The Avengers Box office

Pre-release audience tracking showed that interest for the film was "incredibly strong", with interest very high among men and strong among women. The tracking suggested that the film could gross over $125 million during its three-day opening weekend in North America, with online ticket pre-sales selling out. Further tracking suggested that the gross could exceed $150 million.  The Avengers tracked ahead of 2008's The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and 2012's The Hunger Games ($152.5 million), which held the record for the second and third best opening weekends behind 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($169.2 million). On MovieTickets.com, North American ticket presales during the week before release exceeded those of Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Thor combined during the same period, by over 150%.

Worldwide

The Avengers has earned $476,684,788 in North America, as of May 24, 2012, and $723,300,000 in other countries, as of May 21, 2012, for a worldwide total of $1,199,984,788. Worldwide, it is the fourth highest-grossing film and the highest-grossing 2012 film. It is also the highest-grossing film based on comics, the highest grossing superhero film and the highest-grossing film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Its worldwide opening of $392.5 million is the third largest. It is also the fifth film distributed by Disney and the twelfth film overall to earn more than $1 billion. It reached this milestone in 19 days, matching the record for speed previously set by Avatar and Deathly Hallows – Part 2. It covered its estimated $220 million production cost 12 days after its release.

Outside North America

With a $723.3 million total, it is the seventh highest grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing superhero film. It opened Wednesday, April 25, 2012, in 10 countries, earning $17.1 million. It opened in 29 more countries on April 26 and 27, earning $73.1 million in three days. Through Sunday, April 29, it earned an opening-weekend total of $185.1 million from 39 countries. It was in first place at the box office outside North America for four consecutive weekends. The Avengers set opening-day records in New Zealand, Malaysia and Iceland, a single-day record in the Philippines, as well as both single- and opening-day records in Singapore and in Thailand. It also earned the second highest-grossing opening day in Australia ($6.2 million), behind Deathly Hallows – Part 2, in Mexico, in the Philippines and in Vietnam. It set opening-weekend records in 12 territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Central America, Bolivia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. It also earned the second largest five-day opening in Australia ($20.2 million). In the UK, Ireland and Malta, it earned £2.5 million ($4.1 million) on its opening day and £15.8 million ($25.7 million) during the weekend, setting an opening-weekend record for a superhero film.

North America

The Avengers is the highest-grossing 2012 film, the highest grossing film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures  and the sixth highest-grossing film of all time. It opened Friday, May 4, 2012, and earned $80.8 million, marking the second-biggest opening and second-biggest single-day gross, behind Deathly Hallows – Part 2. The film's Friday gross included an $18.7 million midnight run, a record for a superhero film. Without midnight grosses, the film earned the largest opening-day gross ($62.1 million). It also set a Saturday- and Sunday-gross record ($69.6 million and $57.1 million respectively). In total, it earned $207.4 million on its opening weekend, setting an opening-weekend record, including an IMAX opening-weekend record of $15.3 million (both previously held by Deathly Hallows Part 2) and a record for opening-wekend grosses originating from 3D showings ($108 million), which was previously held by Alice in Wonderland. The opening-weekend audience was evenly split among those under and over the age of 25, with 60% of the audience male, 55% couples, 24% families and 21% teenagers. Earning $103.1 million on its second weekend, The Avengers set a record for the largest second-weekend gross, a record previously held by Avatar. Other records set by the film include the biggest weekend per-theater average for a wide release ($47,698 per theater), the fastest film to reach $100 million and each additional $50 million through $450 million, and the largest cumulative gross through its third, fourth (and so on until at least its tenth) day of release. It was in first place at the North American box office for three consecutive weekends.