Disney is Still Kicking Ass at the Box Office

Box office weekend results revealed that just about every movie tanked except for Walt Disney Studio’s (NYSE:DIS) Marvel’s The Avengers. Despite debuting three weeks ago, the film continued to steal the show on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, pulverizing Universal’s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Battleship, Lionsgate’s (NYSE:LGF) What to Expect when You’re Expecting, and Paramount’s (NYSE:VIAB) The Dictator.

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Universal’s Battleship already made $230 million international, barely mitigating its $209 million budget and advancing bad buzz in North America. As for Paramount’s The Dictator, the film is showing modest strength overseas to mitigates its much smaller budget of $65 million. While a financial partner at Lionsgate put its production exposure under $30 million, that was cut in half by international presales for the high-profile cast, including Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz.

Without a doubt, Marvel’s The Avengers will become the highest grossing domestic release in Disney’s history. The film is expected to pass the $450 million mark this weekend after shattering box office records in its opening weekend. The Avengers is the #6 film of all time globally, the #10 film of all time domestically, and the #9 film of all time internationally, with many weeks still ahead at box offices. The foreign gross was $682.6 million and domestic $460 million for a global cumulative audience of $1.14 billion by the end of the weekend.

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