Corona | Coming Attractions

This Sunday morning the weekend box office estimates have been added up and something amazing has happened: for the first time in motion picture history, a movie has grossed $200 million dollars on its opening weekend. It's The Avengers, and according to studio estimates, Disney's first Marvel superhero movie has opened to the tune of $200.3 million dollars.

That sets a new benchmark for a film's opening weekend, defeating the record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which was set last summer.) Avengers is playing on 4,349 screens, which works out to 26 less that Deathly Hallows Part 2, but Avengers has made an incredible $46,000 per location. The reason for the huge per screen take comes from extra showings of the film; in some big city locations, The Avengers played around-the-clock. In fact, I've heard reports of megaplexes (12 or more screens) adding more theaters just to satisfy customer demand.

Factoring in the international box office ($441 million dollars to date), Marvel's The Avengers has a worldwide gross of $641.8 million dollars. The movie cost a reported $220 million to make, and after adding on another $80 - $100 million more for marketing and advertising, Marvel and Disney are well into the black on their little venture.

The Hunger Games presently stands as 2012's highest grossing movie with $380.7 million dollars.