NEW YORK (AP) — "Avengers: Infinity War" is poised to set a record for fastest film to rake in $1 billion in business.

The Walt Disney Co. said Saturday that the Marvel superhero saga had earned just under $975 million in global box office through Friday. Since the film earned nearly $70 million on Friday alone, the studio is confident it will pass the billion-dollar mark on Saturday, in 11 days.

The previous record of fastest time for a movie to make a $1 billion was 12 days for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

The star-stuffed "Infinity Wars" features Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, and Chadwick Boseman, whose "Black Panther" movie has made more than $1.3 billion and remains in theaters.

This story has been corrected to show that the film's title is "Avengers: Infinity War" not "Avengers: Infinity Wars." </s> Iron Man, Captain America and Thanos reached the billion-dollar club in record time.

Disney's "Avengers: Infinity War" crossed $1 billion in worldwide box office sales on Saturday, according to the studio. The blockbuster hit the mark in just 11 days -- the fastest in film history.

The Marvel Studios film, which stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and features a litany of superheroes, reached the milestone one day earlier than the previous record held by 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

"Infinity War" is Marvel's sixth film to hit a billion and Disney's 17th.

Last weekend, "Infinity War" broke the record for biggest global opening in film history as well as the biggest domestic opening weekend. Since then, the film has gone on to put up some astounding numbers.

In just 11 days of release, the film has already made more than the overall totals of other comic book hits like "Wonder Woman," "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Justice League."

But most impressively, "Infinity War" has accomplished all of this without Chinese audiences. The film opens in China, the second biggest movie market in the world, on May 11. </s> NEW YORK
• What record is Avengers: Infinity War not going to break? The Disney/Marvel superhero mash-up continued to vaporise its competition in its second week, becoming the fastest film ever to cross US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) globally - in just 11 days.

Domestically, it took in another US$112 million - the second biggest second weekend ever, behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens - and has now made US$450 million in the United States and Canada. It cruised past the cumulative total of many of the successful predecessors in the Marvel cinematic universe, including Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Records are being set around the world, including for the biggest opening day ever in Russia. And the movie has yet to touch down in China, where it is expected to draw a mammoth audience.

Its continued success reinforces the dominance of both Disney and Marvel studios in Hollywood.

Disney just crossed US$3 billion for this year, breaking its own record for the shortest time to reach that landmark in a given year. And Marvel has another potential blockbuster, Deadpool 2, with Ryan Reynolds, arriving on May 18. </s> This weekend, "Avengers: Infinity War" passed "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" to become the fastest movie to earn $1 billion at the global box office.

"Infinity War" accomplished this feat in well under a month, which only 13 other films have ever done.

This huge year for Disney has already seen "Infinity War" and "Black Panther" join several other Marvel films on this list, which we ranked by the days it took each film to gross $1 billion worldwide.

We used each film's gross on the day it passed $1 billion to break any ties.

Here are the 14 movies that made $1 billion at the global box office in less than a month: </s> With less than two weeks since its release, Avengers: Infinity War has already crossed the $1 billion threshold.

It only took the film 11 days to make a whopping $1 billion in theaters worldwide, which beats out the previous record by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which made it to the $1 Billion mark in 12 days. The film also beat out the same Star Wars film for highest opening of all time. </s> LOS ANGELES (NYTIMES) - What records is Avengers: Infinity War not going to break?

The Disney/Marvel film continued to vaporise its competition in its second week, becoming the fastest film ever to cross US$1 billion (S$1.33 billion) globally.

Domestically, the film took in another US$112 million - the second biggest second weekend ever, behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens - and has now made US$450 million in the United States and Canada.

The film cruised past the cumulative total of many of the wildly successful predecessors in the Marvel cinematic universe, including Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2.

Records are being set around the world, including for the biggest opening day ever in Russia. And the movie has still not touched down in China, where it is expected to draw a mammoth audience.

The film's continued success reinforces the dominance of both Disney and Marvel studios in Hollywood.

Disney just crossed US$3 billion for 2018, breaking its own record for the shortest time to reach that landmark in a given year. And Marvel has another potential blockbuster, Deadpool 2, with Ryan Reynolds, arriving May 18.

In second place - and trailing by US$98 million - was Overboard, a gender-swapped remake of the 1987 romantic comedy with the same title. The film stars Anna Faris and Eugenio Derbez as unlikely lovers, and was produced by MGM and Pantelion Films, a Lionsgate-backed production company aimed at Latino audiences.

While the film received poor reviews, it also earned an A- CinemaScore, which often bodes well for word-of-mouth ticket sales. </s> Avengers: Infinity War is now the fastest movie to make $1 billion, Disney already confirmed over the weekend, after a stellar second weekend performance.

The new Avengers movie had the second biggest second weekend ever — it wasn’t able to outperform Disney’s other monster hit Star Wars: The Force Awakens — with $112 million.

Infinity War took home $112.5 million from 4,474 locations, News18 reports, which is almost $1 million more than Black Panther’s second weekend performance, but some $36.5 million shy of The Force Awakens.

The film needed just 11 days to cross the $1 billion mark which is an impressive accomplishment for Disney. And that’s without China, where the movie hasn’t opened, and where it’s expected to generate even more money.

In North American, Infinity War made $450.8 million, while the worldwide take sits at $1.16 billion. That’s already more money than Captain America: Civil War.

Disney, meanwhile, announced it made more than $3 billion from its 2018 releases, which include both Black Panther and Infinity War.

Disney didn’t have any real competition at the box office, with Overboard, a remake of the Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell classic, made just $14 million from 1,623 theaters. A Quiet Place dropped to number three with $7.5 million in 3,413 locations. Tully, which also opened this weekend, came in just sixth, at $3.2 million. </s> Avengers: Infinity War only came out 11 days ago and it’s already about to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.

READ MORE: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ breaks Canadian and U.S. record for biggest opening weekend in history

According to Entertainment Weekly, the film, which opened in some overseas territories April 25 before its North American release on April 27, earned a whopping $974.5 million globally by the end of Friday and was guaranteed to cross $1 billion on Saturday.

WATCH BELOW: The latest on Avengers

The $1 billion haul makes Avengers: Infinity War the fastest film ever to reach that figure, and the only the 34th in history to do it at all.

Incredibly, the film has not even opened yet in many territories, including the biggest of all: China.

READ MORE: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ off to huge start with 4th largest preview gross ever

Last week, Infinity War started off its record-breaking run by snagging the biggest opening weekend of all time with just over $257 million, beating Star Wars: The Force Awakens. </s> The Avengers assembled the biggest box office in film history, far surpassing multiple records on the books.

Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Endgame" made an estimated $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office for its opening, according to Disney. It is the only film in history to cross the $1 billion mark for its debut.

It broke the previous record by hundreds of millions of dollars. Its prequel "Avengers: Infinity War" formerly held the record making $640 million for its opening last year.

The film, which started rolling out internationally on Wednesday, took just 5 days to cross $1 billion.

"Endgame" also shattered the opening record in North America. The film, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, brought in an estimated $350 million domestically this weekend. That makes it the biggest opening weekend ever, blowing away the previous domestic record of $258 million that "Infinity War" made.

The Marvel film somehow exceeded its own huge expectations. Analysts predicted last week that the film could make anywhere from $260 million to $300 million domestically.

The film grossed an estimated $859 million overseas. That crushes the record for the biggest opening weekend internationally, which was held by 2017's "The Fate of the Furious."

The film's global domination was propelled by China. "Endgame" made $330.5 million there, which is the highest-grossing debut ever in China.

"We're watching a monumental moment in the history of cinema unfold -- one that the entire world is experiencing together," said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com.

Robbins added that the film is the "pay off Disney and Marvel have been promising" over its last decade of blockbuster films.

Marvel Studios has made nearly $20 billion at the worldwide box office over the last 10 years.

"Though 'Endgame' is far from an end for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these first 22 films constitute a sprawling achievement, and this weekend's monumental success is a testament to the world they've envisioned," Alan Horn, Walt Disney Studios' chairman, said in a statement.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at Comscore, said that "Endgame" signals a "momentous end of an era" but now opens the door for "a new and exciting chapter for the future of the Marvel brand."

"This will extend to the small screen as well with Disney + on the horizon," Dergarabedian said. "We will likely see a lot of synergy between the big and small screen."

"Endgame" was also a huge hit with critics.

The film, which clocks in at roughly three hours, has garnered acclaim from critics and moviegoers. It holds a 96% score on review site, Rotten Tomatoes and an A+ CinemaScore.

"Endgame" became a cinematic event with thousands of sell outs and movie theater chains running around the clock adding showtimes to meet the demand of moviegoers.

Will we ever see a film reach these box office heights again?

"It could be awhile, but never say never," Robbins said. "Records are made to be broken, but no one in their right mind can argue there's been one more impressive than this." </s> What just happened? Avengers: Endgame has become the first film in history to surpass $1 billion in its opening weekend and could dethrone Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time. Were you able to see it this weekend?

Disney on Sunday said the Marvel Studios film generated an estimated $350 million domestically and $859 million internationally although as of writing, Variety is reporting $356 million in North America and $866 million overseas. Final numbers from Disney are expected later today.

Avatar, by comparison, needed 19 days to cross the $1 billion mark and was the only film of 2009 to do so. In its total box office run, the movie managed to gross nearly $2.8 billion. Avengers: Infinity War, the previous record holder, reached $1 billion in earnings in 11 days.

Marvel is now responsible for the two biggest box office launches ever with Infinity War and Endgame.

The film’s performance next weekend should go a long way in forecasting whether or not it’ll be able to trump Avatar as the highest-grossing box office hit ever. I’ve spoken to at least one person that was unable to get tickets this past weekend and according to Comscore’s PostTrak survey, nearly 30 percent of those who already saw the film in North America expressed a desire to see it in theaters again.

Lead image courtesy Tyler Olson via Shutterstock. Second photo via Getty Images.
American superhero film Avengers: Infinity War becomes the fastest film to make US$1 billion worldwide, in just eleven days.