'The Avengers', Now Third Highest Grossing Film of All Time

We may be nearing the halfway point of the summer movie season already, but Marvel’s The Avengers is still looming over the 2012 “blockbusters” that have come and gone like the slightly older yet much more successful brother of the bunch.  We’ve seen moderate box office successes from films like Men in Black 3, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Madagascar 3, but nothing has come close to the behemoth box office giant that was Marvel’s mother of all superhero movies.

The film shattered the opening weekend record with over $200 million in three days, and now Disney has announced that The Avengers is expected to cross the $600 million domestic mark today, making it only the third film in history to reach that number.  Hit the jump for more, including a rundown of what the all-time box office chart looks like now.

First up, here’s a quick look at all the records The Avengers has broken thus far:

Highest opening weekend – $207 million
Highest second weekend – $103 million
Highest Saturday total – $69.5 million
Highest Sunday total – $57 million
Fastest to reach $200 million – 3 days
Fastest to reach $300 million – 9 days
Fastest to reach $400 million – 14 days
Fastest to reach $500 million – 23 days

Now it’s time to add one more to that list, as the film is expected to cross the $600 million mark today. This firmly puts The Avengers behind Titanic and Avatar as the third highest grossing film of all time (both domestically and internationally), as it eclipses The Dark Knight stateside. For those wondering if The Dark Knight Rises has the ability to overtake The Avengers either in the opening weekend or all-time record, it’s doubtful. We live in the age of 3D, and the higher ticket prices now make these box office records hard to beat (not to mention misleading). That said, I have no doubt that the box office success of The Dark Knight Rises will be impressive.

For curiosity’s sake, let’s take a look at the top ten highest grossing films domestically as of right now (per Box Office Mojo):

1. Avatar – $760.5 million
2. Titanic – $658.6 million
3. The Avengers – $599.3 million
4. The Dark Knight - $533.3 million
5. Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace – $474.5 million
6. Star Wars – $460.9 million
7. Shrek 2 – $441.2 million
8. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial – $435.1 million
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – $423.3 million
10. The Lion King – $422.7 million

It’s nearly impossible for The Avengers to overtake Titanic at this point (James Cameron remains the King of the World), but third is nothing to scoff at.  I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about records being broken by The Avengers when the film hits Blu-ray later this year.