'Avengers' destroys box office records with $200 million weekend debut

Superhero action flick "The Avengers" smashed ticket-sales records this weekend, setting the opening-weekend record with its $200.3 million haul, shattering the previous record of $169.2 million set by last summer's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - Part 2."

The big-budget action movie, from Disney's Marvel studios, reached the $200 million mark faster than any movie in history, and has collected a total $641.9 million since opening internationally April 25, the studio said Sunday.

Directed by Joss Whedon, the record-breaker brought together superheroes from previous Marvel blockbusters, including Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, into one crowd-pleasing action flick.

"It's not playing like just a superhero film. It's playing like a huge, accessible-to-everyone, all-quadrant picture," Dave Hollis, Disney's executive vice president of distribution told Entertainment Weekly.

The film's success is largely due to the diversity of its audience, with a nearly half-and-half split between the under- and over-25 crowds, and a 40% female audience for the comic book movie, the studio said.

The film raked in $18.7 million in midnight screenings alone, and destroyed the opening-weekend performance of other Marvel movies, including "Iron Man" ($99 million) and "Iron Man 2" ($128 million).