Well. duh it reached that milestone in 19 days. If you have a opening in the US of over $200m what else can be forecast.
Now The Avengers starring an ensemble cast of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johannson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury was built to break records. The film had its worldwide premiere on April 11, 2012 and released in the UAE on May 3 to full houses. It broke midnight screening records in the US. In North America, the presales tickets exceeded those of all of last year Marvel live-action film releases.
Hell, they exceeded in NOT making Thor look gay in his feature film of 2011. So The Avengers' success does not come as a surprise as all of last year's Marvel releases opened to positive to mixed reviewed and covered their budget by $200-$300m.
The Avengers has become the highest-grossing film based on comics (created by the late Jack Kirby and legend Stan Lee respectively). It has become the biggest grossing superhero film and the fifth highest grosser distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It shares its speed of earning the $1b milestone with Avatar, and Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows Part 2. That speed being 19 days.
Rotten Tomatoes gives it 93% certified fresh and why wouldn't it be? I watched it in the theatre 2 times and I'm still craving another viewing. This film will excite both comic book fans and those who have never read a page. I'll give a full review later on. The current rating on IMDB is 8.7/10 and the running time is 2 hours, 23 minutes and you'll never feel that you wasted that time.
Think Like a Man falls to no. 3 spot in its 4th week. No surprise Johnny Depp's Dark Shadows reached no.2 but fails to beat The Avengers (as predicted). The horror comedy film is based on the mid 60s soap opera series of the same name. And its based on vampires and unsurprisingly directed by Tim Burton. This mark Depp's eighth collaboration with Burton that started with Edward Scissorhands (a teen fantasy romantic film), which I found one of Depp's best acting flicks and Burton's only movie that I would recommend. The trailer is quite impressive though and I'm looking forward to watch this one:
Battleship might reach no.2 or no.3 next weekend. The only film that can and most probably beat the superhero squad is Men in Black 3 releasing on May 25 with a strong budget of $215m.
So I'm excited for the weekend after next...
May 08, 2012
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week # 1 N Marvel's The...
I wrongly predicted that The Avengers won't beat the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The last film of the HP series made a massive $169m on its opening weekend. I also thought Avengers' would equal the opening of The Dark Knight ($158.4m) but it did a lot more than that. Though I did correctly predict it would beat The Hunger Games ($152.2m).
Marvel's The Avengers, based on the superhero team comic-book series written by legends Stan Lee and the late Jack Kirby, has earned just over $205m in just 3 days at the US theatres. I saw this one recently and I have to say it's a summer blockbuster must-watch! (review coming soon).
It has broken multiple records which weren't predicted by me and other box office pundits: Fastest to $100m. Fastest to $150m. Fastest to $200m.
Now many people had this feature on top of their summer watchlist. Even the female fanbase. But I'm shocked it beat Harry Potter's said to be unbeatable record. This has also sparked the interest of viewing superhero movies again which was lost by last year's Green Lantern and the uninteresting grosses of Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class. Last year only Thor is to be considered a masterpiece not only commercially (approximately $450m worldwide) and critically (Rotten Tomatoes: 77%, BoxOffice101: 3/4). So I wasn't surprised to see Thor not being underrated in this hot seasoned entertainer.
Joss Whedon has written and directed The Avengers off a story by him and Zak Penn. Whedon enjoys cult status and is a well renowned TV writer having created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly along with popular others. This being his 2nd mainstream film he does a pretty good job at it and although his first film (Serenity 2005) barely managed to reach its budget, this year luck favours him. His co-written horror film that has gotten critics jumping is off the top 10 week this list after its 3rd week. It has made just above $45m off $12m and I'm super eager to see it. It will release on May 10, 012 in the UAE.
This week also marks Think Like a Man's fall off the top (as predicted last week) along with The Hunger Games at no.3. Both no.2 and no.3 haven't managed to make up to $10m this week and I'm sure Battleship won't take The Avengers off the highest rank with its North America debut on May 18. Men in Black 3 will do that though.
That's enough for one weekend folks. BoxOffice101 predicted that Marvel's The Avengers would made $990m - $1b. Now let's see how much it ends up with in the end...
(Chart by Box Office Mojo)
May 02, 2012
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week # 1 1 Think Like a Man...
Think Like a Man surprisingly not beat by 4 new competitors!
I'm also very surprised that an animated movie no matter which voice actors included did not top a US weekend. The Pirates! Band of Misfits released by Sony lands at no.2 starring British hunk Hugh Grant and co-starring Martin Freeman, Salma Hayek, Anton Yelchin along with a few mildly known others.
The Five-Year Engagement a rated R romantic comedy was damned to land below 3 as we already have a PG-13 movie on top of the list, also being a rom-com. Safe starring action star Jason Statham arrives at 6 and I'm not surprised. Well, I thought with more romance-oriented films at the top how would an action film beat them. So we have three LionGate Films features the previously mentioned along with The Hunger Games that is at no.3 after 6 weeks, and The Cabin in the Woods falls to no.10 in its 3rd week. Another horror feature is The Raven based on a fictional story starring John Cusack as American macabre poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe. I've heard Cusack acted to the part but the film's review wasn't that impressive with critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives The Raven a 22%. The consensus shows a murder mystery that's more silly than scary. Luke Evans from Immortals also stars and he is a fine actor. I'll definitely watch the film on Blu-ray as I am a horror freak and a sucker for anything related to Poe. Also, the director is James McTeigue who directed V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin, both terrific films.
The Raven has made just a little over $10m worldwide off a $26m budget. I'm sure it'll make about $30-$35m at the end of its theatrical run.
So the last two weekends were strange but it also vital to mention that it has been a while since an African-American based rom-com was released. So audiences would've barged in for Think Like a Man because of the USP. One other factor that it is based on a best-selling novelist's book namely Steve Harvey.
The Avengers opens in the US on May 4. By repeating this the second time I find myself super excited. It had its world premiere on April 11 and has made $218.2m off $220m so covering its cost of production. Websites are predicting that The Avengers will outgross The Dark Knight ($158.4m) and The Hunger Games ($152.2m). The highest best opening weekend is for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows: Part 2 which made a massive $169m!
That movie ended up with over $1,320,000,000 off a $250m mega budget. I predict it would beat the opening of The Hunger Games and probably equal The Dark Knight's. But I state that it would not beat Harry Potter as the female fanbase was so strong and the population of women in the world is larger. Female fanbase for The Avengers is also powerful but still lacks the brand name of J.K. Rowling.
The Avengers could end up with a BoxOffice101 prediction of $990m or just reaching the $1b landmark at the end of its theatrical run.
Battleship, another megabudget action feature, was released worldwide on April 12th but still hasn't managed to outgross its $200m cost of production. It has succumbed to $170m. So my prediction is that it won't beat The Avengers to the top on May 18. It'll land on no.2 and then both films will be beaten for the top spot by Men in Black 3 on May 25 as 8% of men surveyed by a summer movie survey opted for this one, and mainly due to women eyeing this as their most-anticipated summer blockbuster.
Let the battles begin...
