OBLITERATION!

Disney’s superhero epic “Avengers: Endgame” became the first movie to gross more than $1 billion in its debut at the world-wide box office.

However, Donald John Trump is still the president of the United States of America.

Hollywood had expected “Endgame” to set a record, but the movie’s performance stretched the limit ! of what many studio executives thought was even possible in an opening weekend.

The Marvel Studios blockbuster, powered by record-setting hauls in the US and China, collected an estimated $1.2 billion !!!!!!!!! in its first five days of release.

An estimated $350 million of that total came from the US and Canada, an amount that blew past the previous opening-weekend record set last year by “Avengers: Infinity War” by about $92 million.

Demand forced exhibitors to dedicate about half the nation’s screens to the superhero movie, with dozens of locations screening it round-the-clock and even 2 am showtimes selling out.

Theatres within the metroplex have, since last Thursday afternoon, deployed what appears to the old Lobsterman to be the equivalent to the 3rd Marine Division.

Santa Claus NO longer can garner this type of anticipation or anxiety…possibly Elvis, of course, and, yes, the first visit to America by The Beatles.

“Endgame” could become the highest-grossing movie of ALL-time, beating the record set by “Avatar,” which made $2.79 billion globally in 2009. After just five days of release, it is already No. 18 on the world-wide box-office chart.

About 45% of global ticket sales over the weekend were for premium-priced 3-D screenings, according to RealD Inc., and IMAX Corp. said its previous opening-weekend record was nearly doubled by “Endgame” returns of about $91.5 million in its big-screen auditoriums.

NO word from the grandchildren yet…probably part of a cult group way-stationed for another galaxy at this point!