talk to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada’s VP of Marketing, Greg Mason regarding the stellar record-breaking opening weekend numbers of Avengers Infinity War.
In fact, Mason graciously told us that Infinity War has broken Disney’s initial expectations of a projected $19.3MM and has made an astonishing $19.7MM in its opening weekend in Canada.
When asked about bolstering marvel as number 1 within the film industry, only next to other big Disney properties such as Star Wars, Mason said that they were thrilled at Disney, stating, “I will tell you, it’s just amazing, we’re absolutely thrilled with the results and I think its the culmination of so much.”
Mason added, “Obviously, Joe and Anthony Russo made a fabulous film that people wanted to see, but it’s also a credit to people like Ryan Coogler and Taika Waititi and all the other filmmakers which all helped build up to this, I can’t think of any other cinematic experience that has you know, built up to such a big film.”
When asked about if the revenue generated thus far are sustainable, Mason jokingly said that he’s going to enjoy the weekend, however, he did add, “Black Panther certainly widened the audience and that the Avengers means so much to so many folks, and one of the biggest appealing parts of Avengers Infinity War, at least for myself personally, was seeing the different matchups, like being able to see Thor with the Guardians and Doctor Strange with Spider-Man, you know all the permutations and combinations that we never saw before were really special and I am really looking forward to more of that in the future.”
When asked about the positive praise of the movie and if Disney expected the numbers going forward or did the movie exceed expectations, Mason commented, stating, ” This definitely exceeded expectations, we certainly had high hopes for the film, but to have the number one opening of all time, this was beyond our expectations, so we’re absolutely thrilled with the numbers.”
Finally, when asked about if Disney perceives Marvel as a global brand after numbers for Infinity War seem to globally match or in the case of Canada, exceed exceptions, Mason responded with, “Absolutely, the Marvel brand is incredibly strong both in Canada and other countries, we are very fortunate to have the Marvel brand and the Lucas arts brand, even our animators and Pixar folks are doing incredibly well, it’s a very special time at the Walt Disney company and we will look back on this in years to be able to sort of say that Disney has done an incredible job, and I’m not trying to toot our own horn, I just feel incredibly lucky to work on these properties with such amazing filmmakers and studio executives.
With the continued success of new movies based on properties such as Black Panther and more ambitious projects such as Infinity War paying off for Disney, it truly is an exciting time to be a fan of superhero movies going forward. A breakdown of the top 5 weekend opening movies from Disney Studios in Canada can be read below:
1. Avengers: Infinity War – $19.7MM
(From an initial projection of 19.3MM)
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – $18.6MM
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi – $17.2MM
4. Marvel’s The Avengers – $15.6MM
5. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – $13.8 MM
Liked this article and want to read more like it? Check out more of Brendan Frye’s work such as his interview with EA Motive about Star Wars: Battlefront II, and his in-depth look at the Equifax Hack!
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