2012 Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Todd H]

Saw it tonight and it was the first time I've ever seen a theater this packed. They actually shut down the showing of Think Like A Man and used that theater to accommodate the overflow. And even that theater was packed. It was insane. This is going to open huge.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The Avengers is destroying the Saturday BO record (going to be near $60 million just for today).
.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Travis and Todd, it looks like you guys called it and my weekend guestimate is going to be way low. Friday was already the second highest grossing single day for a movie behind the last Harry Potter movie, which made $91 million in its first 24 hours. But when you take midnight screenings out the equation (HP7 made $43.5 million in midnight screenings alone, The Avengers pulls into the lead in a huge way: $61.8 million of The Avengers's first day came from non-midnight tickets. The closest movie to that was Spider-Man 3, which made "only" $49.8 million when you factor out midnight showings.
Between the $80.5 million it made yesterday and the ~$60 million for today that Pat just posted, the opening weekend is going to be closer to $200 million than it will be to The Hunger Games. At this point, I expect HP7's opening weekend record to be toast.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt /t/319701/2012-box-office/30#post_3923169
Travis and Todd, it looks like you guys called it and my weekend guestimate is going to be way low. Friday was already the second highest grossing single day for a movie behind the last Harry Potter movie, which made $91 million in its first 24 hours. But when you take midnight screenings out the equation (HP7 made $43.5 million in midnight screenings alone, The Avengers pulls into the lead in a huge way: $61.8 million of The Avengers's first day came from non-midnight tickets. The closest movie to that was Spider-Man 3, which made "only" $49.8 million when you factor out midnight showings.
Between the $80.5 million it made yesterday and the ~$60 million for today that Pat just posted, the opening weekend is going to be closer to $200 million than it will be to The Hunger Games. At this point, I expect HP7's opening weekend record to be toast.

Travis and Todd, what no credit for Crawdaddy?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Travis and Todd, what no credit for Crawdaddy?

You're absolutely right! I rushed that post and I missed the first person to call me on it. You definitely get credit, and I definitely underestimated the kid effect at the B.O.

 

[mattCR]

It's not surprising, I think this is going to have surprisingly strong word of mouth.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt /t/319701/2012-box-office/30#post_3923203
You're absolutely right! I rushed that post and I missed the first person to call me on it. You definitely get credit, and I definitely underestimated the kid effect at the B.O.

Adam,

I was just messing with you man. The kid effect and I was surprise to see some older folks there too as Captain America goes back several generations.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's not surprising, I think this is going to have surprisingly strong word of mouth.

A+ Cinemascore. The audience I was in was whooping and hollering and cheering the whole way through, and judging by the "Avengers" thread, so were the audiences in most theaters. I already have the urge to see it again, and I hardly ever pay to see a movie twice in theaters. This could have "Star Wars"-like repeat business.

Adam,
I was just messing with you man.  The kid effect and I was surprise to see some older folks there too as Captain America goes back several generations.

No worries! Sometimes hard to read tone with words on the page, so I figured better safe than sorry with credit where credit is due.
The box office data coming back is reporting an even 50/50 split between audiences older and younger than 25. These characters cross generations. Judging by audience reaction, this has the real potential to break out of the core comic movie audience next week as word of mouth spreads.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

WOW!
The Hollywood Reporter: 'Avengers' Opens to Record Shattering $200.3 Million

 

[mattCR]

My father (70) went over the weekend and told me it reminded him of all the 'best westerns' when he was a kid and every actor was a star. First time he's been to the theater in quite some time. (BTW, his other comment was that this and films like Indiana Jones show you can do a real shoot-em-up without lots of blood and gore, and wished more films would do that, he's kind of opposed to the blood/gore violence bit). I think tha'ts what's appealing about this; I think a lot of adults are going to be comfortable taking their 10+ year olds to go to this.

 

[EricW]

answer: "over Christopher Nolan's dead body"

question: "with the Avenger's record breaking opening, is there any chance of a Justice League movie?"

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Interesting that 52% saw it in 3D because around here the 3D showtimes outnumber the 2D showtimes by 3:1. At the theater we saw it in there were only 2 2D showings per day, one at 11am (that we went to) and a noon showing. If this is the norm then the 2D showings must have been packed and the 3D showings not so much and I wouldn't take it as people preferred 3D, they just had no choice.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Interesting that 52% saw it in 3D because around here the 3D showtimes outnumber the 2D showtimes by 3:1. At the theater we saw it in there were only 2 2D showings per day, one at 11am (that we went to) and a noon showing. If this is the norm then the 2D showings must have been packed and the 3D showings not so much and I wouldn't take it as people preferred 3D, they just had no choice.

Approximately 77 percent of the screens are 3D for this film, so there is definitely a divide there. Part of the difference can be explained by the fact that many single screen small town theaters aren't 3D equipped, so in those areas the entire audience is 2D. But I think you're also right that the bulk of the discrepancy can be explained by audiences disenchanted with 3D actively seeking out 2D showtimes. I know I certainly did. I guess I'm lucky in that the two big multiplexes are both owned by Regal, and they have 31 screens between them. There were 2D showtimes every 30 minutes, with 3D showtimes even more closely paced than that.

 

[Todd H]

Well deserved. I've already seen it twice and am considering a third viewing. Haven't done that since Return of the King.

 

[TravisR]

I guess I'm lucky in that the two big multiplexes are both owned by Regal, and they have 31 screens between them. There were 2D showtimes every 30 minutes, with 3D showtimes even more closely paced than that.

There are 6 theaters within a reasonable driving distance of me that are playing The Avengers. The smallest theater has The Avengers on 3 screens (two 3-D and one 2-D) and the largest theater has it on 6 (!) screens (one IMAX, two 2-D and three 3-D). I can only speak to the area near me but I'd have no problem in seeing it in 2-D or 3-D at any time of the business day.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I viewed the second time this morning in 2-D and the theater was far from pack. However, I again, noticed some older folks in the audience that you normally wouldn't find in Comic Book adaptations.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Congrats to Marvel and Whedon. Joss finally hits the big time!
Be interesting to see the effect this has on the respective individual hero sequels. And whether the Hulk gets his own film sooner rather than later.

 

[mattCR]

God I'm just hoping it lights a fire under the Kazuis to stop their Buffy movie reboot and ask him if he'd do Frey or any other Buffy sequel

 

[Greg_D_R]

The final number seems to be 200.3 million for the opening weekend, setting multiple records in the process. Avengers' worldwide total is already 641 million. 500 million domestic does not seem out of order. Nor does the record for fastest to 1 billion worldwide.

 

[Brian Sheffield]

A new update places the total at 205 million.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/avenger-update-205m-record-domestic/
This movie is a monster that keeps going up with each revised estimate. I think the actuals will be at or near 210.
Amazing.