The Avengers, the latest superhero movie from Walt Disney’s Marvel unit, led the box office in the US and China this weekend when the film opened to a rapturous reception, breaking records and earning an estimated $200m in the US alone.
The US opening lifted the worldwide total for the film – called Avengers Assemble in the UK – to $642m after only 12 days on release.
In common with other big-budget films projected to be box-office hits this year such as Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit, a significant proportion of The Avengers revenue will come from Imax screens, with the premium-priced digital format contributing more than $15m in the US from only 275 locations.