martes, 08 de mayo de 2012 02:20 a.m.
If the total holds in
May has been golden for Hollywood ever since 2002
, when Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man became the first
movie to gross more than $100 million on its opening
weekend. Over the succeeding decade, Marvel proved its
mega-hit chops with Spider-Man sequels, the X-Men
franchise and a bunch of Avengers prequels. The
only question for the new movie’s premiere:
How high is up? Box-office analysts had forecast
an opening in the range of $150 million to $170 million
. In the over-under game, few swamis dared go higher, though Jeff
Bock of Exhibitor Relations made a tentative prediction
of $200 million. “It would take a perfect storm,
” Bock told The Wrap, “but all the elements are there.”
The chief element was the union of four main characters
from earlier Marvel adventures: two Iron Man movies
and two Incredible Hulks, plus Thor and Captain America.
The six films had established the series’ fan base,
earning $1.255 billion in the U.S. and Canada and
nearly $2.5 billion worldwide — still less than the $2.782
billion that James Cameron’s Avatar made on its own
but a great haul nonetheless. All The Avengers did was
to earn more in three days than last year’s Thor
or Captain America, or the 2003 Hulk itsor2008makeover,haitsentiredome
sticrun.Readmorehttp://entertainment.time.com/2012That
number not only eclipses but utterly obliterates
the $169.2-million debut for the previous record holder
last July’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2. If the total holds when final figures are issued
on Monday, The Avengers will have reached $200 million
two days faster than any other movie; both the Potter
finale and The Dark Knight, now in third place,
took a great haul nonetheless.