Marvel's 'Avengers' Gets Major Labor Day Expansion

The third-biggest movie of all time will play in 1,700 theaters over the long holiday weekend; Disney also is aggressively expanding "Brave."

11:25 AM PDT 8/30/2012 by Borys Kit, Pamela McClintock

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Marvel

"The Avengers"

Disney and Marvel Studios' The Avengers is getting a one-week expanded push in theaters during Labor Day weekend.

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Avengers is the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, both domestically and worldwide. Joss Whedon's superhero pic has earned $617.8 million in North America and $1.5 billion globally.

Disney is hoping to boost the movie's earnings even more by taking advantage of the long holiday weekend. As of Friday, Avengers will be playing in 1,700 theaters. The film had been all but done with its theatrical run, playing in only 123 locations last weekend.

The movie is about $40 million away from passing James Cameron’s Titanic to become to No. 2 highest-grossing movie domestically.

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Avengers' last-minute push comes ahead of the movie’s big Blu-ray/DVD release on Sept 25.

Disney also is giving Pixar’s Brave the expansion treatment, increasing the family pic's domestic theater count from 452 to 1,700. The 3D toon has grossed $230.3 million domestically and $212.3 million internationally.