The comic book adventure beat out the last Harry Potter film’s opening weekend by $31 million.
Unlike the Kentucky Derby’s I’ll Have Another – 15 to 1 odds? really? – pretty much everyone had a hunch that Joss Whedon’s The Avengers was going make a superhero-sized pile of cash. All the hallmarks of a big tentpole production are there: a big ensemble cast of A-list actors, super explosions, super action, super one-liners and a well-loved director. The new wrinkle was the The Avengers‘ culmination of many Marvel movie plots from previous hit films like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, which had critics like MovieBob very excited. All the factors combined to amazing success; The Avengers made $200.3 million in its opening weekend in the U.S.
The previous record-holder for the best domestic box office weekend was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – which made $169.2 million last year. Nearly 52 percent of Avengers viewers saw the film in 3D and the higher average ticket price helped to swell Disney’s coffers.
“It’s been a fantastic weekend on every single front,” said a Disney executive, who is probably pretty dang happy after the studio flopped with John Carter.
The Avengers debuted internationally last week, which means the $641.8 million it grossed worldwide in 12 days already dwarfs the lifetime totals of Marvel’s recent films: Captain America: The First Avenger ($364 million), Thor ($449 million), Iron Man ($585 million) and Iron Man 2 ($624 million).
It’s actually kind of sad to look at the list of top-grossing movies last week and realize the second place film Think Like a Man only made $8 million. Hmm, $200 million versus $8 million. Maybe Think Like A Man should have released a series of films about its characters in the years leading up to its release.
Oh wait, that’s Tyler Perry’s strategy.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
