The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that pre-release tracking for Joss Whedon/Marvel Studios' highly anticipated superhero teamup film
The Avengers could have one of the biggest opening weekends of all time for a suphero pic, if not one of the biggest period. Tracking shows that the film, which opens next month in North America, is pacing ahead of 2008's
The Dark Knight, which opened to $158M in its opening weekend (holding the title for top opener of all time domestically until
Harry Potter 7.2 debuted to $169M last summer).
The Avengers is also tracking ahead of the recently released
The Hunger Games, which debuted to $152M last month.
Off the heels of
John Carter underperforming,
The Avengers should be a sizeable box office victory for Walt Disney. According to first tracking, unaided awareness in
The Avengers is 13%, compared to 10% for
The Dark Knight and 11% for
The Hunger Games; first choice is 23%, tying with
The Hunger Games and compared to 19% for
The Dark Knight. Total awareness for
The Avengers is 85%, compared to 76% for
The Dark Knight and 74% for
The Hunger Games; definite interest is 61%, versus 62% for
The Dark Knight and 54% for
The Hunger Games. Stay tuned for more box office predictions closer to
The Avengers' release.
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Renner,
The Avengers is set to hit UK theaters April 26th and US theaters May 4th.