Well it looks like Ben may have already locked up the win in our Fantasy Summer Box Office pool. Ben had The Avengers, which exceeded even Hollywood’s most coke-fueled delusions, crushing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows‘s previous opening weekend record of $168.2 million last year, and grossing $200.3 million. Reached for comment, my friend Pato, the Amazonian tribesman, said, “Holy shit! More than seven?”
Disney owns Marvel, who made The Avengers, so between this and John Carter, it sounds like they’ll juuust about break even. Nice to see those kids come out on top for a change.
Heading into the weekend, pre-release audience surveys indicated the 3-D film would have a massive domestic opening of at least $150 million, giving it one of the top five highest U.S. debuts ever. Instead, the movie soared beyond expectations, easily surpassing the $168.2 million 2011 debut of previous record-holder “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2.” The picture also raked in more money in its first three days than strong performers such as “The Dark Knight,” “The Hunger Games” and “Spider-Man 3,” all of which collected over $150 million upon their debuts.
The film also had a phenomenal weekend overseas, where it opened in many foreign countries roughly a week ago. Playing in 52 international markets, the movie collected $151.5 million this weekend, raising its total abroad to $441.5 million. That means that after just two weeks in release, “The Avengers” has already sold $641.8 million worth of tickets at the global box office. [LATimes]
I eagerly await the inevitable shameless attempts to piggyback on this success, such as “Abraham Lincoln: Invulnerable Green Rage Monster.”