Which Marvel film had the more shocking Box Office? Spider-man 2002 or Avengers 2012?

[Ctfxcwatcher]

I always think about the very first Spider-Man film and how it was the first film to open to 100 million. But then approximately 10 years later Avengers did the same thing and surprised with a 200 million opening weekend. So which box office opening weekend and run shocked you more?

 

[Web-Head]

Probably Spider-Man. Outside of really X-Men in that era, comic book movies weren't really a thing yet and we have Spidey to thank. Avengers was clearly something Marvel was building up to with the other films in Phase One.

 

[psylockolussus]

Avengers.

I wasn't checking boX office numbers back in 2002.

 

[Frodo]

Having been an adult in 2002 and in 2012, Spiderman , by far.

The industry pundits were shocked that Spiderman such a hit back in 2002.

By 2012 , Cap, Thor, and The 2 Ironman films had already been successful and popular so it wasn't as much of a shock that a team up film would do well.

It was more of a shock to people that the solo first installments of Cap, Thor, and Ironman did well , but by the time Avengers came around, it wasn't shocking that Avengers did well.

Spiderman didn't have any prior films to point to . It was the first time, and alot of people underestimated how well it would do.

It may be hard to understand for people born in the late 90s or 2000s, but there wasn't the expectation a Spiderman film would do huge bucks ,by the pundits ,at least.

 

[BobJM]

I was a kid in 2002 and in college in 2012.

I’ll never forget the hype around Spider-Man—that was the first time I saw a line wrapping outside around the theatre to go see the movie. And this was a Sunday matinee; not even Friday or Saturday.

 

[Ctfxcwatcher]

If I remember correctly, wasn't Spider-Man in development hell for a while? It blows my mind we didn't get a Spidey film until 2002 when we had been getting Batman and Superman live action films for a long time before that.

 

[Drizzle]

I wasn't that surprised by either, to be honest, but if I had to pick one it'd be Spider-Man. I was 13 at the time and had been paying attention to box office returns and things like that over the past couple of years before then. I knew Spider-Man was going to be a hit but I wasn't expecting it to break the box office record so soon after the first Harry Potter movie did six months earlier at $90 million. I had assumed that Harry Potter had a larger audience at the time considering it was in the middle of the popularity of the books being at its highest but I figured Spider-Man would at least come close to that number. Sure enough, it surpassed that and became the hit of that summer right off the bat. It also kept that record for a good four years until Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest broke it, but then Spidey took it back the following year.

I knew Avengers was going to be massive just because of how popular Iron Man was. Thor and Captain America did okay but they didn't really become as popular until Avengers. I remember wondering if it was going to be able to beat Deathly Hallows Part 2 which was the record holder at the time, thinking that it was likely but I didn't expect it to cross $200 million. Who knew that seven years later Endgame would make about $150 million more than that on its opening weekend.

 

[InCali]

Neither overly surprised me. I guess I'd say..........Avengers???

 

[Green Goblin]

The Avengers, and here's why,

Spider-Man was already a pop culture icon by the time he got a film adaption. Plus it wasn't like by the time it came out, comic book films weren't successful. Tim Burton's Batman had proved that the genre could be very financially successful and to a lesser extent Bryan Singer's X-Men.

The Avengers became one of the highest grossing films of all time on release. Unlike Spider-Man, the characters who made up the team were not icons but B-List Marvel characters. Plus outside of Iron Man, it's not like the solo films for the other 3 Avengers were big hits with audiences.

 

[Erzengel]

Avengers. I think everyone thought it was going to be TDKR's year.

 

[Drizzle]

Avengers. I think everyone thought it was going to be TDKR's year.

It felt like all eyes were on TDKR leading up to that summer, including my own. I was hyped for The Avengers, but I was way more hyped for TDKR. Coming from someone who had seen all the Phase 1 MCU movies at the midnight premieres, I still remember being more excited at seeing the first TDKR teaser with Gordon in the hospital bed than I was seeing that first Avengers trailer with the cheesy rock music. It wasn't until the Super Bowl commercial that first showed the team in the circle shot from the battle of NY where my hype for Avengers eclipsed TDKR. Once June rolled around the TDKR hype started up again but the movie didn't surpass my expectations like Avengers did.

 

[Erzengel]

Plus outside of Iron Man, it's not like the solo films for the other 3 Avengers were big hits with audiences.

Based on expectations now, no. Now everyone expects 800M and above for every superhero movie.

In 2010, it should be noted that Iron Man 2 broke like the Top 5 of CBM franchises. Thor actually broke the Top 9 in 2011. Out of the Phase 1 MCU movies, only ones that didn't break Top 10 were Hulk and CA: TFA, but they were #19 and #13 respectively the years they came out. I did only count more mainstream comics movies, left out movies such as Wanted, Men In Black but you are only losing 1 or 2 spots.

 

[Erzengel]

It felt like all eyes were on TDKR leading up to that summer, including my own. I was hyped for The Avengers, but I was way more hyped for TDKR. Coming from someone who had seen all the Phase 1 MCU movies at the midnight premieres, I still remember being more excited at seeing the first TDKR teaser with Gordon in the hospital bed than I was seeing that first Avengers trailer with the cheesy rock music. It wasn't until the Super Bowl commercial that first showed the team in the circle shot from the battle of NY where my hype for Avengers eclipsed TDKR. Once June rolled around the TDKR hype started up again but the movie didn't surpass my expectations like Avengers did.

I think I remember reading that when the Avengers number started coming in, fans thought this meant good news for Rises and they'd have similar numbers. But the higher, Avengers soared, people were already anticipating that they couldn't match it. Plus the shooting in Colorado didn't help.

 

[Drizzle]

Based on expectations now, no. Now everyone expects 800M and above for every superhero movie.

In 2010, it should be noted that Iron Man 2 broke like the Top 5 of CBM franchises. Thor actually broke the Top 9 in 2011. Out of the Phase 1 MCU movies, only ones that didn't break Top 10 were Hulk and CA: TFA, but they were #19 and #13 respectively the years they came out. I did only count more mainstream comics movies, left out movies such as Wanted, Men In Black but you are only losing 1 or 2 spots.

I still think The First Avenger would have done much better if it hadn't been released a week after the final Harry Potter movie.

I think I remember reading that when the Avengers number started coming in, fans thought this meant good news for Rises and they'd have similar numbers. But the higher, Avengers soared, people were already anticipating that they couldn't match it. Plus the shooting in Colorado didn't help.

The Avengers also had the advantage of 3D ticket sales when that format was still in its prime in the wake of Avatar. Back then, TDKR was one of those rare movies that didn't have a 3D release. I'm sure if it was anyone but Nolan, WB would have forced a post conversion to 3D regardless of how successful TDK was.

 

[Iceman]

Spider-Man for me. I was expecting Avengers to make 400m/500m US and 1B worldwide and yes it made a lot more overseas than I expected but the domestic reception wasn’t as surprising as Spidey’s at the time .

 

[metaphysician]

Avengers. I think everyone thought it was going to be TDKR's year.

And I'm pretty sure there are still a good number of people, on this very forum, who still refuse to forgiven Avengers for beating out a Nolan Batman movie. . . and refuse to forgive TDKR for not beating Avengers.

 

[Erzengel]

It was Rotten Tomatoes fault.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Neither are a shock as such in terms of the money earned. For me, the 'shock' value would be in actually getting a Spider-Man film actually completed and out to production, and certainly one directed by Raimi, at that stage, untried in big-budget films and certainly in the genre, even though a huge Spidey fan.

Following Superman & Batman, during the pre-MCU days, he would have been seen as the next logical step to take, but the SFX needed to do justice had to wait and even in 2002, there was catch-up on that but look at the difference between SM 1 and 2, the leap is huge in the CGI development.

However, once you know a Spider-Man film was coming out, I'd have said it was a sure-fire hit, I was 27 at the time of release and it was that child's generation of Superman was to me in 1978.

Avengers was nailed on, was always gonna go big after the build up and by 2012, Marvel were very assured at making their films.