While it may not challenge the box office haul of Avatar or Titantic, The Avengers is set to become the third grossing movie of all time. The film, which has taken in $523.6 since its release May 4 will overtake The Dark Knight for the third spot. The Christopher Nolan super hero epic took in $533.3 million during its run.
The film is also set to overtake Harry Potter for number three in the all-time world wide box office.
And while the movie has a ways to go before it could knock off Titantic or Avatar, the fact that it’s doing so well at the box-office has Hollywood buzzing.
“I’m not sure I’ve seen people talk about a movie the way they did like this,” Paul Dergarabedian, box-office chief for Hollywood.com tells USA Today. “It was an old-fashioned cinema experience: popcorn, larger than life, fun. This may be the greatest word-of-mouth movie ever.”
Of course, Batman will have a chance to take back the spot when Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters later this year.
In between, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man could be caught in the middle. Some at Sony worry the two films will overshadow their franchise reboot which hits theaters July 3.
Avengers executive producer Jon Favreau, who first referenced the film in his 2008 hit Iron Man, says the film’s legacy will have been to raise the bar.
“It sets a new level for what people can expect from franchises,” Favreau says. “A lot of work went into making this pay off, and there was a lot of buildup. But we still had to stick the landing. I think this shows what the payoff can be when you put the time in to do it right.”