Around-the-World Roundup: ‘The Avengers’ Assemble $185.1 Million Overseas Debut

A week ahead of its U.S. debut, Marvel's The Avengers opened in 39 foreign territories and scored a truly heroic $185.1 million. The movie took first place in all of its markets, and set new opening weekend records in a dozen of them as well.

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The Avengers had its top start in the United Kingdom ($24.7 million), though that only ranks 16th all-time there. In Australia, the movie's $19.7 million is the second-highest five-day opening ever, while its $15.9 million debut in Mexico is a new record. It also set records in Brazil ($11.3 million), Taiwan ($7.7 million), the Philippines ($6.5 million), Hong Kong ($4.6 million) and seven other smaller markets.

While not quite reaching all-time levels, the movie also had very strong starts in South Korea ($12.9 million), France ($12.7 million), Italy ($10.4 million), and Spain ($7.3 million). Oddly, it only opened to $6.7 million in Germany, though looking at past Avengers movie grosses it doesn't appear the Germans are as fond of the team as the rest of the world.

Across the 12 markets where estimates are available, The Avengers opened over twice as high, on average, as Iron Man 2, which currently holds the team's overseas record with $311.5 million (a number The Avengers is going to annihilate within the next few weeks).

The $185.1 million debut ranks ninth on the all-time foreign openings chart, which on the surface might not look all that astounding. However, it reached that level in only 70 percent of its potential theaters, and it has yet to debut in major markets China, Russia, and Japan. Chinese and Russian audiences get the movie with the U.S. this coming weekend, while the Japanese need to wait until August.

Based off this opening, The Avengers could reasonably finish with nearly $600 million overseas, and it could even wind up higher than that.

Thanks to The Avengers debut, Battleship plummeted 61 percent to an estimated $23.5 million this weekend. It added $8 million in China and held first place in Russia with $3.2 million (as previously noted, both of these markets didn't have The Avengers). The movie has now made $170.9 million overseas, and should be able to push past the $200 million mark with this batch of territories. The board game adaptation opens in Latin America on May 10, and in the U.S. on May 18.

Titanic 3D continued its remarkable run in China by adding an estimated $15.2 million for the five-day weekend. That brings its Chinese total to $126.1 million, which is a little less than half of its $257.6 million overseas total. Thanks to the re-release, Titanic's overall foreign gross has now passed $1.5 billion.

American Reunion added an estimated $15.2 million from 41 markets this weekend. In Germany, the movie opened to an outstanding $6.6 million, which ranks second right behind The Avengers. The comedy sequel has so far earned $75.9 million overseas.

In its sixth weekend in release, The Hunger Games earned $7.5 million overseas. That brings its foreign total to $229.5 million, and its worldwide (domestic plus foreign) total past the $600 million mark.