The Avengers shatters more records last weekend

The Avengers shatters more records last weekend

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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