Avengers Opens at $178 Million Overseas

In what may be an indicator of things to come next week when it opens in the US, Marvel's The Avengers opened at $178.4 million overseas (and in Mexico) this weekend, taking the #1 spot in every market it played in and breaking records in a dozen or so, according to Box Office Mojo. There's a lot of math going on in that story, and most of it sounds good-but-not-great, but BOM does a great job of putting the matters in proper perspective:

"Across the 12 markets where estimates are available, The Avengers opened over twice as high, on average, asIron Man 2, which currently holds the team's overseas record with $311.5 million (a number The Avengers is going to annihilate within the next few weeks). "The $178.4 million debut ranks ninth on the all-time foreign openings chart, which on the surface might not look all that astounding. However, it reached that level in only 70 percent of its potential theaters, and it has yet to debut in major markets China, Russia, and Japan. Chinese and Russian audiences get the movie with the U.S. this coming weekend, while the Japanese need to wait until August."

So from all appearances, The Avengers is looking to start breaking records on a pretty massive scale next week. Stick with ComicBook.com and we'll keep you posted on the progress.