- "Avengers: Infinity War" beat the highest-grossing opening weekend record previously held by "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
- Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy sent a fun congratulatory note to Marvel on topping the record set by "The Force Awakens."
- The image shows "Star Wars" character Rey handing over a lightsaber to Iron Man.
- The note is part of a longstanding tradition going back to the 1970s.
- Directors and friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg used to take out full-page ads in Variety congratulating each other when one of their films beat theirs at the box office.
"Avengers: Infinity War" broke multiple records opening weekend. The 19th entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe topped the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time with $257 million. Worldwide, the movie grossed an unheard of $640.5 million.
Just how big is that? The previous opening record was held by "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which grossed an estimated $247.9 million when it debuted in 2015. That movie debuted to $529 million worldwide.
The "Star Wars" crew isn't too sad to pass along the baton. (Both companies are a part of the Disney family, after all.) Instead Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, sent a note of congratulations to Marvel on its achievement.
The note, shared on the official "Star Wars" social accounts, shows an image of Rey handing a lightsaber to Tony Stark's Iron Man to celebrate.
It reads:
"From a Galaxy far, far away... to Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Congratulations on the biggest opening weekend in history!
From Kathy and everyone at Lucasfilm!"
The note of congratulations may look like a big pat on the back from one Disney company to another, but it's part of a longstanding tradition started back in the '70s between "Star Wars" director George Lucas and director pal Steven Spielberg.
It started in 1977, when Spielberg took a full-page ad out in Variety magazine to congratulate Lucas' "Star Wars" on beating "Jaws" at the box office.
The playful ad shows "Stars Wars" droid R2-D2 catching the shark on the end of his fishing hook.
A few years later, Lucas took out an ad in Variety when Spielberg's "E.T." became the highest-grossing movie in 1982. The ad shows Han Solo and Luke Skywalker lifting E.T. up in the air as the rest of the "Star Wars" crew — including Darth Vader — party.
That wasn't the end. When Lucas released the original "Star Wars" trilogy again in theaters in the '90s, Spielberg revived the tradition. After the re-release beat out "E.T.," Spielberg took out another full-page Variety ad.
This time, E.T. gave the box-office crown to R2-D2.
The ads weren't exclusive to just Lucas and Spielberg. When "Titanic" shattered the "Star Wars" box-office records in 1998, Lucas included director James Cameron in on the fun.
In recent years, the tradition has carried on to include other studios.
Marvel Studios' head Kevin Feige sent Universal a congratulatory note when "Jurassic World" broke the box-office record held by 2012's "Avengers."
The image shows Chris Pratt, who starred in both "Jurassic World" and Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," atop a T. rex holding Thor's mighty hammer. It's cool to see, knowing Spielberg directed the first "Jurassic Park."
In 2015, "Jurassic World" producer Frank Marshall passed the box-office torch once again to Lucasfilm after "The Force Awakens" took the top spot at theaters. This time, the T. rex gave droid BB-8 a medallion.
Marvel Studios may wear that crown for awhile now that they've obtained it from Lucasfilm. The next big movies which could potentially dethrone it are the "Jurassic World" sequel or "Star Wars: Episode IX." There are a few "Avatar" sequels in the works, too.
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