The movie's total haul includes nearly $370 million from China, where Infinity War is the third-biggest Western film of all time.

In terms of the other members of the $2 billion club, Avatar ($2.788 billion), Titanic ($2.188 billion) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.068 billion) were all released over the year-end holidays, when many adults take time off from work and students of all ages are sprung from classes. Those three films were released in 2009, 1997 and 2015, respectively.

Also, year-end event pics can do huge carryover business in January, a tentpole-free corridor.

Before Infinity War came along, Universal's Jurassic World, released in summer 2015, was the fourth-biggest release of all time with $1.672 billion. The sequel to that film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is set to unfurl June 22 in North American theaters. The pic has already begun rolling out overseas, opening to a rousing $151 million over the June 8-10 weekend.

The untitled sequel to Avengers: Infinity War is scheduled for a May 3, 2019, release. The two films were shot back to back.