“The Avengers” garner $18.7m in midnight sales in U.S., Canada

PanARMENIAN.Net - Marvel’s “The Avengers”, Walt Disney Co.’s new superhero movie, took in $18.7 million in midnight sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters, Bloomberg reported.

The debut was the eighth-best among top films for midnight openings, Hollywood.com Box-Office said in an e-mailed statement.

The movie, featuring Marvel superheros, including “Iron Man,” “Thor” and “Captain America,” “The Avengers,” is forecast to generate as much as $170 million in weekend sales, a figure that would break the record of $169.2 million set last year by the final “Harry Potter” movie. The film already has taken in $304 million outside the U.S. and Canada, Disney said in an e-mailed statement.

The midnight sales include $1.31 million from sold-out performances on 273 Imax screens, Paul Pflug, a Principal Communications Group spokesman for Imax Corp., said in an e- mail.

In the film, the superheros unite to battle an army led by the evil Norse god Loki. The movie is benefiting from the popularity of previous films based on the characters, including Robert Downey Jr.’s two “Iron Man” movies and last year’s “Thor,” which also featured Loki.