Just ten days ago, the entertainment industry was abuzz about a prospective box office superstar. The Avengers hit theaters nationwide on Sunday, May 4th to find itself the subject of intense speculation as to whether or not the film had what it takes to surpass the seemingly unbeatable $169.1 million domestic record for the biggest three-day opening in the history of cinema.
Not only did the Joss Whedon-directed feature claim the record as its own, but it did so by posting an unimaginable $207.4 million, leaving Harry Potter in the dust. Once this happened, it became apparent that Marvel’s latest superhero blockbuster would in fact join the exclusive 10-figure club. The only question that remained was ‘how fast?’
After 17 days in full roll-out mode (19 if you count early releases in a select few territories,) The Avengers managed to breach the $1 billion milestone, becoming the twelfth film to ever reach such heights. This is the second film of the year to do so as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace also passed the mark thanks to a moderately successful 3D re-release.
Considering the speed at which this was done, many expect the film to keep scaling the box-office charts. A low standard deviation between the third and eleventh ranked movies heading into today ensures that the ensemble-lead effort will at least come out as the third highest grossing movie at the global box office. It would take approximately $300 million more to accomplish such a feat, and rough extrapolations from the most recent box office data suggests another $400+ million is in the cards before The Avengers exits theaters.
As for the top two spots, those are currently held by Avatar and Titanic which each grossed in excess of $2 billion. To achieve such heights, the movie would need to receive a major bump in retention while competing against the likes of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters in the weeks ahead.
This is absolutely amazing. I just saw the movie for a second time, and I loved it even more than the first time I saw it.