It had the biggest opening weekend of any film, ever. It has made $226,337,707 as of today, which is more than it cost to make. And no matter how what type of math you use, the $702,137,707 million it has made worldwide has guaranteed the film will make a profit. And this is all after its first weekend of release in the U.S. with unbelievable buzz that will surely bring people into theaters for weeks to come. Of course The Avengers will have a sequel.
The Hollywood Reporter states that Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed the sequel during a conference call to go over quarterly earnings. There will be theme park attraction tied into the franchise as well. I can see an “Avengers 3-D Quinjet Experience” coming to Disney World and Disneyland in the next couple years.
Iger also talked about the franchise in an interview with CNBC yesterday (see clip of the interview below), and what he said there is much more interesting. This is exactly what Iger said on the matter, as per the CNBC transcript (Emphasis mine):
Well, The Avengers isn’t just a film. it’s a franchise, from our perspective. It was helped by the success of the Iron Man movies and Captain America. From The Avengers we get a chance to make Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 and hopefully another Avengers movie. This one film, which was successful, over 700 million, as you said, as of last night, is going to get a number of other films and franchises. We see tremendous interest in products and in games for The Avengers.
You can take the ‘hopefully another Avengers movie” as The Avengers 2, or you can also take it as The Incredible Hulk 2, Black Widow, Hawkeye, or S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. Or all of the above. The quote isn’t exactly saying anything definite, other than the success of the film will result in a lot of spin-offs and tie-ins, both in and out of movies. So, for all of you clamoring for a Hulk film starring Mark Ruffalo, keep clamoring. If the studio feels there is a demand for it, you just might get it.
No date has been announce for the sequel. While Marvel does have a date in 2014 free (May 16), it seems more likely that the sequel would come sometime in 2015. The good news, according to Collider, is that Marvel has an option to bring Joss Whedon back for a sequel. This is great news, because I don’t think the film would have been as good without him.
