Well, Disney must've done some brilliant marketting to get The Avengers to break those records. Somehow, the studio appealed to fans of comic book characters and undoubtedly quite a few more beyond the genre. I, however, have no interest in seeing it. The thought of sitting through a couple hours about the exploits of Colonel United States and Womanamazing and Thunk and Belchman or whatever fighting the evil Dr. Corporatinian would drive me to drink. But then, to each their own.
One thing to remember, is that this "record-breaking" stuff is actually inflated numbers. A movie pulls in x-amount of dollars, but that isn't based upon the number of people flooding into theaters, but how much it cost for them to do so. It costs too darn much to see a movie today and gone are the days when more than 50% of people would often fill the cinemas on a weekly basis. What was the average price of a ticket for that movie? Twelve bucks? More? A bit less? When I saw HoDS back in '70, it cost me 35 cents (a matinee - the evening showing cost fifty cents). I got to the theater two hours before it opened. By the time it did, the line went all the way down the block and around the corner. I don't see lines like that at theaters anymore. Even if a "blockbuster" is playing, the longest the line is at any time is about a half-dozen people. The last time I saw a down-the-block line was for Independence Day and that was 16 years ago.
The most seen, and - counting for inflation and adjustment to today's dollars - profitable movie ever made was Gone With the Wind. If one does the adjustment, the made-the-most-money movies like Titanic and Avatar and several others pale in comparison. My now-deceased mom told me she saw it in 1939 for a dime - 10 cents. A big bag of popcorn, with butter (real butter), cost a nickel. Even at the tail end of the Great Depression I, people scraping to make a living could afford to go to the movies and did so in droves, often exceeding 50% a week. Today, during our current Great Depression II, who can afford to go accept once in a blue moon? Most people don't go to the movies.
But congrats to The Avengers for pulling in so much dough. I'm just curious who saw it. When I mentioned it to friends, many of them responded: "The what?" They never heard of it. But many of my friends will be going to see DS next Saturday (for a cheaper matinee) and having our DS party celebration (we're still undecided if we want to have brunch before, or "dunch" after). There are 30 in our group. Only about four were fans of the show growing up. The next largest group grew up when it was on but weren't fans and only saw it rarely. After that comes the group that wasn't around when it first aired and most loathed it when seeing it in reruns, but now can't wait and are really getting into the OS. They've learned an appreciation because of this film. We don't care if it breaks records, makes a profit, breaks even or is a flop. We'll be filling up several rows of seats. Maybe we'll be the only ones there, but we will have done our part. We won't make it the next Gone With the Wind, but we'll be in enjoyment nontheless.
Gerard