There really wasn’t any question as to whether or not The Avengers was going to be big, but when films threaten territory never before reached it’s impossible to put your finger on how big they may end up. Well, now we have a data set to use as The Avengers brought in $18.7 million from midnight showings and then tacked on an additional $62 million over the course of the day for $80.5 million Friday.
To go along with that, it also received an A+ CinemaScore from audiences, which together with good reviews from critics and IMAX and 3-D ticket sales bolstering its tally, this thing could break the $200 million mark rather easily if it continues on this path.
The $80.5 million Friday is the second best opening day ever behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which brought in a massive $91 million last year and ended its opening weekend with a record $169.1 million. So does The Avengers really have a chance at the record if it is already $10.5 million behind Potter?
In my opinion, yes, because it wasn’t as front-loaded as Potter. Midnight screenings for Deathly Hallows totaled $43.5 million compared to the measly $18.7m for Avengers, showing me Avengers has greater support throughout the day. It is likely to slack off a little for certain, but with results like this I think we are looking at a record breaker and something around $185 million for the weekend.
I think one thing is for sure, it’s going to be the biggest superhero opening of all-time and jump over The Dark Knight‘s $158.4 million from 2008… I just wonder now how big will The Dark Knight Rises go? Will it be the one to break the $200 million barrier?
Below I’ve included the Friday estimates and will be back on Sunday with a complete wrap-up.
- Marvel’s The Avengers – $80.5 million
- Think Like a Man – $2.6 million
- The Lucky One – $1.9 million
- The Five-Year Engagement – $1.7 million
- The Hunger Games – $1.6 million
- Pirates! Band of Misfits – $1.3 million
- The Raven – $844,000
- Safe – $825,000
- Chimpanzee – $707,000
- The Cabin in the Woods – $515,000
