Hollywood's latest adaptation from the world of comics, The Avengers, has smashed the box office record for the biggest US opening weekend by a margin befitting a film trading heavily on cacophonous superhero-style walloping.
The $200.3m (£124m) debut is by far the biggest American opening to date, shooting past the $169.2m record for the debut of last year's Harry Potter finale. A $200m take from all new movies is considered a great weekend for the business as a whole, so The Avengers has effectively redefined the standards for a blockbuster debut.
"If The Avengers is any indication, we're going to see a leap rather than a gentle little nudge into new territory, and the lineup is there to justify it going forward," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of the Imax cinema chain.
The film – renamed Avengers Assemble for the UK and Irish market, to avoid confusion with the vintage TV series – opened in 39 countries, excluding the US, last week. Crowds in the US were so anxious to see the film on giant Imax screens that Foster said the company had only one problem: it ran out of seats to sell.
The record weekend was the culmination of years of careful planning by Marvel Studios, which has included teasers for an Avengers dream team collaboration in its solo superhero adventures.
Directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), The Avengers features Robert Downey Jnr 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.
The Avengers added $151.5m outside the US over the weekend. That raised the film's worldwide haul to $641.8m in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America, took during their entire runs.
When the final US weekend count is released on Monday, The Avengers will be the first movie to haul in $200m in a single weekend in the US if the estimates currently being put out by distributor Disney hold up.
The Avengers is the first of three superhero blockbusters coming this summer: The Amazing Spider-Man is released on 3 July and The Dark Knight Rises wraps up the current Batman series on 20 July.
Until the Harry Potter finale, 2008's The Dark Knight had held the revenue record with a $158.4m debut. Before that, the record-holder was 2007's Spider-Man 3 with $151.1m.
As admission prices rise, Hollywood's record-breakers often take in more money but sell fewer tickets than previous blockbusters. But The Avengers took in so much money that it has become the undisputed champion among debuts.
