"The Avengers" Record-Breaking $200.3 Million Debut » Celebrity Gossip

"The Avengers" Record-Breaking $200.3 Million Debut

Just like Captain America tells the Incredible Hulk to do in the film “The Avengers”, the superhero flick smashed the domestic revenue record with a $200.3 million debut this weekend.

The Marvel Comics combination is by far the largest opening in movie history surpassing the previous record of $169.2 held last year with the debut of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2,” followed by "The Dark Knight" in 2008 with a $158.4 million debut and "Spider-Man 3" in 2007 with $151.1 million.

It earned $80.5 million on Friday (May 4), which is the second-highest single day take of all time and Saturday's (May 5) earning of $69.7 million is the highest Saturday of all time. Out of the 4,349 locations in North America, it averaged $46,063 per theater.

After just 12 days of release, it will gross more than $600 million from its combined global box office sales, which is more than its Marvel superhero forerunners "Iron Man," ''Iron Man 2," ''Thor" and "Captain America" took in during their entire runs.

"There aren't even words, to be honest. I'm running low on double takes. Every time we looked at a number, it just got bigger than what we could have hoped for in the best-case assumption," said Dave Hollis, Disney's head of distribution. "With this film, this weekend, anything is possible."

“The Avengers” is just the beginning for a summer filled with superhero madness, while “The Amazing Spiderman” and “The Dark Knight Rises” are set to release in July.

"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 stars Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth and Samuel L. Jackson.