"Avengers" Opens Strong Oveseas

Any fear that "Avengers" will have the same fate as "John Carter" has been completely wiped away with the record-setting opening weekend of "Avengers" overseas.

The super-hero film featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johannson opened in 10 markets yesterday. It had record first-day grosses in New Zealand and Taiwan, and set new marks for a Disney release in Australia and Italy, the Burbank, California-based company said today in a statement. “The Avengers” took in a total of $17.1 million internationally, Disney said. The movie opens May 4 in the U.S.

I think "mindless" action movie such as this often tends to do well overseas, especially in non-English speaking countries. So I'm not surprised at all that it is doing well. But I think that Disney certainly did a more thorough marketing blitz both in the US and overseas to guarantee that a lot of people know what it is, and not think that it has anything to do with the old TV series with John Steed and Emma Peel. Oops. I just dated myself!

Zz.