The summer season has officially begun for movies.
Avengers: Age of Ultron did massive business, as expected, pulling in a sensational $84.5 million on Friday, per Disney's report just a few minutes ago. That is ahead of the first Avengers' $80 million, and is the second-biggest opening day ever, trailing only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II ($91.5 million).
On a small downside, subtracting the added in $27.6 million from Thursday night, and Age of Ultron's $56.9 million real Friday gross trails the first movie's $62.1 million (though that one opened at midnight, so its not a direct comparison). Age of Ultron's numbers are still absolutely huge by all means.
The big question is now, whether or not it will be able to topple the opening weekend record set by its predecessor. Sequels can be more frontloaded, and Age of Ultron did show more signs of being front-loaded from Thursday night into Friday. Plus, the Floyd Mayweather boxing match and the Kentucky Derby on TV will cut into some business this weekend. If Avengers 2 were to have the same Friday-to-weekend multiplier as the first movie, it would match my $212 million prediction. At this moment though, many observers are expecting it to just narrowly beat the $207 million record or fall just short.
Weekend report coming tomorrow evening.
