"The Avengers" Becomes Biggest Disney Release Of All Time

[marshal99]

The one laughing to the bank must be Downey Jr as he was smart enough to insert a clause in his contract for a percentage take of the profits after the first iron man movie.

[Lord Bravery]

Yea, RDJ is rolling in it. The kind of money you wouldn't even be able to spend in your lifetime.

[PwrdOff]

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that people always bring up Gone With The Wind as an example of how movies were so much better back in the day when it's a purely nostalgic film to begin with?

As far as the movie rights go, if Marvel never sold off the rights to Spider-Man and X-Men, they would never have bothered to develop Avengers into a top tier franchise and the movie may have never even been made. Keeping the franchises separate also helps the films stand out on their own. I prefer them to keep developing the solo films as loosely connected pieces with the main Avengers series as the equivalent of crossover events. Piling on the other properties on top it seems like overkill, and this way we also get a chance to see more peripheral characters in the movies than we otherwise would have.

I figure that Marvel will get the rights back to X-Men soon enough, if this new Wolverine movie ends up being as bad as the last one. I don't know why they are even making it given how awful the last one was, instead of doing a First Class sequel. I also don't understand why it's set in Japan, I already saw the Last Samurai and wish I hadn't. If Marvel does get the rights back they would probably want to recast the part, though given how much people connect Jackman with that role it may be difficult, and it would be great if this could get them to focus more on the other characters in the franchise.

[Alex]

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that people always bring up Gone With The Wind as an example of how movies were so much better back in the day when it's a purely nostalgic film to begin with?

I wasn't aware people did that, since i've never seen anyone argue that the 1930s were the greatest times for movies.
Like, never seen anyone ever say that.

[Simbob4000]

Gone With The Wind is one of the greatest comedies ever made. Scarlett O'Hara is this head strong bitch that's still really likeable, and Rhett Butler is a war profiteer that tells everyone in the south they're stupid for going to war. It's one of the best movies ever made, I really can't think of anything that works as well as that movie does. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember the last time I watched it just thinking, holy shit.

[Libaax]

I wasn't aware people did that, since i've never seen anyone argue that the 1930s were the greatest times for movies.
Like, never seen anyone ever say that.

I think he misunderstands BO fame with critical acclaim of classic films. 1930s,1940s classics of quality are more Casablanca,Citizen Kane,Maltese Falcon and co. Nobody says Gone with the Wind is the best hollywood film ever.....

[thwhtGuardian]

I wasn't aware people did that, since i've never seen anyone argue that the 1930s were the greatest times for movies.
Like, never seen anyone ever say that.

I don't know, a lot of my favorite movies come from that era so I don't think it would be too hard to mount an argument that its one of the best eras of film.

[Red Lotus]

Speaking of contract clauses I'm curious where live action TV fits in. I'm not in a hurry to see Spidey on the small screen but I was wondering where he fell in the contract (Sony had live action movies and Marvel/Disney has animated cartoons) and I'm assuming Sony has animated film rights as well?

Not sure. They were able to use Wolverine in Hulk vs. But they couldn't use Silver Surfer in Planet Hulk.

[Arthur72]

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that people always bring up Gone With The Wind as an example of how movies were so much better back in the day when it's a purely nostalgic film to begin with?

People always bring up Gone With the Wind when talking total tickets sold and adjusted box office due to inflation. This is a pet peeve of mine because a lot of the entertainment people who write these articles never mention how movies were pretty much the major source of entertainment back then. Nor do they mention how there is so much competition for the entertainment dollar these days, or how fast movies come on dvd, downloading etc etc.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

[thwhtGuardian]

People always bring up Gone With the Wind when talking total tickets sold and adjusted box office due to inflation. This is a pet peeve of mine because a lot of the entertainment people who write these articles never mention how movies were pretty much the major source of entertainment back then. Nor do they mention how there is so much competition for the entertainment dollar these days, or how fast movies come on dvd, downloading etc etc.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

I don't see why those things negate Gone With the Wind's success, even with multiple releases and limited options the number of people who chose to see that movie is simply astounding no matter how you slice it. It's top spot is well deserved.

[Prodigy X]

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that people always bring up Gone With The Wind as an example of how movies were so much better back in the day when it's a purely nostalgic film to begin with?

As far as the movie rights go, if Marvel never sold off the rights to Spider-Man and X-Men, they would never have bothered to develop Avengers into a top tier franchise and the movie may have never even been made. Keeping the franchises separate also helps the films stand out on their own. I prefer them to keep developing the solo films as loosely connected pieces with the main Avengers series as the equivalent of crossover events. Piling on the other properties on top it seems like overkill, and this way we also get a chance to see more peripheral characters in the movies than we otherwise would have.

I figure that Marvel will get the rights back to X-Men soon enough, if this new Wolverine movie ends up being as bad as the last one. I don't know why they are even making it given how awful the last one was, instead of doing a First Class sequel. I also don't understand why it's set in Japan, I already saw the Last Samurai and wish I hadn't. If Marvel does get the rights back they would probably want to recast the part, though given how much people connect Jackman with that role it may be difficult, and it would be great if this could get them to focus more on the other characters in the franchise.

Marvel owning the rights to Spiderman, X-Men, etc does not preclude them from continuing to make movies that stand on their own. And why is a company maximizing profits from it's intellectual properties "piling on"? It's okay for someone else to do it but not Marvel? I for one would love it if they had more control over the film rights.

[Red Lotus]

Another 37 mill from Friday to Sunday which puts it at 514. It should make another 7-8 tomorrow. I wonder how much more it has in the tank. I'm not sure it can make it too 600. I'm thinking 565-570 mill in the domestic box office before its done.

[Kalen O.]

I don't know. It might surprise us yet. Don't forget, its not quite summer yet. High schools in particular are still in session until the first couple weeks of June....which means for a LOT of teenagers, May's packed with prom, finals, and gearing up for graduation.....a lot of teenagers and families tend not to start their summer movie watching until June.

[J. Robb]

I wasn't aware people did that, since i've never seen anyone argue that the 1930s were the greatest times for movies.
Like, never seen anyone ever say that.

1939 is considered of the greatest years in film.

[Treqqor]

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.

It's at $513 now. When you said "quick math", you forgot to carry the 1 again, didn't you?