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'The Avengers' smashes opening weekend box office record

Xinhua, May 7, 2012

• "The Avengers" has scored the biggest opening weekend North America box office history with an astonishing 200.3 million U.S. dollars in estimated ticket sales, marking a start of Hollywood's summer season.

  "The Avengers" has scored the biggest opening weekend North America box office history with an astonishing 200.3 million U.S. dollars in estimated ticket sales, marking a start of Hollywood's summer season. [sina.com.cn]

  The previous record was 169.2 million U.S. dollars set by " Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" last year. Although "The Avengers" did not manage to break the opening day record by the Harry Potter finale, it finished strong to set the highest gross. It has earned an "A-plus'' grade as measured by the Cinemascan service.

  The Marvel Studios film, released by Walt Disney Co., is on track to have sold 641 million dollars in tickets across the world, according to studio estimates gathered by Hollywood.com.

  Box office analyst for Hollywood.com Paul Dergerabedian said " This is the biggest North American opening weekend debut in box office history and sets a new benchmark in what is possible in terms of theatrical revenue generation."

  The film, directed by Joss Whedon, brings together super heroes of several prior Marvel blockbusters, including Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and Thor. It has the star attractions, staring Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

  Disney opened the film first in other countries, setting opening weekend records in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines, building anticipation before it was released in North America.

  Hit by the blockbuster, other films performed poorly at this weekend box office.

  "Think Like A Man", which held the top spot over the past two weekends, was in second place with 8 million dollars and a three- week total of 73 million dollars.

  And the previous big hit of the year, "The Hunger Games," was the third with 5.7 million dollars, bringing its domestic sales over seven weeks to 380.7 million dollars.

  Rounding out the five top movies in the North America this weekend were "The Lucky One" (5.5 million dollars) and "Pirates, The Band Of Misfits" (5.4 million dollars).

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