Avengers: Endgame smashes global box-office record at $1.2 billion

The historic weekend helps put Disney on course for what analysts say looks like an unparalleled year

Fans around the globe packed movie theaters for the debut of Avengers: Endgame over the weekend, pushing total ticket sales for the Walt Disney superhero spectacle to a stunning $1.2 billion and crushing records in dozens of countries.

Endgame generated an unprecedented $350 million in the US and Canada from Thursday night through Sunday, according to Disney estimates. The three-hour action spectacle that revealed the fates of Iron Man, Thor and other popular comic-book heroes also made history in China, Brazil, France, Egypt, South Africa and 38 other markets. In China, the world's second-largest movie market, Endgame collected $330.5 million