'Avengers' smashes record: $200.3 million debut

AP ^ | 5/6/12 | David Germain

[TheBigB]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hulk, smash.

That's what Captain America tells the Incredible Hulk to do in "The Avengers," and that's what the Marvel Comics superhero mash-up did at the box office, smashing the domestic revenue record with a $200.3 million debut.

It's by far the biggest opening ever, shooting past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year's "Harry Potter" finale.

"The Avengers" added $151.5 million overseas over the weekend to bring its total to $441.5 million since it began opening internationally a week earlier.

That raised the film's worldwide haul to $641.8 million in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners "Iron Man," "Iron Man 2," "Thor" and "Captain America" took in during their entire runs.

If distributor Disney's domestic estimate Sunday holds when the final weekend count is released Monday, "The Avengers" would be the first movie ever to haul in $200 million in a single weekend.

A $200 million total for every movie in release is considered a great weekend for the business as a whole, so "The Avengers" redefines the standards for a blockbuster debut.

"If `The Avengers' is any indication, we're going to see a leap rather than a gentle little nudge into new territory, and the lineup is there to justify it going forward," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of the huge-screen IMAX cinema chain.

Crowds were so anxious to see the film on IMAX's giant screens that Foster said the company had only one problem: it ran out of seats to sell.

Hollywood launched a potentially record-shattering summer with a vengeance, "The Avengers" landing as just the first of three huge superhero tales that highlight a lineup filled with other blockbusters in the making.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" follows on July 3 and "The Dark Knight Rises" wraps up the current Batman series on July 20.

Until the "Harry Potter" finale, 2008's "The Dark Knight" had held the revenue record with a $158.4 million debut. Before that, the record-holder was 2007's "Spider-Man 3" with $151.1 million.

So anticipation for those two films could rival that of "The Avengers."

Along with the superhero films, Hollywood's summer lineup includes the action tales "Men in Black 3," "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," "Battleship," "Total Recall" and "Prometheus," director Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi territory of his horror hit "Alien."

Big family fare includes the animated adventures "Brave," from "Toy Story" creator Pixar Animation, and the sequels "Ice Age: Continental Drift" and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."

The comedy lineup features Adam Sandler's "That's My Boy," Will Ferrell's "The Campaign" and Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator."

[Kellis91789]

I consider optimal viewing distance to be a distance back from the screen equal to the width of the screen. Any closer reveals CGI (or even film grain in movies without CGI) and further back is not immersive enough — too much in my field of view that is not movie. In smaller stadium theaters, the optimal distance seats put the bottom of the screen at eye level, which means you are looking “up” through the whole movie. Avoiding a crick in the neck means sitting further back — and therefor higher off the floor — than I consider optimal distance. Larger theaters have seat height and distance optimal at the same time.

[thecodont]

One of the best scenes in the movie IMHO.

[Lucas McCain]

I saw Avengers today, Safe last week. Safe was better. Much better.

[dennisw]

Thanks.... I guess we think along the same lines. I really liked the Russian mob versus the Chinese mob versus the corrupt New York City police versus Jason Stratham. It was a four way fight with each fighting each other. The little Chinese girl acted her part well and so did the ethnic mobsters

[dennisw]

I liked “Gladiator” with Russel Crowe but it had the most cheap cheesy CGI backgrounds. It was like a comic book inserted into the movies