"The Avengers," from Walt Disney's Marvel Studios, has broken the record for the best opening weekend in Hollywood history.
The Joss Whedon-directed movie, riding stellar reviews and a tsunami of Twitter love, piled up $200.3 million at theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from Disney. That total, which beat the $169.2-million record set during the opening weekend of 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2," was turbocharged by pricier IMAX and 3-D tickets. About 52% of those who saw the movie opted to shell out a few extra bucks to watch it in 3-D. IMAX theaters even ran out of seats to sell to moviegoers.
The North American box office total added to an already unfolding global success story; playing in 52 international markets, the movie collected $151.5 million this weekend, raising its tally abroad to $441.5 million. That means that after just two weeks in release, "The Avengers" already has sold $641.8-million worth of tickets, jumping past "The Hunger Games" on the ranking of top-grossing 2012 releases worldwide.
Source: L.A. Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-boxoffice-20120507,0,2730797.story
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