Guess which film just made it to $600 million in North America? Well it was The Avengers, finally crossing that threshold after 54 days in theaters. Now you should know beforehand that the $600 million club is very exclusive, up until Tuesday only accessible to James Cameron, so the following is a rather short list of the fastest movies to reach $600m in the US.
3. Titanic (1997) – It took 253 days for Titanic to pass $600 million. To give you an idea what that means, this film opened December 19th 1997 and that number was achieved August 27th 1998. Movies today don’t stay in theaters even half that long. Titanic ended up with $600.7 million when it closed at the end of 1998. If not for this year’s 3D re-release that pushed the film to $658.6 million, The Avengers would already be ahead (unadjusted for inflation).
2. The Avengers (2012) – As mentioned in the intro, this bad boy made it here in 54 days, currently at $600.3 million. While the film is still doing good business (almost $1 million on Tuesday) I don’t think it will have the strength to overtake Titanic in the end. The Avengers will probably have to settle for about $630 million, so the 3rd highest grossing film of all time in North America and the 2nd highest in a single theatrical run (both unadjusted for inflation).
1. Avatar (2009) – This box office juggernaut hit $601.1 million in 47 days, a full week faster than The Avengers. What more can I say about the film that ended its run with $760.5 million in North America.
You might notice that while doing this “fastest to” top 10s I skipped the $500 million mark. There’s a very good explanation for that and it’s called The Dark Knight Rises (coming July 20). Yes friends, I’ve looked into my crystal ball and I know Christopher Nolan’s last Batman (or so he says) will make over $500 million, so expect the “Fastest to $500 million” as soon as that happens.
So how many days you think The Dark Knight Rises needs to reach $500 million? (The Dark Knight made it in 45 days) Will it eventually hit $600 million?
