The Avengers already broke South African records on its opening weekend but the Marvel ensemble film opened to unimaginable numbers in the US, taking in an estimated 200.3 million dollars for its opening weekend. The figure clearly pushes The Avengers past the 169 mil that was taken in by the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise (The Deathly Hallows Part 2) to give Marvel’s ace the title of not only the highest grossing weekend of all time but also the first film to break the $200 million barrier in a single weekend period.
Analysts had predicted that The Avengers would break Disney’s piggy bank but they had no idea by how much, some felt it would just edge out Deathly Hallows and others thought it would fall just shy but I don’t think anyone could have predicted these sort of numbers.
Here’s what the current top 5 biggest weekend openings (domestic)
The Avengers – $200.3 million (R1.56 billion)
HP: The Deathly Hallows part 2 – $169.1 million (R1.32 billion)
The Dark Knight – $158.4 million (R1.24 billion)
The Hunger Games – $152.5 million (R1.19 billion
Spider-Man 3 – $ 151.1 million (R1.18 billion)
The estimated world-wide gross for The Avengers is equally as staggering at $641.8 million (R5 billion) since debuting 12 days ago. When a film becomes a mega blockbuster, there’s usually a reason behind it that pushes it to bank such insurmountable figures: Spider-man and Harry Potter had the benefit of being the final films in their respective series, The Dark Knight released on the eve of the death of one of its stars, and The Hunger Games and Avengers had a large existing fan base to support sales. Harry Potter and The Avengers also had the tacked on premium price for 3D tickets to give it that added monetary boost. What also couldn’t have hurt was the individual superhero releases for Marvel that built the road for The Avengers not to mention the triple-A talent that was attached by virtue of those releases.
Either way, the film has not only been a critical and commercial success but the audiences seem to have enjoyed the film too and that makes it all worth it. The next mega-blockbuster is undoubtedly The Dark Knight Rises which will take in its fair share of dough but can it ride the “conclusion” gimmick all the way to the bank? I have my doubts and don’t think it will make as much as The Dark Knight as it doesn’t have the scandal of Heath Ledger this time around but given Nolan’s track record, The Dark Knight Rises will be one to remember.
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