Box Office Report: "Avengers" assemble massive opening

For once in my life, I'm not so entirely pissed at the prospect of a film becoming extremely successful, because in the case of "The Avengers" it is actually well deserved. The last two films that fell under that purview were "The Dark Knight" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". Bash it you may, but that film was one of visual splendors a plenty. I've made my point pretty clearly on my opinions concerning "The Avengers", and please don't try belittling them for not being extremely ecstatic. The joy I had finding "21 Jump Street" to be more than simply good is comparable to that which I got from the insane spectacle that Joss Whedon put together.

It's no mistake that it did well, as we all knew it would, but there's a difference in this case. "The Avengers" landed a record for opening day gross without midnight earnings factored in. But, who really cares about that when the rest of the weekend manages to rake in $200.3 million domestically? That's quite clearly a record, blowing "Deathly Hallows: Part 2"s relatively meager $169.2 million out of the water. Of course, there's high chance of over-estimation, but if this holds, then "The Dark Knight Rises" really does have a run for its money. Okay, that's an understatement. There's no way it's going to pass by "The Avengers".

So with such a strong debut, I believe it's safe to predict this film going on towards $500+ million, if not giving "Avatar" a serious run for its money. It's not simply the fact it brought in so much, but only $80 million of that came from opening day. The film has a small drop on Saturday to $69.7 million, and an actual rise if you weed out midnight earnings. Sunday even managed to bring in $50 million, if estimates hold up. From here on, I suspect the film will ascend beyond $300 million by the end of the week. Then it's expected for it to go to $450 million within two weeks, likely $600 million by the close of the month. Beyond that, if this holds up, it most certainly will beat out "Avatar". Overall, the weekend was a 56.7% increase upon last year, when "Thor" opened big and ensured the impact of this mega-giant. I won't speak of any other film this weekend, because who really cares?

1. "The Avengers" (First Weekend; $200.3 million)

2. "Think Like a Man" (Third Weekend; $8 million; $73 MILLION TOTAL)

3. "The Hunger Games" (Seventh Weekend; $5.7 million; $$380.7 MILLION TOTAL)

4. "The Lucky One" (Third Weekend; $5.5 million; $47.9 MILLION TOTAL)

5. "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" (Second Weekend; $5.4 million; $18.6 MILLION TOTAL)

6. "The Five-Year Engagement" (Second Weekend; $5.1 million; $19.2 MILLION TOTAL)

7. "The Raven" (Second Weekend; $2.5 million; $12 MILLION TOTAL)

8. "Safe" (Second Weekend; $2.5 million; $12.8 MILLION TOTAL)

9. "Chimpanzee" (Third Weekend; $2.4 million; $23 MILLION TOTAL)

10. "The Three Stooges" (Fourth Weekend; $1.8 million; $39.6 MILLION TOTAL)