'The Avengers' Is The Biggest Movie Opening Ever

The box office estimates are in for the May 4th weekend and SHIELD's Helicarrier just destroyed Hogwarts. Marvel's The Avengers has become the world's biggest film opening ever, dominating previous record holder Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The Dark Knight by over $30 million domestically.

The Avengers isn't just winning the love from moviegoers and fans however, as it's also earning high critical praise with a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.5/5 score in Screen Rant's own review of The Avengers. Let's take a look at the numbers and comparisons.

According to the Walt Disney Studios estimates up on Box Office Mojo, The Avengers ranked in $200.3 million domestically over the weekend after also succeeding as the biggest midnight opening ever for a superhero film ($18.7 million vs. The Dark Knight's $18.5 million), along with breaking a multitude of international records.

The top five domestic opening weekends ever:

1. The Avengers ($200,300,000)
2. Harry Potter 7-2 ($169,189,427)
3. The Dark Knight ($158,411,483)
4. The Hunger Games ($152,535,747)
5. Spider-Man 3 ($151,116,516)

For comparison, here are the previous Marvel Studios opening weekends:

1. Iron Man 2 ($128,122,480)
2. Iron Man ($98,618,668)
3. Thor ($65,723,338)
4. Captain America: The First Avenger ($65,058,524)
5. The Incredible Hulk ($55,414,050)

Worldwide, The Avengers has now brought in nearly $642 million and is on track to approach James Cameron numbers for Titanic and Avatar, which both sit above $2 billion thanks to the recent Titanic 3D re-release.

Actuals will hit tomorrow, but for now we can safely say that Joss Whedon has directed the biggest opening movie of all time and is finally going to get the credit he deserves and the ability to do what he wants going forward. For Marvel Studios, they've successfully branded The Avengers and all of its respective characters and should have a lot more leeway and hopefully, creative freedom, to take more risks going forward with their future projects and Avengers sequels. The success of this film could change Marvel's plans for 2014 and 2015 where three-four films remain unannounced.

The Avengers are here to stay and fans have welcomed them with open arms.

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was the first film to break $100 million in one weekend at the box office so it's fitting that another Marvel film breaks the $200 million barrier. We now await what The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises can do at the box office and in the eyes of fans and critics when they release in July.

If you've seen The Avengers, please refrain from talking spoilers ' we have a spoilers discussion thread for that.

The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston and Stellan Skarsgard. It is of course written and directed by Joss Whedon.

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Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes if you're a Marvel fan.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Weekend Box Office Wrap Up: May 6th 2012

The Avengers came. The Avengers saw. The Avengers conquered.

Joss Whedon's big screen comic book mash-up broke records at the box office over the weekend and managed to score the biggest opening weekend EVER! That's right ' bigger than Harry Potter ($169 million) and bigger than The Dark Knight ($158 million). The Marvel movie should gross a mammoth $200 million by Monday morning! A fantastic number given the films $220 million production budget.

The film grossed $80.5 million on Friday, (second only to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2's $91.1 million) kicking-off the summer season in spectacular fashion. The biggest Marvel hero opening was Spider-Man 3's $151 million launch (it topped out at $336 million, a series domestic low) ' but as he's not part of The Avengers line-up, the closest comparison is Iron Man 2's $128 million debut. That film peaked at $312 million, which was just behind Iron Man's $318 million cumulative haul.

It must also be noted that this opening weekend bests the final grosses of Thor ($181 million), Captain America ($176 million) and the two previous Hulk entries ' The Incredible Hulk ended its run with $134 million, while Hulk ran out of steam at $132 million worth of green.

A truly amazing weekend, and it will be very interesting to see how it holds up next weekend. The film has received strong reviews (read ours) and it should see the weekend out with a global haul of over $641 million, meaning that it's on track to beat Spider-Man 3's $890 million worldwide take ' and Iron Man 2's $623 million is already toast. The film also has the potential to beat The Dark Knight's $1 billion in global ticket sales, in fact the $1 billion mark is pretty much a cert for the movie. The Dark Knight Rises will have to work hard to beat this.

Think Like A Man was in second place, banking $8 million and raising its total to an impressive $73 million. It won't hit the century mark, but it will get close.

The Hunger Games scored $5.7 million and raised its total to $380.7 million, the film has now grossed over $600 million globally.

The Lucky One grossed $5.5 million, a number which gives the Zac Efron starrer almost $48 million.

Pirates! Band of Misfits brought in an additional $5.4 million and upped its cume to over $18.5 million. Not a great result.

Comedy bomb, The Five-Year Engagement laughed-up $5.1 million for a $19.2 million total, while the Edgar Allan Poe adventure The Raven brought in $2.5 million for a poor $12 million total.

Safe grossed $2.4 million for a $12.8 million cumulative take, while Chimpanzee scored $2.3 million for a $23 million total.

The top ten was rounded-out by The Three Stooges. The comedy throw-back grossed a smidgen under $2 million for a $39.6 million total take.

That's it for now. See you at the movies.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tags: box office, iron man, lucky, safe, the avengers, the dark knight rises, the five year engagement, the hunger games, the incredible hulk, the pirates band of misfits, the three stooges, think like a man, thor

Open Discussion ' May 7, 2012

As usual ' talk about whatever you like as long as it's related to movies, TV or Screen Rant itself ' just remember to play nice.

The Avengers of TV: Television's 10 Mightiest Heroes

The Avengers isn't the only team that could defend Earth. In fact, we've assembled 10 of television's mightiest heroes to take on Loki and his army. And guess what? They won. Why? Because I said so' and this is all pretend anyway.

So to celebrate the theatrical release of The Avengers, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out The Avengers of TV.

*Don't forget to check out the photo of the complete team at the end.

'The Watch' Red Band Trailer Serves Up Raunchy Talk & Alien Jokes

Marketing for 20th Century Fox's upcoming Summer comedy ensemble release, The Watch (formerly known as Neighborhood Watch) started off awkwardly, with a teaser trailer that went out of its way to not reveal the film's true identity: a sci-fi/alien invasion flick that reads on paper as Men in Black meets The 'Burbs.

Things only got worse from there, as the Trayvon Marten shooting suddenly made the idea of a laughfest ' where a pack of mostly middle-aged, male suburbanites (played by Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade) use excessive force in the name of keeping the neighborhood safe, seem extremely insensitive and ill-timed.

Fox clearly recognized this; hence, the change-up in title and mad scramble (on the studio's part) to completely turnaround the manner in which this flick is sold to the moviegoing masses.

As a result, we've ended up getting a red band trailer for The Watch that's instead all about playing up the film as a wacky raunch-com-meets-sci-fi adventure ' wherein, a group of foul-mouthed, but lovable, adult men are out to save their families, friends and neighbors from a covert extraterrestrial threat. That is, when they're not worrying about relatable things, like warding off their daughters' would-be boyfriends.

Hill, Stiller, Ayoade and Vaughn in 'Neighborhood Watch'

The naughty jokes and sight gags ' coupled with the strange mishmash of genre elements ' featured in this new footage from The Watch bear the recognizable signature of screenwriting duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express, Green Hornet). Similarly, director Akiva Schaffer looks to keep the jokes flying fast, much like he did during his days working on SNL (and feature-length helming debut, Hot Rod).

Once you adjust to the sharp contrast in the film's new marketing, though, The Watch seems like a pretty standard R-Rated comedy in the vein of just about every movie featuring guys like Hill and Vaughn ' released over the past five years or so. That may help the film shake off its bad publicity, but it doesn't guarantee the eventual box office returns will be any better than originally predicted (prior to the controversy).

We will see how it all turns out when The Watch begins a theatrical release in the U.S. on July 27th, 2012.

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Source: IGN

SR Geek Picks: May the 4th and Avengers Galore!

Welcome to Screen Rant's 'Geek Picks,' where we collect the finest movie-related geekery from around the web for you. It's that time of year again when all Star Wars fans geek out over the calendar date of May the 4th. Scour the internet and you'll find deals, toys, apparel, and general Star Wars geekery in abundance. The fourth of May 2012 also marks the release date of Marvel's The Avengers in US theaters, so we'll begin our geek journey with some Avenger-related links for all you Marvel zombies out there. It's a special 'May The 4th' edition of SR's Geek Picks!

Yesterday we linked to iO9's look into the design elements of The Avengers. Today they have another Avengers-related post you might want to check out titled Several Reasons Why Avengers Kicks Ass. Did they miss any reasons? Leave us a comment down below if so.

Ever wonder what the original Star Wars cast members are doing now? The Hollywood Reporter has the answer.

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The Avengers, Batman And Some Guy With A Spider On His Chest

Another entry in the 'I'm A Marvel, I'm A DC parody series' in which the summer 2012 season of superhero film characters debate who's the most relevant.

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Eric D Snider Brings You Every Girl's Guide To The Avengers

The always entertaining Eric D Snider (follow him on twitter if you like to laugh) gives us insight into the female mind.

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Big Thanks To SR Reader Ricco for this great Iron Man Intervention Video

 

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Too Many Avengers

CollegeHumor has a hilarious video that illustrates what I imagine all of these superhero universes look like from someone who's new/non comic fans (Warning: True to Sam Jackson form, there is some NSFW language in the video).

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Avengers #1 Recreated With The Movie Cast

This is a cool image inserting the movie cast onto the cover of the first appearance of The Avengers.

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Darth Vader vs Gandalf

In the battle of the geek, which is more powerful? Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings?

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A capella Star Wars Theme

John Williams music + Acapella = Win

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Jedi Turtles Strike Back

How can you not love these turtle Jedi masters? Answer: You can't.

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Wookie Kong (Shirt) $10 Today Only!

 

Today only you can pick up this Donkey Kong/Star Wars mashup shirt for $10. A great deal for you wookie lovers out there.

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That's all for today folks! Be sure to check back tomorrow for more movie related geekery.

Today's picks have been brought to you by: @Mr_Gentleman, CollegeHumor, RiptApparrel, Gizmodo, ToplessRobot, THR.

'The Avengers' Spoilers Discussion

While our readers are already talking about this movie in the comments section of our Avengers review, this is the place where you can discuss The Avengers spoilers without concerns about ruining the movie for folks who haven't seen it yet.

We would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you avoid reading the comments here until after you have seen the film.

If you're posting comments here, assume that anyone in the conversation has seen the movie ' if you haven't seen the movie, we would recommend you don't read the comments here until you have. 

We've set up a poll below where you can rate The Avengers for yourself. Other than that, feel free to discuss the film and all its awesomeness!

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SPOILERS BELOW!!!

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