Avengers: Endgame, the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, unsurprisingly, a big hit. Though it was all but guaranteed that the movie would have a huge opening based on hype alone, it has gone above and beyond, breaking the record for the largest opening weekend in history. Raking in around $1.2 billion, Endgame nearly doubles previous series entry Infinity War’s opening numbers – that film made around $640 million in its opening weekend, which was, at the time, the highest grossing opening weekend ever.

Disney themselves announced the news that the film had surpassed the $1 billion mark, making it the first ever to do so on release, and one of less than 40 to do so during their entire theatrical run. Endgame currently sits in the top 20 highest grossing films ever, despite only having been in theatres for three days.

Disney also owns the rights to the Star Wars series, with the trilogy-ending The Rise of Skywalker releasing in December. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is one of only four films in history to surpass $2 billion in gross revenue, sitting just above Infinity War, and The Rise of Skywalker is expected to perform at a comparable level, making it likely that both of the year’s highest grossing films, and, in fact, many of the highest grossing films in history, will have been produced by the same company.

Endgame has received praise from fans and critics, garnering mostly positive reviews, and inspiring an outpouring of emotion from devoted fans, marking the end of an era for Marvel films. You can read our review of the film here.