UPDATE 05/07/12 2:35pm MT: The official numbers are in, and The Avengers actually pulled in a bit more than estimated! $207.4 million is the official domestic take for May 4-6!

Joss Whedon, Disney, and Marvel officially have a mega-hit on their hands with Marvel’s The Avengers!

Leading up to the US opening of the film last week, it was reported that pre-sale ticket sales were already huge, and that momentum carried on through the weekend. Starting with midnight screenings The Avengers brought in an impressive $18.7 million, totalling to $80.5 million for all day Friday, $69.7 million on Saturday, and a projected $50.1 million on Sunday – bringing the total to $200.3 million, handily breaking the opening-weekend record previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with $169.1 million. Adding this domestic figure to the amount The Avengers has made internationally after 12 days of release brings the global total to $641.8 million (the film cost around $220 million to make)!

Both critics and audiences have been heaping praise on this movie, and I think these numbers just add to the hype fact that this is just a tremendous film. Of course, these figures bode well for the Marvel movie franchise as they move into what they are calling “Phase 2”, with sequels planned for Iron Man (which actually begins shooting next month), Captain America, Thor, and of course, a second Avengers film.

I, like so many of you, caught a midnight showing and plan to see it at least two more times. Seeing a film of this magnitude, bringing all of those other films together, and so well executed almost almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. I grew up reading the comics, playing with the action figures, watching the cartoons – and to see all of these elements brought together larger than life on the big screen it such a way was damn-near overwhelming. I believe a film such as this doesn’t set these types of records unless it is deserving of it, and I assure you, what Joss Whedon and company have done here is very deserving of the audience they brought in in one weekend.

I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration when I say a new bar has been set for superhero films, including The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man due for release later this year. While I have very high hopes for Nolan’s conclusion to his Batman trilogy (The Dark Knight Rises brought in a whopping $158.4 million on its opening weekend), I don’t know if it will be able to beat this new record set by The Avengers – but then again, no one predicted a $200 million plus weekend for this film, so anything is possible!

Welcome to the Summer movie season folks, it’s off to an amazing start!

Be sure to check out our reviews of Marvel’s The Avengers by CitizenBot and Swank-mo-tron, and come discuss the film in our Open Thread!

Recently, Moviefone posted an article called “One Girl’s Guide to ‘The Avengers,’: What You Need to Know if You Know Nothing,” and geek girls everywhere picked up their torches and pitchforks and vilified the author.

The article takes the perspective that a gal has no interest in seeing a superhero movie unless her boyfriend persuades her to go.  And, to help with understanding the various characters in the film, she offers “cocktail introductions” to help the poor ignorant gals who know nothing about comics.  (I’m being sarcastic).

The article didn’t offend me, but by the time it came across my radar, the editor had already updated it with a note indicating it was satirical.  And I can kind of see how it was meant to be so.  Even if it were serious, I still doubt it would have offended me.  Everyone knows that women can like comic books, and female fandom is far larger now than it was in the days when I attended my first Dragon*con.  So why get so riled up about it?

I think, in general, geek fandom has mostly ignored females.  Marketing is usually directed at males, focusing on scantily-clad, big-busted women.  There are a lot more action figures than, say, Barbie dolls based on comic book movies.  (And yes, I know girls play with action figures, too, and boys play with dolls.  I’m just providing a possible marketing perspective).

And I know I’ve often had a lot more difficulties finding the female characters in a film than the male characters.  A lot of times this is because the manufacturers think fewer girls will buy the toys and therefore create less.  I never did own an April O’Neil action figure.  She was nowhere to be found, so I had to use cardboard and markers and created my figure when my brother and I played TMNT.  It was kind of sad, looking back.  But I think things are slowly changing.  I was in Toys R Us just yesterday and saw a Queen Amidala figure.  So either things are improving or that was just because The Phantom Menace came out in 1999.  Not sure which.

So, the article hit a sore spot with fans.  And I’m sure there’s a different reason for everyone who responded as to why it got them so riled up.  But it did open up some dialogue, and that’s usually never a bad thing.

Now, Film School Rejects has posted what appears to be a response to the Moviefone piece, and this takes the female ignorance of superheroes to a whole new level.  Written by a guy pretending to be a gal, it’s obviously meant to be humorous.  Again, people were offended, but I read some of the descriptions out loud and thought they were hilarious.  And there may be people out there, male or female, who are completely out of touch with the superhero world.   It’s scary to think that, but it can happen.   But even I, who rarely reads a comic book, am fairly familiar with the Marvel world.  And even DC.

So let’s be clear on one thing:  women can like geeky things.  We all know this.  Why, we have the Big Shiny Girlcast podcast that is made up entirely of the women of Big Shiny Robot!  We may not all like the same geeky things (I’m less into comics and video games and way more into Star Wars and books and TV shows), but it’s not a man’s world anymore at the conventions.  We are there, beating you at Dragon*con Star Wars trivia.  Twice.  (Not that I’m boasting or anything). We are making dresses that look like the TARDIS or R2-D2.  We are carrying cleverly painted Nerf weapons and wearing peace-bound swords and we are awesome because of it.

And no article on the internet, whether sincere or tongue-in-cheek, is ever going to change that.

With Avengers opening tonight and all of the (apparently well-deserved) hype surrounding it, it’s easy to forget there’s another Marvel hero getting the silver screen treatment this year. That’s right, the Amazing Spider-Man is also almost upon us. I’ll admit it. Spidey is my favorite Marvel character, but the trailers so far have me very ‘meh’ about it, but the newest one is definitely interesting with what it does reveal. Take a look, and I’ll elaborate afterward.

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OK, so first off, Gwen definitely knows that Peter is Spider-Man in the film. That’s an interesting way to go, and an avenue that was never explored in the comics apart from “What If?” tales. Second, I love wise-ass Spidey. The weakness joke is pretty funny. I do hope not all of the Spider-banter is super snarky, but it’s still better than total stoicism. Also of note, there is a subtle hint in there that Peter is already enemies with an Osborn. Could it be that this isn’t the origin movie that we were led to believe? I’ll admit that this is pure speculation on my part, but if so… I’m not a big fan of the quick shot action scenes. I know Spider-Man is a quick and nimble character, but there are ways to do it that don’t involve a lot of darkness and quick cuts. The same goes for the web-swinging scenes. Those get more of a pass because they still look cool, even though they’re dark.

All in all, this trailer helps my anticipation of The Amazing Spider-Man leap from “total indifference” to “Hey, maybe I will see this movie opening weekend!” Tell us what you think in the comments!

In honor of May the 4^th (also known amongst fans as Star Wars Day), Rancho Obi-Wan is giving away 4 Initiate memberships.  Initiate memberships include a quarterly email newsletter with the latest news about Rancho Obi-Wan, a Charter Year membership kit that includes a welcome letter and a patch, and a $30 discount towards a tour-level membership.

Rancho Obi-Wan (ROW) is located in Petaluma, California, and it is worth the trip if you can make it.  Swank-mo-tron and I visited this past December, and we had our pictures made with Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes and experienced standing in the corridor of the Tantive IV.  And the Yoda merchandise!  Steve Sansweet’s collection is probably the only one that puts my own Yoda collection to shame.  I even saw the never-mass-produced talking Yoda with the pull-string that I first saw in his book Star Wars:  From Concept to Screen to Collectible.

To enter to win, go to www.ranchoobiwan.org and sign up to be on the ROW mailing list.  There is no obligation aside from receiving the occasional email, but fans under age 16 will require parental permission.

Or, you can purchase a membership for yourself or a friend.  The $200 Knight level gives you a tour for two led by Steve Sansweet himself, and this is an experience like no other.  Steve’s knowledge of Star Wars merchandise is unsurpassed, and he has such a passion for the films.

The 4 lucky fans will be randomly chosen from everyone who signs up for the ROW mailing list between now and 4:44 pm PDT May 4th.  All fans worldwide are eligible if the laws in your country, state, province, or region don’t ban such random giveaways. Winners will be announced May 5th on the Rancho Obi-Wan Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RanchoObiWan , twitter @RanchoObiWan , and www.ranchoobiwan.org. May the 4th and the Force be with you!

After a lot of speculation, word has finally come down that it looks like Benedict Cumberbatch will, indeed, be playing Khan in the sequel to JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. Trek Movie has confirmed this with their sources, and consider this to longer be a rumor:

A few outlets have also reported (including today’s AICN) that this villain was Trek’s most famous bad guy – the exiled Eugenics War leader Khan Noonien Singh (originally played by Ricardo Montalban). TrekMovie has also confirmed this with a number of sources so we no longer consider it to be a rumor. Khan is back in 2013, however sources indicate that the film is not a rehash of “Space Seed,” the original Star Trek episode where Kirk and crew first encounter the genetic superman from the past.

In addition to the confirmation that Khan will be the menace the crew of the Enterprise faces in the upcoming film, Trek Movie has also confirmed that Leonard Nimoy will be back at Spock Prime, and that Klingons will play a big role.

As a Trek fan, I couldn’t be happier. These rumors have been circulating for a while now and come as not much of a surprise; Khan and the Klingons played a big role in the original Star Trek films, and I am looking forward to seeing Abrams’ take on these important aspects of Trek lore. I’m also glad to see Nimoy coming back as Spock Prime, even if it is in a minor role. While I love Kirk and so many of the other crew members from the Trek of yesterday, I’m really happy to see Spock playing a role in this alternate time line and fleshing out this character in his twilight years.

This sequel to Abrams’ Star Trek will be hitting theaters next year.

Well, I’m officially more excited for this movie now than I was. I tried to hold off until I could see it on the big screen with Avengers, but staring at the link to the youtube, I just couldn’t help it.

It looks like it starts with Knightfall and goes into a Knightsend type of story? That would be very cool.

But does it seem to anyone else like Batman is giving himself the option of giving his life to Gotham? I wouldn’t put it past Christopher Nolan to kill Batman, just to be sure no one else could make a sequel in his universe.

It hits cinemas in July.

UPDATE: Is anyone else getting a Dick Grayson vibe from Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

Hey everybody! April’s Girlcast is chock full of shiny goodness and ready for your listening pleasure!

On this month’s podcast, we love Hunger Games, can’t wait for The Avengers and really want to help Nintendo! Also, Bizzarobot returns to the ‘cast this month! Yay!

Head on over to the Big Shiny Robot iTunes page or download here. On this month’s podcast: Miss Mecha (Jessie), Scarlette Robotica (Kelly), Bizzarobot (Erin), and Darcy (from The Geekiest Girls You Know blog).

Send us your questions and comments here or over on our Facebook or Twitter (@BSRGirlcast). Thanks for listening!

For those of you not lucky enough to attend a week-in-advance screening of The Avengers this week, we are still a week away from this geek-dream-come-true of a movie hitting the big screen. If you’re a geek like me, there is this feeling of excitement in the pit of your stomach in anticipation of watching Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and more joining forces to fight Loki and his minions, and it’s not going to go away until you finally see the film on or around May 4.

And it’s looking like we are not alone.

I think there is this general feeling that this movie is going to be huge – record-setting huge, and pre-sale ticket figures are so far adding fuel to this fire. Whether you were a fan of these characters before their big screen debut, or got into this world of superhero geekery after watching the films, it’s safe to say the public in general is anticipating this movie. MovieTickets.com provided what the pre-sale ticket number are looking like for The Avengers, and the numbers are pretty incredible. Pre-sale tickets for The Avengers are bigger than Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger combined.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is pre-selling more tickets for the upcoming release than the online ticketing company sold for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, THOR, IRON MAN 2, and IRON MAN combined at the same point in the sales cycle for each film. In fact, pre-sales of MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is over one and a half times that of these past Marvel films combined sales at the same point in the sales cycle.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is selling 3,995% more tickets than CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER at the same point in the sales cycle.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is selling 1,034% more tickets than THOR at the same point in the sales cycle.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is selling 114% more tickets than IRON MAN 2 at the same point in the sales cycle.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is selling 1,406% more tickets than IRON MAN at the same point in the sales cycle.

12:05am on May 4 can’t come soon enough . . .

[Source: SHH!]

According to Aintitcool News (I know, take it with a grain of salt) Joel Silver has got a green light on his family friendly version of Lobo.

Lobo is an alien and interstellar bounty hunter with a reputation for smoking, hard drinking, swearing, and killing people. He’s pretty much the lowest of the low and a hilarious parody of Wolverine and all the other “badass” characters in comics. With the new Wolverine pushing its limit of rating and more mature content, it’s hard to see how a family friendly parody of that will have any teeth.

Guy Ritchie has been in talks for a long time to direct, but the Aintitcool report suggests (in all seriousness) that Brad Peyton, the director of Journey 2 and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, is the next in line to pick up this project.

It’s a hard balance to strike. Maybe they can do a family friendly Lobo movie… If they did, I’d really love to see it in the style of a blustering, preposterous 80s sci-fi movie like Total Recall or something. I’d love to see him as a side character in a Superman film, too. Could you imagine how great it would be to see Superman trying to deal with a serious threat and have to deal with Lobo every 10 minutes trying to capture a bounty on him?

No word on start dates, casting, or anything else, though it seems like this is another part Ron Perlman could knock out of the park.

I, like many of you, are very excited for the impending May 4th release of Marvel Studios The Avengers. What you may be surprised to know though, is that the silver screen epic is actually a remake! Not only that, but this is the 2nd time it has been remade! While the original movies are lost to time due to not being available on home video, thanks to the internet we can at least see the trailers for these epic films. First, the movie that started it all: 1952’s The Avengers!

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The most amazing thing about this film, aside from the absolutely dead-on Hulk and cameos by no less than 18 Marvel characters is the fact that the film debuted 9 years before the dawn of Marvel Comics! How is such a thing possible? I’ll get to that, but first, here’s the campy made-for-TV remake from 1978: Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!

Man I swear, KISS was freaking everywhere in the late 70’s. Honestly I can’t say I’m too fond of this movie. Lou Ferrigno is still great as the Hulk, and this is was the best screen depiction of Tony Stark until Robert Downey Jr. However, I can’t abide by Reb Brown’s Captain America spending half the movie on a motorcycle like a low-grade Evel Knievel. Also, who’s idea was it to make Thor a beer-swilling viking? Thankfully, the new movie looks to erase the above movie’s bad memories, even if they aren’t using Skrulls this time out.

In all seriousness, these two clips are of course very clever fan-made YouTube offerings, but how cool would it be if they really existed? Well, the 50’s one anyway. Speaking of that masterpiece, the author actually has an annotated video to show all the cameos you may have missed. It’s pretty amazing how flawless it all looks.

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