With the opening weekend estimate of $200 million now officially out, it should not be overlooked that The Avengers flat out destroyed the Saturday box office record as the movie banked $69.7 million in its second day which is about 40% higher than a cluster of titles at the $50 million mark that was previously considered to be a point of resistance.
This is a huge feather in the cap of the Joss Whedon-directed feature as such a strong holdover from the movie’s heavily hyped Friday debut is indicative of a solid performance in the weeks to come. In other words, theaters will still be playing The Avengers in early June, and audiences will be showing up to see it despite the presence of other potential blockbusters.
Seeing a day two performance like this is uncharted waters, so it is important not to read too much into this and assume it will break Avatar’s domestic mark of $760.5 million or something absurd like that. On the other hand, we can suggest that this movie will mirror other $400+ million films and do at the most 33% of its business opening weekend which implies a $600 million haul. That figure would slide The Avengers right between The Dark Knight and Titanic as the third highest grossing film at North American box office.