It might not have topped the record-breaking $207+ million opening weekend of The Avengers back in 2012, but the $191.2 million earned this weekend from Avengers: Age of Ultron is enough to claim the second largest opening weekend of all-time, still well ahead of Iron Man 3 in third place with $174.1 million giving Marvel movies the top three spots in the all-time opening weekend record books. Of course, several factors played into the film not becoming the second movie to eclipse that $200 million mark, things such as reviews that weren’t quite so enthusiastic, the abundance of sporting events on Saturday (where the film dropped 50% from its excellent opening day), and yet, it still earned an “A” CinemaScore, so don’t go thinking this one is going anywhere or for a second think this is a disappointing opening.
There will surely be questions as to whether it will be able to top the $623 million earned domestically by its predecessor, or the overall $1.5+ billion The Avengers ended with worldwide, but it’s already off to a record-breaking start in multiple international territories, as its global total is now up to $630+ million after just twelve days. Domestically it’s unlikely to top that number, but I suspect it will be able to beat out Iron Man 3‘s $409 million and finish somewhere around $450 million once all is said and done, but internationally… it could be huge and…
It will be interesting to see how Age of Ultron finishes worldwide compared to the juggernaut that is Furious 7, which added another $52.8 million this weekend internationally and is now up to $1.098 billion from international markets. This number includes nearly 35% of that amount — $381.2 million — coming from China alone where it is now the #1 film of all time. With its $330.5 million domestic cume it is now the fourth highest grossing movie all-time worldwide with $1.429 billion, creeping up on The Avengers‘ $1.518 billion mark.
However, estimates had Furious 7 being edged out by The Age of Adaline for second place, actuals gave the Fast feature a few extra dollars for a weekend totalling $6.67 million compared to the counter-programmer at $6.2 million, bringing its domestic cume to $23.3 million.
Finally, Ex Machina dipped 58% as it brought in $2.22 million from 1,279 theaters.
Obviously Age of Ultron will stay at #1 next weekend as its only possible competition is the Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon feature Hot Pursuit, which looks like a hot mess. The drop, I’m guessing, will be around 56-60% and I guess the big question now is whether it will be able to rattle off four #1 weekends in a row or whether or not Tomorrowland or Mad Max: Fury Road will stop its momentum. Pitch Perfect 2 can’t… can it?
