Wasn't $100m on the second weekend the big goal? Can it do $20m on Mother's Day? Moms wanna see some sexy beams (the nickname a mom gave Iron Man).

[ edited by Sigfodr on 2012-05-13 13:07 ]

Sigfodr | May 13, 13:03 CET

I'm starting to wonder if its possible it could pass Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time. It just crushed Avatar's $75,617,183 second weekend gross

slayercommathe | May 13, 13:11 CET

Avatar didn't have as much competition as Avengers will have in a few weeks. I don't think it will beat Avatar.

J.I.G. | May 13, 13:16 CET

And if I remember correctly, Avatar had a re-release in theaters with extra footage. I assume that is the reason why Avatar and Titanic are so high on top.

Walkdogger | May 13, 13:23 CET

^ Avatar and Titanic did have re-releases, but that isn't the reason why they are on top. Their re-release, especially Avatar's, amounted little to their over-all box office. Avatar and Titanic had incredible weekly holds. Avatar only dropped 2% in it's second week of release, and 9% in it's third. Titanic actually increased it's takings by 24% in it's second week. It wont beat Avatar. And I doubt it will be beat Titanic either. I think it could have a shot at passing The Dark Knights $533 million total though.

Kaan | May 13, 13:30 CET

Right now, standing at #174 in terms of all time grosses in adjusted dollars http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

Early days yet and will be interesting to see how far it will climb.

baxter | May 13, 13:46 CET

I was disappointed that Cabin in the Woods disappeared from so many theaters this weekend, and dropped out of the top ten (as a result of being in fewer theaters, I'm sure). I was actually hoping to see CitW once more in the theaters, but now it is a two hour drive away in Cedar Rapids. *sigh*

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to see Avengers again! LOL

embers | May 13, 13:49 CET

Willowy, may I email you as well? Gotta run, no time to see these clips now -- going to see some indie drama called Lavenders in 3D for Mother's Day!

punkinpuss | May 13, 14:06 CET

Embers, I feel your pain! I wanted to catch it again as well. Oh well, might as well give my $7 to the weekend Avengers totals instead!

Danno | May 13, 14:44 CET

Looking at box office mojo, 49.5 million on Saturday places it 4th on all time Saturday box office. This sure is a big damn movie.

errhead | May 13, 14:56 CET

$100 million on the second weekend is... incredible. "Avengers" second weekend would be in the top 20 opening weekends in US box office history.

That said... no, it won't outgross "Avatar", nor "Titanic", in the US box office, IMO. I don't know how likely "Battleship" is to score big at the box office, but with MIB 3, Spider-Man, Prometheus, and the also-likely-to-have-$150+ open Dark Knight Rises, as well as others, all coming out in the next 2-3 months, it won't be able to sustain the pace. "Avatar" and "Titanic" came out in the fall, they didn't have a lot of blockbusters around. "The Dark Knight" -- the 3rd place target that "Avengers" may catch -- came out in on July 18th, after most of the other big summer movies.

KingofCretins | May 13, 15:03 CET

@Embers - Disappearing from theatres this week? You're lucky; it vanished from my local just one week after release!

It is a bit of crap cinema for showing anything vaguely out of the mainstream though, so not a good indication of other places (Monsters received one screening, which was for teens only, for example.) I imagine Avengers will be showing in multiple screens for weeks on end (probably at the expense of smaller films.)

Vandelay | May 13, 15:04 CET

Heck Yeah Avengers!

Speaking of CITW, it's currently sitting at $53 million worldwide, $38 million domestic. A huge success for Lionsgate, but even looking at the original budget, it's a good, solid haul. It's not a breakout anomoly like Paranormal Activity, but it's a good profitable take.

bobw1o | May 13, 15:21 CET

@punkinpuss, you betcha~ and Happy Mother's Day! Wish I were going again today, too!

Willowy | May 13, 15:33 CET

A little background. I'm watching TV and I came across an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. J 'look out of curiosity one episode among many in this series. The title?
"Acatla" and then I fall face!
In an episode that I understand the history that binds Angel and Buffy is a love worthy of Greek tragedy. In one episode I understand that the universe of Buffyvers is much richer than I thought.
And in an episode called a Joss Whedon demonstrated incredible sense of narrative and storyline worthy of the best shows of force. Later I realized that behind the overall success of this unique series is hiding one of the directors and one of the most gifted writers of his generation, a finding that will not fail after years and those up TODAY ' Today.
Why this interlude when I should tell you about Avengers?
Parsque Joss Whedon is the director and at the time I speak, I fully realize that I just witnessed the most beautiful film of Super-hero to me to see summers. Break as the song directly Avengers is the best film of super Hero never realizing it is not a superlative, or an overrated hype, this is an on-site observation KO.
Without spoiler in my review I just say that The Avengers is a film of incredible generosity toward those who do not know anything for Comics and those who know these characters on the fingertips. We are witnessing aghast at the description of the Shield to the advent of an unprecedented threat to the establishment of an apocalyptic plot and the twists and turns in series and those of the first minute of the film. A master sequence from beginning to end and portrayed by actors like never invested in their characters.
The film's strength is in his dialogues. Whedon Knows the characters and especially do not forget the continuities of each of the movies that have implemented it.
Every scene, every dialogue, every exchange, both physical and verbal are a fun and intense visual unprecedented.
Stark is true to himself and he is more charismatic than ever, the great class.
Steve Rogers trying to find its bearings in a world that is unknown and is doing well despite such a shift. Natasha Romanov is much more intense than in Iron Man2 and we finally discovered that Black Widow is far more complex than imagined.
Besides Black Widow and Hawkeye are not in use in the movie instead.
I'm not all listed, but be aware that after two film Hulk, Bruce Banner is certainly the most successful film. Mark as Buffalo puzzled me at first as I stay speechless at such a deployment destructive Hulk is extraordinary and worth the trip alone. But there is so much to say as having an opponent incredibly complex with Loki (The demonstration that a Big Bad in a movie that's great!) A character that we rediscover with pleasure and reveals so many facets, of malice and evil face that it becomes enthralling and exciting in its plans and turnaround situations.
Whedon has managed something of truly unique with this film, succeed in giving each character the whole place and excess need.
It was far from a foregone conclusion, both the egos and antagonisms are numerous.
I do not count the number of successful dialogues scene tasty scenes of confrontation that can not hope ever to see one day.
And as it is thought to have reached the summit, we reserve the movie sequences anthology like The Last Stand of gigantism as one does not believe his eyes.
I can say without hesitation that this is by far the most impressive sequence of confrontation Super-Hero of all time, this is literally the sequences of Brian Hitch series The Ultimates Porter on Big screen. If you are wondering or did the budget is on the screen and Whedon did not skimp on and destroy the moments of anthology with a shovel.
As well tell you now not to see The Avengers is definitely the place to score more incredible Marvel movie ever achieve. The nicest, funniest, most inventive, deepest and probably the ultimate result of all these movies you have seen so far in succession.
And what about the end and what will be expected soon, but it is too early. In the meantime I have one thing to say.
THANKS Joss Whedon, THANKS MARVEL STUDIO AND THANKS TO ALL THE TEAM OF FILM
AND TO THOSE PLAYERS.
The Avengers are the guys they exist in the cinema, I have seen!

Osgiliat | May 13, 15:55 CET

OKAY! :D

Willowy | May 13, 16:04 CET

I wonder- if CitW had been released after Avengers, would it have made more money? Maybe not a week after, because people would still be flocking to see Avengers. But perhaps a month later, so it could ride the tide of Joss's success.

I know I have a lot of friends who are now much more interested in becoming Whedon fans after seeing Avengers. It's hard to advertise Cabin without spoilers, and I think it could have benefited from the Avengers connection. It's a pity Cabin isn't in too many theaters anymore, I was hoping to take some of my newly converted Whedonite friends...

Like With Pie | May 13, 16:13 CET

$1.2 billion? Wow.

Simon | May 13, 16:38 CET

@Like With Pie. Well, that's pretty much what they did here (Denmark/Copenhagen). Avengers premiered on April 26, and CitW was released this weekend. Must say, most of the CitW screens over the weekend haven't look all that crowded, judging from reservations.

But then, UIP (who distribute it here) haven't advertised it at all. In press material, they could have used "the writer/director of Avengers", but they're not going to, since it's a different studio and a different distributor, and a film that they have no interest in reminding people of as long as it's still in theaters. :-) So, it's "from Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)". Although Buffy may actually draw in more people than it would in the US. Reviewers have mentioned the connection, but mostly in the review of CitW, not Avengers.

So right now, there's no payoff from Avengers. That half the reviewers, including the more insightful ones, failed to actually get the point of the film didn't help (not just saying that because they then went on to give it mediocre reviews). Plus, it's only on two screens in the entire city - and the most sucky screens at that. Oh well, at least we got a cinema release.

ETA: But congrats to Avengers on passing $1 billion worldwide. :-D

[ edited by Kaneda on 2012-05-13 16:59 ]

Kaneda | May 13, 16:43 CET

Been wondering about that myself Like With Pie. While at the same time lamenting that yes, it did disappear far too quickly from local cinemas for me to be able to fit in a fourth viewing. I *like* Revengers Resemble, but I adore CitW.

apollo11 | May 13, 16:46 CET

bobw1o: CITW will do well when it goes to DVD. I know I'll be buying it for everyone I know (plus me). It probably would have benefited if it was released after The Avengers - say in August when all the big movies have been released. Then again, if Lionsgate is smart, it will re-release CITW advertising that it is from the writer/director of The Avengers.

We could dream...

Nebula1400 | May 13, 16:49 CET

Here, CITW won't be released until August 23rd.. so I think it's possible that at least here, the success of Ascenders will have positive influence on its publicity etc. Can't wait to see it! Gha, more than 3 months left of waiting! :(

Edited: I just found out that the CITW release was pushed back another three weeks.. so I won't be seeing it until September 13th :((( WHYYYY

[ edited by Illy on 2012-05-13 17:18 ]

Illy | May 13, 16:57 CET

a million dollars isn't cool. you know what's cool, whedonites?

[ edited by WhatsAStevedore on 2012-05-13 17:03 ]

WhatsAStevedore | May 13, 17:03 CET

A billion dollars. Reached. Incredible.

Lince | May 13, 17:08 CET

Yep. It's unbelievable. As money as the Buffy franchise.

Simon | May 13, 17:10 CET

@Simon - 1.002 billion, though really no less impressive :)

@Nebula1400 I'm sure CITW will do excellent in it's DVD release. It's done very well so far for what it is.

bobw1o | May 13, 17:14 CET

What WhatsAStevedore said.

Nebula1400 | May 13, 17:15 CET

Carl Sagan voice: a billion dollars!

dispatch | May 13, 17:27 CET

Joss Whedon, you are really too strong.
I just realize that the prism incérer in Baton Loki
this is one of the gems from the power of the Gauntlet Infinit!!

Osgiliat | May 13, 17:43 CET

Sigfodr said:


This mom is going to be celebrating Mothers' Day (USA) doing exactly that. :-)

BrewBunny | May 13, 17:46 CET

saw THE AVENGERS TWICE already cannot wait for the sequel joss you are the man in the movies right now but cant wait to see you back on t.v.

whedonbfly | May 13, 17:48 CET

I really want to see it again today (for the fifth time), but I think I need an extra day or two post surgery to be able to sit in a movie theater seat for three hours. My son was going to take me to see it, since we're both such geeks - and he knows of my (unrequited, passionate, platonic) love for Joss.

I have to see a Joss movie in a theater at least 5 times. It's a tradition.

Nebula1400 | May 13, 17:59 CET

Saw Cabin five times (two were previews). Seeing Avengers for the fourth time in the next couple of days. Congratulations to Joss for making a billion dollar movie and for making it so very good.

redders | May 13, 18:03 CET

23 all-time box office records so far.

The One True b!X | May 13, 18:05 CET

Taking my mother to see it later today. :)

Giles_314 | May 13, 18:11 CET

I am just gonna go ahead and think it can beat Avatar, even if it's a super tall order. (insert standard quote about denial and Egyptian bodies of water here)

Charmuse | May 13, 18:33 CET

C'mon, industry headline writers: "Whedon the Box Office Slayer" is just sitting there, waiting for you.

Pointy | May 13, 18:36 CET

Lovely!

hann23 | May 13, 18:37 CET

Apparently it just crossed the 1 billion mark worldwide

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=59656

symbiotics | May 13, 18:40 CET

The site Heroic paintings
The Avengers: A billion dollars in worldwide box office!
It only took 19 days to The Avengers to exceed the billion dollars worldwide. Between Wednesday, April 25 and Sunday, May 13, the super-production Marvel has raised precisely 1,002,082,000 or $ 373 million in the U.S. and 629 million in the world. Their country of origin, the Avengers were still sprayed a few records in their path. With 103.2 million dollars this weekend, The Avengers gets the best second weekend of all time (ahead of the 75.6 million of Avatar) and becomes the first film to surpass the 100 million during its second week. A score worthy of starts of the biggest blockbusters ... except that it is a continuation! The fall is only 50.3%, ultimate proof of the popularity of the American public. Internationally, the money raised is around 95.6 million, which translates into a drop of about 40% compared to last weekend.
Globally, the other record that is being talked about is the biggest super-hero movie of all time. The Dark Knight is already outdated, but The Avengers will not stop there because the film is guaranteed to be the biggest worldwide hit behind indéboulonnables Avatar and Titanic. The podium at the box office now look like this: James Cameron, James Cameron and ... Joss Whedon.

Osgiliat | May 13, 18:57 CET

This is just... SHINY!

Willowy | May 13, 19:06 CET

By the way, can anyone guess what the two most critically acclaimed movies (not counting foreign films or documentaries) of 2012 are so far?

FornicusLordOfBondageAndPain | May 13, 19:56 CET

Congratulations to Joss and all involved on making $100 million dollars on your opening weekend.

;-)

notspock | May 13, 20:00 CET

FornicusLordOfBondageAndPain: This is Joss's year, isn't it? ☺

Every time I peek in at Whedonesque, the dollar projection gets bigger. Proof that corporations don't have to resort to evil to make a profit!

Nebula1400 | May 13, 20:05 CET

According to Wikipedia it's the 11th highest grossing film, ahead of The Dark Knight and behind Alice in Wonderland.

Tangential, but how did Alice in Wonderland make so much money? I heard it received tepid reviews, and I know exactly one person who saw it.

Like With Pie | May 13, 20:12 CET

@notspock - They made $207 million on opening weekend, $103 million on the second weekend. Both are US numbers. The total worldwide gross is just over $1 billion to date.

bobw1o | May 13, 20:23 CET

@bobw1o- was hoping to appear humorously ignorant of the true scale of the Achievement..
*note to self - Deadpanning on the internet= perfect recipe for miscommunication.

notspock | May 13, 20:30 CET

Wait... did we look for Blue Sun logos in the background of SHIELD?

skittledog | May 13, 20:38 CET

I am just stupid happy over this.

Loiosh | May 13, 20:40 CET

@Like With Pie


A few of the things helping it (other than people not really minding reviews):

1) First major 3D film released after Avatar. Converted (badly even), yes, but people didn't care - most who haven't tired of 3D still don't.
2) Released in March on almost 7500 screens in the U.S. - nothing big to compete with (other than Avatar, which was still in the top after 4 months)
3) Burton repeating himself + a recognizable Depp don't make a box office success alone, but it helped back then. Even more if it was a multi-colored, fun, all-the-family oriented flick with a recognizable title (that even didn't look "for kids", so other demographics would buy a ticket too).

I blame mostly point #1. Other than that, yes, it's a bit of a mystery, because from what I can tell, it didn't exactly get great word of mouth either.

[ edited by Kaneda on 2012-05-13 21:03 ]

Kaneda | May 13, 20:59 CET

Whedon SMASH box office records... Good times :)

Sessess | May 13, 21:09 CET

1 billion? Wow, that's just ... obscene.

With those sort of numbers, isn't it possible that Avengers could surpass Titanic and/or Avatar?

menomegirl | May 13, 21:17 CET

Just back from our 2nd viewing, this time in 3D. 7yo daughter just asked if we can see it again next weekend.*

Wow, the box office numbers are STAGGERING. "This much money exists?" For our Joss?

No shawarma places near the movie theatre, so we had shawarma last night for dinner. Yes, we're that geeky.

*Someone asked on an older thread about the suitability of Avengers for a 7yo. I think it's up to the parent to know what their kid can handle. My daughter wasn't the slightest bit fazed by the aliens or the fights. She's been reading kid-level comics for 3-4 years and enjoyed the Teen Titans cartoon series as well. For weeks leading up to the opening weekend, she's asked to rewatch the Avengers trailers constantly. OTOH she finds the trailers for the HP movies completely terrifying.

I really do think that for a certain age group, this will be their Star Wars -- that first movie that completely captured their imagination for fictional universes.

punkinpuss | May 13, 21:32 CET

@menomegirl - It's really not likely, reasoning summarized nicely by KingOfCretins above

@punkinpuss - Yeah, thanks, that seems to be the general consensus. It's PG-13, and I see why, but as that's a suggestion, it's really up to the parent to decide. I can see why my friend might have concerns, but she made it out like it was taking a child to see Die Hard (my interpretation) and i just don't see it that way. It's not much worse than a Teen Titans episode (well, 7 episodes) as it is. This is my opinion only. I do not have children, but I feel like if I did, the only thing that would keep me from taking them would be their ability to sit still and keep quiet, and that's not age-specific either!

bobw1o | May 13, 21:54 CET

@Like With Pie and @Kaneda, Kaneda's points are very sound and wiser than my own thoughts. Also, the film, though very flawed, was not only beautiful to look at but also a) reminiscent of things people loved (as Kaneda suggested) and b) contained a very solid performance from Mia Wasikovska, and other also. Wasikovska, as I remember it, was actually very good. I think the strong performances may have helped word of mouth. People do respond to people, after all. Also, worldwide, a lot of people love Alice in Wonderland - the original story, the idea, the potential, all that. I rather enjoyed the film even whilst recognising it's limitations. Sub-par Burton, for sure, but something I was glad to see on the big screen. Plus, the publicity was fantastic in the sense that there was no avoiding it - in the UK, at least - without it feeling overwhelming and alienating.

Maclay | May 13, 22:21 CET

Pretty amazing.Nobody saw these sort of numbers coming.

Buffyfantic | May 13, 22:35 CET

FYI, as KingofCretins said, there's virtually no chance of surpassing the overall box office for Avatar or Titanic because there are so many big blockbuster movies scheduled from next weekend onward.

Even if Battleship (May 18) is a damp squid, then MIB 3 opens May 25. Then nearly every weekend in June and July you've got one potential blockbuster after another (Snow White & The Huntsman, Madagascar 3, Prometheus, Brave, Amazing Spider-Man, Ice Age 3, TDKR). Even if ALL of those didn't perform at blockbuster levels, they would take away precious numbers of screens nationwide. While Avatar lost screens every week, those were modest drops (from lack of competition in JAN/FEB/MAR) and it continued to gross decent numbers for weeks, staying at #1 for 7 weeks straight, dropping to #2-8 for another 7 weeks, then from #12-18 for another 7 weeks. That's 21 frickin' weeks in the top 20!
Avatar weekly grosses

Now would I like to see Avengers break even more records? Of course, but it would mean keeping a substantial percentage of screens at the expense of other tentpole movies. I'm not sure that's even possible contractually.

punkinpuss | May 14, 01:12 CET

Hadn't really checked the coming weeks' schedule. That at least makes Avengers have a rather nice position all of May. Both Battleship and MIB 3 do look like damp squids, both critically and - more importantly - buzz-wise. Actually heard half a theater moan when the MIB 3 trailer came on before Avengers 2D (and maybe a third before the 3D version). ;-)

But yeah, beating Avatar or even Titanic? Not going to happen (well, Titanic = just unlikely). It's pretty much destined for 3rd place, though.

[ edited by Kaneda on 2012-05-14 02:16 ]

Kaneda | May 14, 01:21 CET

squib |skwib|
noun
1 a small firework that burns with a hissing sound before exploding.
• a short piece of satirical writing.
• a short news item or filler in a newspaper.

A damp squib won't go off.

Squids are normally damp and floppy, so that metaphor works too.

janef | May 14, 01:38 CET

damp squid |dæmp skwɪd|
phrase
1. A slightly wet cephalopod.
2. figurative: something that won't go off now, and in fact was never going to go off, even before it became damp.
3. a phrase commonly written long after midnight.

Yeah, while the second meaning makes sense for both MIB 3 and Battleships (they were bad ideas before they were even made), my post may actually have been based on the third one.

[ edited by Kaneda on 2012-05-14 09:59 ]

Kaneda | May 14, 02:13 CET

1 Billion? Didn't it take Star Wars over a decade to make a billion bucks? WOW!!

I hope this means that shows like Firefly and Dollhouse won't get cancelled early ever again..

jt99jt | May 14, 02:33 CET

I don't care where this movie winds up. Joss Whedon wrote and directed a movie that has grossed $1 billion. Frak, that's awesome.

hann23 | May 14, 04:20 CET

Not really fair to compare 1970's prices to today's. Like it's not fair to compare Jaws box office to say..Gone with the Wind.

chazman | May 14, 04:31 CET

You guys, I meant squib! But yeah, a damp squid is way more
interesting to me than Battleship or MIB 3.

And since it's dropped off the front page, I have to quote Scraggles post from Avengers Discussion #5 (I think):



Same here. It was only on the 2nd viewing that I could actually hear Loki's reaction, but it was your description of it as mewling that made me realize that it paid off the "mewling quim" insult. Love that! I wonder if it said that in the script notes?

punkinpuss | May 14, 04:36 CET

Chazman, Box Office Mojo has a list for Inflation Adjusted Box Office Top 200 where Gone With The Wind and Star Wars are ranked #1 & 2 (while Avengers is #105 at the moment).

punkinpuss | May 14, 04:43 CET

To KingOfCretins & punkinpuss who mentioned Avengers won't pass Titanic's or Avatar's US & Canada box office (all these domestic figures are never US-only, but included Canada). While I agree it won't pass Avatar's $760 million, Avengers does have a shot at passing Titanic's $600 million or even including the 3D re-release for a total of $658 million.

Newsarama wrote an article with a bunch of number crunching on Avengers. If Avengers has similar legs to The Dark Knight or Iron Man, it calculated Avengers could make $680 million. The second weekend drop (based off of estimates) of Avengers at 50.3% wasn't as good as Iron Man 1 but is better than the Dark Knight's 52.5%. So the chances of it passing the $600 million of the original Titanic are pretty good right now.

Also note that over the weekend, theatres were looking to give screens that were supposed to go to Dark Shadows to Avengers. It will lose some screens to the newer movies, but it's success will slow down it from dropping screens.

Matt_Fabb | May 14, 05:13 CET

Thanks for that link, Matt_Fab. It's way past my bedtime and mental capacity to do any number crunching tonight, but at some point I will probably try to figure out what kind of numbers might push Avengers over the Titanic or Avatar records. I simply don't know how much leeway theatres will have in keeping Avengers on multiple screens. I'm assuming that studios have basic minimums negotiated for each new release. It's at 4349 theatres now, but by Friday how many screens will they lose to Battleship? Or will theatres dump Dark Shadows screens to make way for Battleship while they wait to see if Avengers still has legs going into a 3rd week?

punkinpuss | May 14, 05:55 CET

Here's another excellent article on the French record of The Avengers
Happy reading folks!

"May 2012 will definitely make history, since Avengers finally comes to exceed the billion dollars of revenue, while he remains a big month of intense life in theaters!

For more details, simply refer to the American box office: $ 373 million added to the 679 million worldwide box office. Another record: the film has just completed the best second weekend of American film history (after spraying the record for the biggest launch of all time) ...

Finally, Avengers should return from the week in the Top 10 most profitable films of all time, when it exceeded Alice in Wonderland (2010). At our favorite heroes now to beat Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar, Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings! "

Osgiliat | May 14, 09:40 CET

Here is my page Avengers in France, you will find photos as well as really Cool Artwork and photo.
It is written in French but you only need to click to discover the band Spoiler Images!

http://www.forumcomics.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4500&p=179203 # p179203

Osgiliat | May 14, 09:51 CET

Yeah, just to clarify, I was only mocking my own "that sounds right" copying of your phrase, and I think janef only pointed it out, because there were two of us using it. :-)

Kaneda | May 14, 09:57 CET

Chazman and punkinpuss: I wonder if anyone has adjusted for more than just inflation and inflated 3D prices... Larger world population, more movies being released on a given weekend (dilution) compared to the past, more entertainment options (TV and internet), etc.

Does it really matter if Avengers ends up as 1 or 2 or 3 or 4? The fact that it is among the highest grossing movies of all time is more important than its exact ranking on that very short list.

OneTeV | May 14, 13:19 CET

I don't think "Avengers" can have the same legs as "The Dark Knight", because there was a lot less competition for "The Dark Knight" for August and September and into October than there will be for "Avengers" in the rest of May, June, and July. Screens matter, the family movie budget going toward something they didn't already see, etc. "Iron Man" came out at the front of the summer, too, but against a much weaker slate, frankly, than is coming in behind "Avengers". I personally think "Avengers" will finish between $550-600 million, surpassing "The Dark Knight" as the #3 highest grosser in the US box office.

KingofCretins | May 14, 13:28 CET

I'd be less surprised if Avengers made it close to domestic grosses for Titanic and Avatar, but I thought that worldwide grosses were what was being discussed. My bad :)

bobw1o | May 14, 15:08 CET

Or... we can wait and see.

Nebula1400 | May 14, 15:12 CET

No! Where's the fun in that when we could pontificate pointlessly instead?

skittledog | May 14, 15:20 CET

It's not so much pointless as it is exciting to discuss the potential commercial success Joss is directly (if not wholly) responsible for. If we're excited for what has been grossed, why wouldn't we be excited for what has yet to be grossed?

bobw1o | May 14, 15:26 CET

There's no bad news to be found -- "The Avengers" could disappear from theatres tomorrow and have far surpassed the threshold of blockbuster success. I think there's a cascade failure of perspective going on if people are actually bothered by the probability that Joss Whedon's second feature film is "only" going to be the 3rd or 4th highest grossing film in US box office history and "only" somewhere between the 3rd and 10th highest grossing film of all time.

A couple months ago, Joss Whedon was still primarily a cult figure and critical darling, with a mixed track record of commercial success as a TV creator and no record of commercial success as a feature film director. Now, he probably has a blank check and a standing green light for anything he wants to do on big or small screen, indefinitively (subject to continued success), and is going to be on top 10 lists of "most influential people in Hollywood", etc.

Where is the bad if his movie isn't going to outgross either of Cameron's fall release juggernauts? It doesn't exist.

KingofCretins | May 14, 15:59 CET

Kaneda, no worries! Love the joshing (or should that be jossing?) around.

OneTeV, true -- it's fantastic box office any way you slice it, but some of us are numbers geeks and can't help ourselves lol. What's great is that it has out-performed everyone's estimates and that makes Joss mighty.

Bobw1o, the foreign box office is crucial, too -- it was that that really pushed Avatar to the top, even moreso than its domestic numbers (2.02 billion vs. 760.5 million). OTOH, Avengers hasn't even opened in Japan which is one of the top markets.

Avengers' foreign box office totals $628.9 million so far and with some legs and the Japan receipts in August, it might break $1b by the end of the summer. OTOH, the other summer blockbusters will cut into foreign box office as well.

Another thought - what if Marvel re-released Avengers in September/October? Or if they maintained a low level of screens throughout the summer and got more screens in the fall? Sounds crazy, huh? But if anybody can inspire cult-like repeat viewings, it's Mr. Whedon.

ETA: Agreed, KoC! Joss is in the major leagues now and that's AMAZING. In a way, the ongoing success validates the appeal and quality of the movie. As Joss said himself, the first weekend is up to Marvel/Disney to promote the heck out of it (that's just the nature of tentpole movies and advertising), but from there on out, it's all on him whether it continues to bring in the crowds.

[ edited by punkinpuss on 2012-05-14 16:24 ]

punkinpuss | May 14, 16:16 CET

I love how you can look at that list and go "okay, it's going to make more money than Top Gun by wednesday". Brilliant. I'm placing a bet that it finishes below Love Story and above Spider-man (making it number 35 all time ever).

Sparticus | May 14, 16:17 CET

No time to read the previous 80-something comments...has anyone suggested the high end of what this movie could make at the box office? Is TWO BILLION dollars a possibility? I guess it flew past the one billion mark. So what is the high end of the range, based on the current numbers??? 1.5 billion? Holy crap, thats a lot of money.

alexreager | May 14, 20:08 CET

@alexreager, I'd say around $1.5 billion would be a pretty good, if high end, estimate right now. It's riding very high at the moment but it will start to drop off once the other upcoming summer films start to open.

Kaan | May 14, 21:09 CET

Here is the article from the site "Unification"!

The news came a week after the record of $ 207.4 million carried during the opening weekend of the USA. The film is at $ 373.2 million in the U.S. plus the $ 628.9 million of the world. He joined the 12 films have already exceeded a billion dollars including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton), Toy Story 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Fountain of Youth on behalf Disney.


"Naturally we are very pleased with the overall success of The Avengers," said Robert A. Iger, CEO of Disney. "This is a fantastic film and an extraordinary frankness which will continue in the coming years, with other stories and characters just as fascinating."


The film broke several records in the U.S., the best second weekend of all time with $ 103.2 million. He was also the film that has reached as soon as the $ 200 million (in 3 days), $ 300 million (in 9 days) and the high scores on Saturdays and Sundays. Not to mention the start day is the second lowest score for a single day.


In the rest of the world, the film was released on April 25 and also beat records in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Central America, Peru, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand in Philippines and in the UAE. Surprisingly, the film that released in Japan on August 17.


May 8, Disney announced that a suite was under construction, also announcing that after Captain America was scheduled for the USA April 4, 2014, after Thor for November 15, 2013 and the third installment of Iron Man would arrive May 3, 2013.

Osgiliat | May 15, 11:23 CET

So, there's pretty much no information about it, but it looks like ABC (Disney) is going to try to make a Hulk series: http://tvline.com/2012/05/15/dancing-with-the-stars-all-star-editio/

DreamRose311 | May 15, 18:06 CET

Hopefully they make it continuous with the cinematic Marvel Universe, even if they have to recast it, or at the very least, use cinematic "Incredible Hulk"/"Avengers" version as the basis for the show.

KingofCretins | May 15, 18:36 CET

@DreamRose311: With the link you gave, I thought the article was going to describe a new reality series "Do You Think You Can Dance With the Hulk?"

OneTeV | May 15, 18:49 CET

Incredible! That's it, we expected and it's finally here: Avengers has just taken place The Dark Knight as an adaptation of comic's most profitable movies history, taking 11th place in passing the classification, all movies combined. In other words, the Top 10 is not far and a possible podium either.

Osgiliat | May 16, 02:09 CET