Posted on 05/06/2012 3:56:59 PM PDT by TheBigB
LOS ANGELES (AP) Hulk, smash.
That's what Captain America tells the Incredible Hulk to do in "The Avengers," and that's what the Marvel Comics superhero mash-up did at the box office, smashing the domestic revenue record with a $200.3 million debut.
It's by far the biggest opening ever, shooting past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year's "Harry Potter" finale.
"The Avengers" added $151.5 million overseas over the weekend to bring its total to $441.5 million since it began opening internationally a week earlier.
That raised the film's worldwide haul to $641.8 million in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners "Iron Man," "Iron Man 2," "Thor" and "Captain America" took in during their entire runs.
If distributor Disney's domestic estimate Sunday holds when the final weekend count is released Monday, "The Avengers" would be the first movie ever to haul in $200 million in a single weekend.
A $200 million total for every movie in release is considered a great weekend for the business as a whole, so "The Avengers" redefines the standards for a blockbuster debut.
"If `The Avengers' is any indication, we're going to see a leap rather than a gentle little nudge into new territory, and the lineup is there to justify it going forward," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of the huge-screen IMAX cinema chain.
Crowds were so anxious to see the film on IMAX's giant screens that Foster said the company had only one problem: it ran out of seats to sell.
Hollywood launched a potentially record-shattering summer with a vengeance, "The Avengers" landing as just the first of three huge superhero tales that highlight a lineup filled with other blockbusters in the making.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" follows on July 3 and "The Dark Knight Rises" wraps up the current Batman series on July 20.
Until the "Harry Potter" finale, 2008's "The Dark Knight" had held the revenue record with a $158.4 million debut. Before that, the record-holder was 2007's "Spider-Man 3" with $151.1 million.
So anticipation for those two films could rival that of "The Avengers."
Along with the superhero films, Hollywood's summer lineup includes the action tales "Men in Black 3," "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," "Battleship," "Total Recall" and "Prometheus," director Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi territory of his horror hit "Alien."
Big family fare includes the animated adventures "Brave," from "Toy Story" creator Pixar Animation, and the sequels "Ice Age: Continental Drift" and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."
The comedy lineup features Adam Sandler's "That's My Boy," Will Ferrell's "The Campaign" and Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator."
Best movie I’ve seen in a long time. Imax 3D wasn’t bad either.
Puny God.
Saw it last night. Fun. A bit slow and tangled at first but a thrill ride once it gets going.
Could be true, he did kill Osama you know.
No Diana Rigg, no Avengers.
I saw “Safe” with Jason Stratham, it was very good. I don’t get these comic book movies such as “Avengers”. I never watch them
Great job by Joss Whedon. Pleased with the respect of Captain America and his views. Joss was smart not to anger the Right. Many on the Right enjoyed his work on Buffy & Angel etc.
I just got back from seeing it and it was great!! Yes, lots of funny lines and awesome effects in it too! The theater was packed and then there was a line out the door when I left the theater—presumably, people waiting to see it in 3D or the regular version.
Best scene in the whole movie. Leave it to the Hulk to throw PC in the comode and “Git’er done”. Loki’s short cutoff speech and the following butt whoopin’ just cannot be viewed without Conservative emotional release and applause.
Does this sink Titanic’s opening? I’d love to watch that ship go down again.
A friend of mine who saw the movie yesterday made the same comment.
I went to the first day-time showing on Friday and loved the movie, but was disappointed with the theater.
Be warned: many theaters are devoting their biggest screens to the 3D showings that they charge an extra $4 per seat for. If you don’t care or 3D, you might get stuck with a crappy little screen barely bigger than at home. Definitely ask at the boxoffice when you buy your ticket — you might find you are better off waiting for a different showing or going to a different theater to find a screen size that does justice to this movie.
If you dislike 3D or CGI the smaller screen and sitting further back are an advantage. Lots of eye candy in every corner of this flick.
I see a movie in a theater maybe once a year. This one was worth it. Very entertaining.
We coulde use some Avengers to remove our Loki Obama from the white house!
President ObaLoki....our “puny president”
Jos does some pretty antiestablishemt/ anti “federalizing” stuff. The satire in Serenity concerning the Reever planet and the “Federals” past attempt at medicating the planet(”it was the pax we put into the air and water”) towards a planned peaceful society with carefully controlled views was very revealing. His Firefly series had enough anti PC snarky lines and situations that the insecure LIBERAL types at 20th FOX studios had the program canceled.
Given liberal views supporting notions of medicating the water supplies with contraceptives and meds to calm the populaces, I’m sure Whedon’s views rankle certain establisment types. Whedon’s skewering of a certain NY senator(without using his name) by show casing the Senator’s anti hero(who are they?) paranoia in the Avengers’ movie is a classic Whedon specialty.
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