Marvel’s The Avengers has posted the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time with $207.4 million for May 4-6, The Walt Disney Studios announced today. The previous record of $169.2 million was held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 last year. The Super Hero team-up crossed the $600 million threshold at the global box office in 12 days, and its cumulative worldwide box office gross is an estimated $654.8 million.
“‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ is something we’ve been carefully building toward since we began production on the first ‘Iron Man’ film, and it is quite rewarding for all of us that ‘The Avengers’ is appealing around the globe to both passionate fans and general audiences alike. It is a testament to all involved with this film that audiences across the board are embracing the film in this record-setting way,” said Marvel’s The Avengers producer Kevin Feige.
Joss Whedon, Kevin Feige and the whole Marvel team have done something really incredible with ‘The Avengers,’ said Dave Hollis, Executive Vice President, Theatrical Exhibition Sales and Distribution, The Walt Disney Studios. From the super-talented cast to the spectacular visual effects, its a grand slam, and were proud to be a part of this history-making film.
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 $80.8 million, followed by record-breaking days on Saturday ($69.5 million) and Sunday ($57 million). Moviegoers gave Marvels The Avengers a rare and perfect A+ CinemaScore.
Marvel’s The Avengers began opening internationally April 25 and has set records as the biggest opening weekend of all time in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Central America, Peru, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, and United Arab Emirates. It opened in Russia May 3 with $17.9 million to make it the biggest Marvel opening weekend ever. It debuted in China on May 5 with $18 million over two days. Marvel’s The Avengers has now opened in all major markets except Israel (May 10), Poland (May 11), and Japan (August 17).
“The Avengers” has also surpassed IMAX’s domestic opening weekend box office record by generating $15.3 million of the film’s record-setting domestic gross, resulting in an IMAX per-screen average of approximately $56,000 in 275 digital IMAX® theaters. Internationally, the film generated approximately $6.1 million over the weekend in 176 IMAX theaters, of which 80 were debut runs. This brings IMAX’s international total to $16 million. The film also set a new IMAX three-day opening weekend global box office record with $21.4 million, bringing the worldwide gross to $31.3 million in IMAX theatres worldwide since its global release on April 25.
The film’s successful debut comes a month after Marvel and Disney announced that a sequel to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger will be released April 4, 2014. A sequel to last summer’s Thor is scheduled for release November 15, 2013, and the third installment of the hit “Iron Man” series, which has earned over $1.2 billion worldwide, will arrive in theaters May 3, 2013.
Marvel’s The Avengers is the first Marvel Studios film to be marketed and distributed by The Walt Disney Studios.
