Box-office: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ to cross $1 billion Friday

Marvel’s latest blockbuster, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is set to cross the $1-billion worldwide box-office mark Friday, according to Disney estimates.

The sequel to 2012’s smash “The Avengers” took 24 days to cross the milestone. The most recent movie to join the billion-dollar club was Universal Pictures’ “Furious 7,” which did so in a record-breaking 17 days.

“Age of Ultron” is the third movie from Disney-owned Marvel Studios to reach the coveted benchmark, following “The Avengers” ($1.5 billion total) and “Iron Man 3” (1.2 billion).

The first “Avengers” is the third highest-grossing movie ever, behind “Avatar” ($2.8 billion) and “Titanic” ($2.2 billion).

“Age of Ultron” began its mammoth run of April 22 and has grossed $990 million through Thursday, including $333 million in the U.S. and Canada.

Other key countries have included South Korea ($76 million), China ($69 million) and the U.K. ($63 million).

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