By Daniel Rutledge
Superhero movie The Avengers has broken records at the New Zealand box office by pulling in more than NZ$1 million on its first day - the highest grossing opening day of all time.
The film, which features comic book characters including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Incredible Hulk, beat the previous record set by last year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 which took $973,285 on its first day. The Avengers opened in New Zealand at midnight on Tuesday and as of last night had taken a total of $1,019,844 - an average of $9,901 from each of the 103 screens it played on over Anzac Day.
“The Avengers has really lit up the box office with this stunning opening,” says John Cracknell, senior vice president & managing director The Walt Disney Company, Australia and New Zealand.
“The Avengers is testament to fabulous storytelling combined with a blockbuster cast and world-renowned director.”
Reviews of the film have been generally very positive.
Drew McWeeny at Hitflix calls it “tremendous entertainment, confident and complete in a way that none of the Marvel movies so far have been, and I say that as someone who likes the Marvel movies in general.
"The company makes an incremental leap forward with this movie, and they've set the bar fairly high for themselves in the future.”
Steve Newall at Flicks says it is “the first Marvel film to capture the epic scale, excitement and humour of its source material.
“Superhero fan or not, The Avengers dares you to not leave delighted.”
Empire awarded the film four out of five stars, calling it “a joyous blend of heroism and humour that raises the stakes even as it maintains a firm grip on what makes the individual heroes tick".
Total Film also rated it four stars, saying “this 142-minute romp between gods, monsters, men and supermen packs so much crowd-pleasing colour and humour that it’s impossible not to walk out grinning".
Sam Strange at badassdigest writes: “This is about as fun a movie as I can imagine.”
The Avengers is playing in both 2D and 3D cinemas throughout New Zealand. It opens in North American cinemas May 4.
3 News
source: newshub archive
