'Avengers' Has a Superhero Performance at Box
Office
By Todd Cunningham TheWrap
"The Avengers" will hit $1 billion in global box
office Sunday, in its 19th day of release, Disney said.
The star-studded Marvel superhero mashup took in another $103.2 million from
4,349 U.S. theaters over the weekend, the best-ever second week and the first
time a film has broken $100 million in a second frame. The box-office bounty
provided by "The Avengers" resonated up to the boardroom.
"It's a fantastic movie and an extraordinary
franchise that will continue with more great stories and compelling characters
for years to come," Robert Iger, Disney's Chairman and CEO, said in a statement
released Sunday morning.
Combined with its unprecedented $207.4 million debut weekend, "The Avengers"
has taken in $372.2 million at U.S. theaters.
"The Avengers" added $95.4 million from 54 foreign territories over the
weekend, upping its foreign haul to $628.9 million.
The all-time global box office leaders are two James Cameron films. "Avatar"
rang up $2.7 billion in 2009, breaking the mark of $2.1 billion set by "Titanic"
in 1997.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it passed 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' for
the No. 3 spot," Jeff Bock, a senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations
Col., told TheWrap. That movie took in $1.3 billion last year.
