'John Wick 3' dethrones 'Avengers: Endgame' at domestic box office after historic run

• Lionsgate's "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" had a franchise-best opening weekend with an estimated $57 million to win the domestic weekend box office.
• It finally knocked off "Avengers: Endgame," which topped the box office for the last three weeks.
• However, "Endgame" now has a $771 million domestic total, making it the second-best grosser all-time domestically, passing "Avatar."
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The mighty "Avengers: Endgame" has finally been knocked off the top spot domestically, and it was Keanu Reeves who did it.

The star of the "John Wick" franchise came back with "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" this weekend and showed that this hitman's story is still going strong three movies in as the Lionsgate title won the domestic box office with a franchise-best $57 million opening.

Though "Endgame" didn't go out without hitting one more milestone.

With its domestic total at $771 million (it took in $29.4 million over the weekend), the movie is now number two all-time domestically, passing "Avatar" ($760.5 million).

John Wick has certainly come a long way. The first movie in 2014, which followed a hitman trying to get out of the business until someone went and killed his dog, took in $43 million total domestically. Then 2017's "John Wick: Chapter 2" had a $30.4 million opening, which only got the movie to third place that weekend behind "The Lego Batman Movie" taking the top spot and "Fifty Shades Darker" in second place. However, "Chapter 2" did go on to make over $100 million worldwide. And the strong opening for "Chapter 3," blasting past industry projections of $40 million, proves there's no fatigue for Reeves' actioner. It has already made more than the first movie's domestic total, nearly doubled the opening weekend for "Chapter 2," and should end its theatrical run with a franchise-best worldwide.

What the "John Wick" story had going for it was a strong core fanbase to start. The stuntmen who had worked with Reeves previously, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (who has since gone on to direct "Deadpool 2" and the upcoming "Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw"), proved to be skilled filmmakers who brought action to the screen that fans had never seen before.

And along with "Chapter 3" being a continuation of the dramatic ending to "Chapter 2," audiences were excited to see Reeves team up with Halle Berry (and her dogs who have a specific set of skills).

Read more: 7 upcoming HBO TV shows viewers can look forward to after 'Game of Thrones' ends

This all led to "John Wick" taking down the powerful "Endgame."

Not to mention being perfectly scheduled by Lionsgate on the release schedule, as it opened four weeks into the "Endgame" run, and letting Warner Bros.' "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu" take the first shot at taking down the box office sensation - which didn't succeed. John Wick didn't miss his shot.