Avengers Assemble ‘to be biggest film of the summer’

‘Avengers Assemble’ is on course to be the biggest film of the summer, according to recent polls in the US.

Tracking data from The Hollywood Reporter, which correctly predicted the huge success of ‘The Hunger Games’, puts it ahead of both the Jennifer Lawrence-starring hit and 2007’s ‘The Dark Knight’, one of the most successful films ever made.

A poll of fans conducted by movie ticketing and information site Fandango found the Top five films exciting men and women most this year, with ‘Avengers Assemble’ coming out on top for men and second women.

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In the poll of male film fans ‘Avengers Assemble’ scored 31%, ahead of 23% for fellow summer behemoth ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

Women declared ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ as their most anticipated film at 22%, ahead of 16% for ‘Avengers’, 13% for ‘Men in Black 3’ and 10% for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

Here are the survey results from Fandango in full...

Men’s Picks for Most Anticipated Summer Movie
1. The Avengers - 31%
2. The Dark Knight Rises - 23%
3. The Bourne Legacy - 14%
4. Men in Black 3 - 8%
5. Prometheus - 7%

Women’s Picks for Most Anticipated Summer Movie
1. Snow White and the Huntsman - 22%
2. The Avengers - 16%
3. Men in Black 3 - 13%
4. The Dark Knight Rises - 10%
5. Dark Shadows - 8%

The tracking data surveys movie-goers on their awareness and anticipation of any particular film. 2007’s ‘The Dark Knight’ and this year’s ‘The Hunger Games’ were chosen as comparisons because the Batman film is the biggest comic book movie ever released and ‘Hunger Games’ remains the biggest film of the year so far.

For unaided awareness, the Marvel superhero mash-up out-scored the 2007 Batman sequel and ‘Hunger Games’ by three and two per cent respectively. Total awareness of the film scored a mighty impressive 85 per cent compared to ‘Dark Knight’s 74 and ‘Hunger Games’ 61.

When it comes to box office figures this is big news for Marvel Studios and Disney (this will be the first film marketed and distributed by them since their acquisition of Marvel) as on the list of all-time biggest box office openings ‘Hunger Games’ sits third and ‘The Dark Knight’ second.

Both films scored opening weekends between $152m (£95m) and $159m (£99.6m), which is now a viable target for Marvel’s super-powered epic.

A top five all-time opening weekend for ‘Avengers Assemble’ is now all but guaranteed.

'Avengers Assemble' is set for release 26 April.