Release
The film's world premiere was April 11, 2012, at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre. The Avengers closed the 11th Annual Tribeca Film Festival with a screening on April 28, 2012.
The film received an expanded one-week theatrical push for the 2012 U.S. Labor Day weekend, increasing the number of theaters from 123 to 1,700.
Marketing
The film was promoted at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, during which a teaser trailer narrated by Samuel L. Jackson was shown followed by an introduction of the cast.
In June 2011, Marvel Studios announced that it would not hold a panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International after studios executives decided it was not prepared to compete with its own past and fan expectations with filming still in production.
In August 2011, Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Studios presented a look at Walt Disney Studios' upcoming film slate, which included The Avengers, at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.
The presentation featured footage from the film and appearances by the cast members. Later in August, Disney dismissed Marvel's executive vice president of worldwide marketing, and manager of worldwide marketing to bring their functions in-house.
In October 2011, Marvel Studios held a presentation at the New York Comic Con that featured new footage and a panel discussion including producer Kevin Feige and several cast members.
The first full-length trailer was also released in October. Comic Book Resources said, "The two-minute teaser handily establishes the movie's premise" and is "heavy on the assembling, but fans are also treated to plenty of action, as well glimpses of Iron Man's new armor and, best of all, the new take on the Incredible Hulk.
Naturally, Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark gets the best lines". However, The Hollywood Reporter called it, "Awesome. Or it would be if we hadn't seen all of this before and expected every single thing that we saw in the trailer".
The trailer, which debuted exclusively on iTunes Movie Trailers, was downloaded over 10 million times in its first 24 hours, breaking the website's record for the most-viewed trailer.
This record was surpassed by the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, which was downloaded more than 12.5 million times in its first 24 hours. The trailer received 20.4 million views in the 24 hours after it debuted.
A second full-length trailer was released on iTunes in February 2012, reaching a record 13.7 million downloads in 24 hours. The theatrical trailers of The Avengers appeared with many films, including Mission: Impossible � Ghost Protocol, 21 Jump Street and The Hunger Games.
In January 2012, Marvel Studios held a global Twitter chat. The 30-minute live tweeting event featured writer/director Joss Whedon, cast members Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston and Clark Gregg and a 10-second tease of the 30-second Super Bowl commercial that would air during Super Bowl XLVI in February.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Disney paid an estimated $4 million for the 30-second spot. On May 1, 2012, executives from Marvel Studios, along with actors Tom Hiddleston and Clark Gregg, rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in honor of the film's theatrical release.
Tie-in comics
In December 2011, Marvel announced that an eight-issue comic-book prelude to the film, written by Christopher Yost and Eric Pearson with art by Luke Ross and Daniel HDR, would be released in March 2012.
In February 2012, Marvel announced the release of a second limited series comic book tie-in, Black Widow Strikes written by Fred Van Lente, who wrote Captain America: First Vengeance, the comic-book prequel to Captain America: The First Avenger.
The story is set between Iron Man 2 and The Avengers and follows Black Widow as she runs down some loose ends from Iron Man 2.
Additionally, the title Avengers Assemble was launched in March 2012, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Mark Bagley and features the same Avengers line-up as the film battling a new incarnation of the supervillain team Zodiac.
Home media
The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and digital download on September 25, 2012 in the United States and as early as August 29, 2012 in various international markets.
The film was also released in a ten-disc box set titled Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One � Avengers Assembled that includes all of the "Phase One" films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, in September 2012, the set's release, which was scheduled on the same day as the Blu-ray, was delayed until April 2, 2013, due to a pending lawsuit over the suitcase used to package the collection.
Box Office
The Avengers grossed $623.4 million in North America and $895.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $1.518 billion. It became the third highest-grossing film worldwide as well as highest-grossing 2012 film.
It is the highest-grossing comic-book adaptation, the highest grossing superhero film and the highest-grossing film ever released by the Walt Disney Studios. The film's worldwide opening of $392.5 million is the third largest.
The Avengers also became the fifth film distributed by Disney and the twelfth film overall to earn more than $1 billion. It reached this milestone in 19 days, matching the record for speed previously set by Avatar and Deathly Hallows � Part 2.
Its grosses exceeded its estimated $220 million production cost 12 days after its release. It was the first Marvel production to generate $1 billion in ticket sales.
North America
The film became the third highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing 2012 film, the highest grossing film distributed by Disney, the highest-grossing superhero film and the highest-grossing film based on comics.
It opened Friday, May 4, 2012, on around 11,800 screens across 4,349 theaters, and earned $80.8 million, marking the second-biggest opening and second-biggest single-day gross, behind Deathly Hallows � Part 2.
The film's Friday gross included an $18.7 million midnight run, a record for a superhero film[178] (overtaken by The Dark Knight Rises). Without midnight grosses, the film earned the largest opening-day gross ($62.1 million).
It also set a Saturday- and Sunday-gross record ($69.6 million and $57.1 million respectively). In total, it earned a total of $207,438,708 for its debut weekend, setting an opening-weekend record, including an IMAX opening-weekend record of $15.3 million and a record for opening-weekend grosses originating from 3D showings ($108 million), which was previously held by Alice in Wonderland.
The opening-weekend audience was evenly split among those under and over the age of 25, with 60% of the audience male, 55% couples, 24% families and 21% teenagers.
Earning $103.1 million on its second weekend, the film set a record for the largest second-weekend gross, a record previously held by Avatar.
Other records set by the film include the biggest weekend per-theater average for a wide release ($47,698 per theater), the fastest film to reach $100 million and each additional $50 million through $550 million, and the largest cumulative gross through every day of release until, and including, its forty-third day (with the exception of its first day).
It was in first place at the North American box office for three consecutive weekends. The film set a record for the highest monthly share (previously held by Spider-Man), with its $532.5 million total (through May 31, 2012) accounting for 52% of the total earnings at the North American box office during May.
Outside North America
The film became the fourth-highest grossing film, the highest-grossing Disney-distributed film, the highest-grossing 2012 film, and the highest-grossing superhero film. It opened Wednesday, April 25, 2012, in 10 countries, earning $17.1 million.
It opened in 29 more countries on April 26 and 27, earning $73.1 million in three days. Through Sunday, April 29, it earned an opening-weekend total of $185.1 million from 39 countries. It was in first place at the box office outside North America for four consecutive weekends.
The film set opening-day records in New Zealand, Malaysia and Iceland, a single-day record in the Philippines, as well as both single- and opening-day records in Singapore and in Thailand.
It also earned the second highest-grossing opening day in Australia ($6.2 million), behind Deathly Hallows � Part 2, in Mexico, in the Philippines and in Vietnam.
It set opening-weekend records in many territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina (the latter was first surpassed by Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted), Peru and Central America (the last two overtaken by Ice Age: Continental Drift).
It also earned the second largest five-day opening in Australia ($20.2 million). In the UK, Ireland and Malta, the film earned �2.5 million ($4.1 million) on its opening day and �15.8 million ($25.7 million) during the weekend, setting an opening-weekend record for a superhero film.
It became the market's highest-grossing superhero film, a record surpassed by The Dark Knight Rises during the same summer season. In Latin America, it became the highest-grossing film ($207 million) and the first film to earn more than $200 million.
Resources: scribd.com, imdb.com, Wikipedia.org, bluscreens.net |