"The Avengers" Becomes Biggest Disney Release Of All Time

[CBR News]

Marvel's "The Avengers" crossed $1.07 billion worldwide on Thursday to become the sixth biggest film and the largest Disney release in history.


Full article here.

[jediracer]

no small feat

[TheHeat]

That's awesome!

[cookepuss]

Just doing some quick math, but I think that it'll come short of matching TDK's $533M domestic take by about $20M when all is said and done. $513 is still a healthy domestic box office though. On the plus side, it's already beaten TDK world wide and will probably just inch over Harry Potter DH2's $1.328B.

Adjusted for inflation, Avengers is still a lightweight. It's current domestic has it sitting at around #91 on the top 200 and will probably sit at #45 at the end. TDK's adjusted domestic puts it at #28. Gone with the Wind is still reigning champ with an adjusted $1.6B domestic, $198M back in 1939.

[jediracer]

How much money it makes means more to the studios and filmmakers than it does to me. As a fan, I'd be more interested in knowing just hoe many people saw the movie, that is, how many butts were in seats versus all these other movies they are comparing it to, such as Harry Potter, Dark Knight, Avatar, etc.

[Threshold]

This proves that Marvel buyout was a deal only for Disney who was only interested in the movies\merchandising part of the deal.

I have yet to see any positive effect of this buyout for Marvel but we know Disney cares nothing about comics considering in the US they don't even publish their own (not seriously and in a continuous manner anyway).

How about using some of the movie's income to lower comics prices?
Five bucks comics with less than 20 pages and ads is insane.

[Saturius]

This proves that Marvel buyout was a deal only for Disney who was only interested in the movies\merchandising part of the deal.

I have yet to see any positive effect of this buyout for Marvel but we know Disney cares nothing about comics considering in the US they don't even publish their own (not seriously and in a continuous manner anyway).

How about using some of the movie's income to lower comics prices?
Five bucks comics with less than 20 pages and ads is insane.

Well I don't think anyone believed Disney bought Marvel for anything but merchandising/movies. It'd be nice if Disney poured money into the comic publishing division of Marvel but, again, I don't think anyone actually believed that was going to happen. Everyone just assumed that with Disney as the owner, that the comics would never really have to worry about going belly up due to bankruptcy or low sales. The comics I think are seen as Research and development in a way for Disney. You need them around to fuel these movies, so they're not going anywhere. It would be nice for cheaper comics since Disney has all this money, but what can you do I guess.

[cookepuss]

I have yet to see any positive effect of this buyout for Marvel but we know Disney cares nothing about comics

That's not entirely true. Disney is interested in Marvel's huge library of characters. That also means that they care about the comic side since it's, essentially, an idea factory for them. We, as readers, get to beta test these concepts before somebody risks putting them on screen.

How about using some of the movie's income to lower comics prices?

Not going to happen. Marvel's publishing and film divisions are separate entities. In the long run robbing Peter to pay Paul is a destructive sort of business practice. It's also an accountant's nightmare. Marvel's movie side is going great business, but the publishing ends is more... shaky. Between rampant piracy, a bad economy, and various creative missteps, Marvel Comics is at crossroads. Would you risk tanking your successful business to keep the struggling one alive? Killing two birds with one stone isn't a solution. Marvel Comics needs to implement changes all on its own. Unfortunately, the business decisions it's making on the publishing front are questionable.

Could Disney bail out Marvel? Possibly. I'm just not sure why, at this point, it would. Also not sure that lowering comic prices is a solution either. Like I said, the economy sucks & people have taking to pirating books. It's only a matter of time before digital really comes into its own and brick & mortar sites get hit hard. Plus, lowering the prices on the floppies doesn't change the fact that a bunch of people would rather wait for the trade instead of supporting the monthlies.

Would I love cheaper comics? Definitely. Would I love to see them lower the prices on digital copies, thus helping to expand that market? Sure. I just don't think that it's going to happen. The publishing end is tricky. Way too many factors going into the pricing. These books aren't made by robots in some bunker that's unaffected by the outside world.

Five bucks comics with less than 20 pages and ads is insane.

I agree. The ads don't bother me, but the increase in price and decrease in content does.

[Threshold]

Well I don't think anyone believed Disney bought Marvel for anything but merchandising/movies. It'd be nice if Disney poured money into the comic publishing division of Marvel but, again, I don't think anyone actually believed that was going to happen. Everyone just assumed that with Disney as the owner, that the comics would never really have to worry about going belly up due to bankruptcy or low sales. The comics I think are seen as Research and development in a way for Disney. You need them around to fuel these movies, so they're not going anywhere. It would be nice for cheaper comics since Disney has all this money, but what can you do I guess.

Exactly my point I didn't expect any good coming out for the comics publishing side out of this and the ridiculous price paid for Marvel and the hastiness of the deal were strange to say the least.

My opinion is that this kind of deal could have been beneficial to Marvel in the 90ies when it was under chapter 11 but when Marvel was bought out it was already doing great with its movies arm.

I just wish comics weren't just a r&d for movies.

[MarvelMaster616]

No small feat indeed, but it doesn't look like it'll catch Titanic or Avatar at this point. I thought it had a chance, but in this market and in this day and age I don't think that sort of run is possible anymore. It may be able to catch the Dark Knight. I'm skeptical. Whatever the final total may be, it's more than enough to consider Avengers a booming success.

[Threshold]

That's not entirely true. Disney is interested in Marvel's huge library of characters. That also means that they care about the comic side since it's, essentially, an idea factory for them. We, as readers, get to beta test these concepts before somebody risks putting them on screen.

Would you risk tanking your successful business to keep the struggling one alive?

I am not going to go into the accountancy side which is complicated and not the focus of this discussion but if the characters are an idea factory for Disney, and I concur as said before, putting money into it should be considered an investment.

I have always read that DC books could sustain very low prints longer than Marvel because WB was backing them.

Marvel Comics needs to implement changes all on its own. Unfortunately, the business decisions it's making on the publishing front are questionable.

I couldn't agree more but bad those bad decisions are very common to all the comics publishing business in the US in my opinion.

Also not sure that lowering comic prices is a solution either. Like I said, the economy sucks & people have taking to pirating books. It's only a matter of time before digital really comes into its own and brick & mortar sites get hit hard. Plus, lowering the prices on the floppies doesn't change the fact that a bunch of people would rather wait for the trade instead of supporting the monthlies.

Would I love cheaper comics? Definitely. Would I love to see them lower the prices on digital copies, thus helping to expand that market? Sure. I just don't think that it's going to happen. The publishing end is tricky.

Too much to discuss: the music\movie biz has proven that people are willing to pay for digital goods if priced correctly (iTunes,Netflix).
Unfortunately comics decided to not learn from the movie\music biz and repeate all their mistakes:drm, comics not downloadable, absurd prices.
Some piracy will always be present in all fields but most researches have proven that it can even be beneficial.

Way too many factors going into the pricing. These books aren't made by robots in some bunker that's unaffected by the outside world.
I agree. The ads don't bother me, but the increase in price and decrease in content does.

There must be something wrong in comics pricing in the US.
Here most of them don't have ads, have many more pages on better paper and yet cost less.
Despite comics publishers complain here too the industry is in much better state if you consider that the average monthly comic sells much more than the highest selling on Diamond chart and in a language that is mostly spoken only in one country unlike English.

[choptop]

dont get me worng its a good movie but 1.07 B good? seems like a bit much.

[Treqqor]

No small feat indeed, but it doesn't look like it'll catch Titanic or Avatar at this point. I thought it had a chance, but in this market and in this day and age I don't think that sort of run is possible anymore.

Avatar was only 3 years ago and it had no problems beating Titanic.

The unemployment rate was higher 3 years ago than now. It's not the economy that will hamper the Avengers. It's a different movie. No love story, for one. Chicks love a love story.

[Simbob4000]

Just doing some quick math, but I think that it'll come short of matching TDK's $533M domestic take by about $20M when all is said and done. $513 is still a healthy domestic box office though. On the plus side, it's already beaten TDK world wide and will probably just inch over Harry Potter DH2's $1.328B.

Adjusted for inflation, Avengers is still a lightweight. It's current domestic has it sitting at around #91 on the top 200 and will probably sit at #45 at the end. TDK's adjusted domestic puts it at #28. Gone with the Wind is still reigning champ with an adjusted $1.6B domestic, $198M back in 1939.

Well, if it does do better than The Dark Knights' domestic take...you better believe we'll have a new thread telling us about it.

[jediracer]

No love story, for one. Chicks love a love story.

Well, there is a sort of Stark/Banner science nerd bro-mance...