Marvel Studio’s Avengers: Endgame on Wednesday shattered Taiwanese box office records by grossing NT$80 million (US$2.59 million) on its first day.
The highly anticipated movie is the highest-grossing film ever on an opening day, the highest-grossing and most-viewed film on a single day, and the highest-selling Disney movie, with the highest number of screening theaters and showtimes, among other records.
The film also grossed HK$18.6 million (US$2.37 million) in Hong Kong, surpassing last year’s, Avengers: Infinity War, in single-day and opening-day box office figures.
Screen grab from the IMDB Web site
The film is anticipated to unseat Avatar — which grossed HK$178 million in 2009 — as the highest-grossing movie ever screened in Hong Kong.
Avengers: Endgame shattered records in China, grossing 535 million yuan (US$79.28 million) on opening day, becoming the fastest movie to reach US$100 million worldwide.
Former premier William Lai (賴清德), who last month registered to run in the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential primary, was seen watching the movie at a theater in Taipei.
Lai posted a “spoiler-free” review on Facebook, saying that fighting against the odds resonated with him and calling Captain America his favorite character.
“Marvel superheroes are people with very different personalities and difficult pasts who oftentimes found themselves at odds, but were able to unite to stand against a great crisis and fight to the best of their abilities for a common cause, not personal gain,” he said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper