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Boom.

Kim Hollis: Sometimes you're the bull and sometimes you're the cow. We recently needled Reagen about a tough weekend, but he boldly predicted that the opening weekend record would fall to The Avengers and he was right. The meta-Marvel production opened to an almost unimaginable $207.4 million. What are your thoughts about this result?

Bruce Hall: I felt pretty sure that the opening weekend performance of The Avengers would be largely based on the quality of the project. Dorks around the world were tweeting their potentially searing opinions within seconds of the lights coming up, and it's been a very positive response. Having seen it myself, I tend to agree with the prevailing consensus - this is a high quality project. It's a well written, well paced, well scripted ride on a fun filled rocket car, fueled by the gleeful tears of millions of rabid fanboys. Kudos to all involved - it's everything a non Nolan comic book film should be. I think this could end up being the biggest film of the year depending on what happens with Batman, and since the Amazingly Unnecessary Spider-Man Reboot is beginning to look like a letdown.

Felix Quinonez: I think it's hard to describe this opening without saying words like amazing, or incredible. I am especially blown away because I didn't actually think that it would break the opening weekend record. I actually didn't think it would beat The Dark Knight. I mean, I thought there was an outside chance of it toppling The Dark Knight's numbers but I was expecting it to land in The Hunger Games/Spider-Man 3 territory. But not even once did I think $200 million was a possibility.

Tim Briody: This is an absolutely ridiculous performance made all the more impressive because after the initial midnight figure was released, most of us looked at The Avengers' $18.7 million and had some second thoughts, especially when you consider that Harry Potter 7.2 took in $43.5 million in its midnight shows. But when the full Friday total came in, it was easily the more impressive day than Deathly Hallows had. I'm actually happiest for Joss Whedon. Now's the time to float your Serenity sequel, Joss!

Samuel Hoelker: After seeing its international numbers, and especially after its Friday numbers, I really can't see how anyone could expect this not to break HP7.5's record, but the $200 million number is just ridiculous. I, like I think the rest of us, was expecting a fight to break the record, not to spit on HP7.5. I think word-of-mouth is a great factor in this result, as well as for its future success. Kids will want to come back to this one, and their parents won't mind doing that.

Edwin Davies: I'll add to the chorus of people saying that this is an astounding result. Going into the weekend, I thought it might take the #2 spot, since it had a much wider cultural awareness than The Hunger Games and a lot more built-up anticipation than The Dark Knight. Once the Friday numbers came in, it became apparent that the record was going to fall, but I didn't expect it to smash it by almost $40 million. This is a perfect storm of what happens when marketing and quality work together seamlessly: Disney did an amazing job getting the film out to people who weren't familiar with the non-Iron Man Marvel films, and the resulting film is an expertly crafted piece of blockbuster entertainment. Everyone else in Hollywood should take note.

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