The Avengers

Marvel’s Avengers Assemble has third biggest UK debut, shatters box office records overseas

Avengers Assemble team assembled movie still.jpgTHE SUMMER blockbuster season is off to a flying, smashing, arrow-slinging, butt-kicking, hammer-wielding start with Marvel’s new Avengers Assemble.

Unleashed in UK cinemas yesterday (April 26) and arriving in the US on May 4, the film is fast becoming the must-see action-adventure movie of 2012.

And new figures just sent to us show that Avengers Assemble has taken an incredible £2.5 million at the UK box office on its opening day.

Fans flocked to see the hugely anticipated superhero movie, making it the third biggest Thursday opening of all time:

1) STAR WARS III: REVENGE OF THE SITH - May 19, 2005: £3,509,547.

2) HARRY POTTER AND ORDER OF THE PHOENIX - July 12, 2007: £3,486,348.

3) AVENGERS ASSEMBLE - April 26, 2011: £2,547,617

The huge demand across the country to see the film has also led to extra screenings to keep up with demand.

Marvel Avengers Assemble has also seen record-breaking openings across Europe while Australia saw their second highest opening of all time, behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

UK press - even those who are usually far more uptight about this kind of film - seem to be loving the Avengers.

The Sun gave it five stars and called it "phenomenal," The Daily Star gave it 10 out of 10 and said it was "the best comic book movie ever made" while The Times awarded five stars and said "Avengers Assemble has emerged as the smartest, wittiest and most unapologetically entertaining comic-book adaptation of the modern era." For my own review, click here.

Figures for overseas show (in US dollar estimates) that Avengers has already assembled $17.1million from 10 countries.

Public holidays in Australia and New Zealand helped boost box office.

Australia’s opening day on Wednesday was also its highest Marvel opening day ever, 214 per cent ahead of Iron Man 2 ($1.8million Thursday opening) and 136 per cent ahead of The Dark Knight ($2.5million Thursday opening), and the highest opening day for any Disney film.

It was Taiwan’s biggest Wednesday opening and the country’s biggest opening day of 2012 (173 per cent above Battleship) as well as the second-biggest opening day for any Marvel-related film (after only Spider-Man 3, a Marvel character whose film rights are with Sony).

In New Zealand, Avengers scored the best opening day ever, beating the final Harry Potter movie.

MovieTickets.com reported that pre-sales were one and half times more than for all previous Marvel Studios releases combined (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Iron Man 2).

The site added that it was selling 3,995 per cent more tickets than for Captain America, 1,034 per cent more tickets than for Thor, 114 per cent more tickets than for Iron Man 2 and 1,406 per cent more tickets than for Iron Man, at the same point prior to release.

It said 56 per cent of purchasers want to see the film in 3D and 37 per cent are buying tickets for IMAX 3D.

The Avengers is the first Marvel Studios film to be marketed and distributed by Disney.