The Avengers Destroys The Box Office

Well, they did it. Marvel’s The Avengers has absolutely smashed box office records this weekend, opening in North American and pulling in a staggering $200 million. Most analysts were predicting $150-$175 million but Joss Whedon‘s superhero flick has completely defied expectations. Sure, those IMAX/3D ticket sales probably helped but still, $200 million is damn impressive.

Even more impressive is that the film now stands at almost $650 million internationally in its first 12 days of release. Yup, I had to read the twice as well. $650 million in just 12 days.

Amongst the many records it has broken, the most coveted is the record for biggest opening weekend (domestic box office), which was previously held by Harry Potter with his last installment, Deathly Hallows Part 2. The Avengers has taken the record from the boy wizard and has surpassed it by about $30 million.

Other notable records include the second biggest Friday gross of all time and the biggest Saturday gross of all time. Admittedly, it still is Sunday afternoon so the $200 million could go north or south by a bit but either way, the film has broken numerous records as that $200 million is likely very accurate.

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is whether The Dark Knight Rises will be able to beat The Avengers. The answer is likely no. The Dark Knight Rises will surely pull in an enormous amount of money but it doesn’t have the 3D ticket sales that The Avengers has. Yes, it does have IMAX but not 3D, and that will make a huge difference.

Either way, I think Marvel deserves a pat on the back. Many people thought that The Avengers would turn out to be a mess (myself included at one point), but they’ve shown that in the capable hands of Mr. Joss Whedon, they were able to pull it off.

Check out the full press release below for more details on The Avengers and the box office business it did this weekend.

The Walt Disney Studios announced today that Marvel’s The Avengers posted an estimated $200.3 million in its domestic debut May 4-6, shattering previous records and positioning the film as the highest-grossing domestic debut of all time. The film’s cumulative global box office gross is an estimated $641.8 million over 12 days in release.

In just three days, Marvel’s the Avengers is the fastest movie to reach $200 million domestically. The domestic debut kicked off Friday, May 4 and marks the second highest single day take of all time at $80.5 million. Saturday’s box office gross of $69.7 million is the highest Saturday take of all time. Moviegoers gave Marvel’s The Avengers a rare and perfect A+ CinemaScore.

Marvel’s The Avengers began opening internationally April 25 and crossed the $600 million mark globally May 6 after just 12 days in release.