Marvel’s The Avengers is the new Number 1 of box office opening weekend worldwide
The film is the first to break $200 million in three days. It destroyed the record held by the previous weekend Number 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
The Avengers started out big by taking in $18.7 million in midnight screenings. It rolled even bigger: $80.5 million for all of Friday; $69.7 million on Saturday, a new record for that day; and, a projected $50.1 million on Sunday.
The blockbuster easily bested the opening-weekend performances of the Marvel Studios movies whose hero-stars were assembled for The Avengers: Iron Man ($99 million) and Iron Man 2 ($128 million); Thor ($66 million); and, Captain America ($65 million).
The Avengers made money the old-fashioned way: Everybody bought tickets. Cinemas in Dubai were packed during the weekend, with tickets sold much in advance.
The opening-weekend audience is evenly split between the young (under age 25) and the older (over age 25), polling data showed. It was watched by women (40 percent) almost as much as men. It worked as a date-night movie (55 percent of ticket-buyers were part of couples), and a family movie (24 percent were part of a family group).
The Avengers is an inspiring blockbuster that leaves smiles on people’s faces. The movie goers who saw the movie liked it, but the critics also were generally positive. The Joss Whedon-directed film was graded an A-plus by audiences.
The storyline that’s underpinned Marvel Comics adaptations since Iron Man (2008) reaches big-screen fruition with this hugely entertaining superhero epic. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr, at his quipping best), Thor, Captain America and the Hulk (motion-captured for the first time, with the debut of Mark Ruffalo) are brought together in a universe-spanning adventure. Rogue Asgardian god Loki (played with serpentine glee by Tom Hiddleston) infiltrates spy agency Shield to steal an all-powerful gizmo to help an alien race invade the Earth. Shield boss Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) mobilises his bickering team of heroes to save the world. They brawl, they bond and finally win a victory over the aliens in a city-wrecking slugfest. Thor goes toe-to-toe with Iron Man and Hulk, while Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow gives as good as she gets.
After just over a week in release worldwide, The Avengers has grossed $641.8 million overall.
