Marvel’s The Avengers has passed a significant milestone flying past the $1.5 billion mark at the worldwide box office. This includes a healthy $620 million domestically. $1.5B is third place on the all time box office list, but still $600 million (and change) behind the number two spot of Titanic and $1.2B behind Avatar. Of course, none of these numbers are adjusted for inflation, higher ticket prices coming from 3D theaters, and the wider openings that today’s blockbusters receive.
Disney did release The Avengers back into theaters over the Labor Day weekend and it picked up a respectable $2+ million more, but I don’t think that either of James Cameron’s records are in danger.
Fans of The Avengers and anyone interested in making their own movies (home, indie, or otherwise) can learn a lot by listening to the great team that assembled The Avengers into the hit that it is. My favorite recent article is this interview with Steve Viola of Method Design who created the title sequence for the film. Not only did they face the normal challenges of opening a film, but they had to build it in such a way as to be visually appealing in stereoscopic 3D.