With Dark Shadows providing little in the way of competition, The Avengers had no trouble at all extending its stranglehold on the box office this weekend. Marvel’s superhero team-up fell 50 percent to $103.1 million, which is by-far the best second weekend ever ahead of Avatar’s $75.6 million. It also topped The Dark Knight for best second weekend hold for a movie that opened to more than $120 million. Other new records include fastest movie to $300 million and $350 million, and highest eight-day, nine-day, and ten-day grosses.
Through Sunday, The Avengers has earned $373.1 million, which ranks 18th on the all-time domestic chart. It’s now inevitable that the movie will finish above $500 million, and it should also claim third place on the all-time chart ahead of The Dark Knight ($533.3 million).
As expected, Dark Shadows couldn’t hold a candle to The Avengers, though its $29.7 million opening is still a bit of a disappointment. Among recent Johnny Depp and Tim Burton collaborations, that’s a tiny fraction of Alice in Wonderland’s $116.1 million and around half of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s $56.2 million. Those were both colorful, fun, recognizable properties, and Dark Shadows is much closer to Sweeney Todd and Sleepy Hollow. It significantly out-grossed Sweeney Todd ($9.3 million at 1,249 locations) but was a bit off from Sleepy Hollow ($30.1 million).
Dark Shadows’s underwhelming debut can be attributed to a handful of factors, not least of which was the tough release date. The second weekend of May is a notoriously difficult time to open a movie, as Warner Bros. experienced with Poseidon in 2006 ($22.2 million) and Speed Racer in 2008 ($18.6 million). The challenge was magnified this year thanks to The Avengers, which is outperforming even the most bullish pre-release forecasts.
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