For many comic book fans, this weekend proved a lot of childhood dreams true as The Avengers, the comic book movie done by comic book fans and done right, hit a home run with a $200 million opening. And this is on top of the $440 million it already made overseas, which with this weekends totals brings it to $641 million. And what does that mean? It was the fastest movie ever to reach three benchmarks; the $100, $150 and $200 million mark. It set a new record for earnings on a Saturday and Sunday as well. It fell short on Friday by about $10 million from the record held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2. The feature also had the highest per-theater average ever for a nationwide release with $46,057.
Suffice to say, Marvel Studios did just about everything right, from the build up with it in regards to the individual movies, the marketing campaign, the actors used, the people involved in the production and securing Joss Whedon to direct with work on the script along with Zak Penn. Many non-comics fans will be quoting that movie for some time to come, especially the whole “Puny god!” aspect. Marvel Studios and Disney put a lot into this and the payoff is there to be sure. It’s also reinforcing what Disney has been talking about for a bit, not in mainstream circles yet, about their plans to mainline the Avengers property itself and all its component characters into a 365 day a year brand. With the cartoons out weekly and plenty of potential for regular merchandising and more across every type of market from youth to adult, expect to see these icons become even more iconic in every day life.
And as my inner ten year old self would say to the bullies that mocked many of us as children for enjoying comics – suck it.
| RANK | TITLE | DISTRIBUTOR NAME | WEEKEND REVENUE | CUME REVENUE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REVENUE | # OF LOCATIONS* | LOC AVG | ||||
| 1 | Marvel’s The Avengers | Disney | $200,329,000 | 4,349 | 46,063 | $200,329,000 |
| 2 | Think Like A Man | Sony | $8,000,000 | 2,010 | 3,980 | $73,029,434 |
| 3 | Hunger Games, The | Lionsgate | $5,700,000 | 2,794 | 2,040 | $380,726,998 |
| 4 | Lucky One, The | Warner Bros. | $5,510,000 | 3,005 | 1,833 | $47,916,945 |
| 5 | Pirates! Band of Misfits, The | Sony | $5,400,000 | 3,358 | 1,608 | $18,563,459 |
| 6 | Five-Year Engagement, The | Universal | $5,087,930 | 2,941 | 1,730 | $19,191,835 |
| 7 | Raven, The | Relativity Media | $2,508,000 | 2,209 | 1,135 | $12,047,345 |
| 8 | Safe | Lionsgate | $2,470,000 | 2,271 | 1,087 | $12,873,758 |
| 9 | Chimpanzee | Disney | $2,395,000 | 1,531 | 1,564 | $23,012,000 |
| 10 | Three Stooges, The | 20th Century Fox | $1,800,000 | 2,174 | 827 | $39,636,682 |
| 11 | Cabin In The Woods, The | Lionsgate | $1,550,000 | 1,669 | 928 | $38,003,943 |
| 12 | 21 Jump Street | Sony | $1,050,000 | 1,040 | 1,009 | $133,984,683 |
