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‘Avengers’ rings up $103 million in record weekend

Actor Mark Ruffalo arrives at the screening of the film "Marvel's The Avengers" for the closing night of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in New York April 28, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) – “The Avengers,” the smash hit movie about

Marvel superheroes who team up to save the Earth, crushed competitors for a second weekend with a

record $103.2 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales and was poised to top $1 billion worldwide,

studio estimates showed on Sunday.

After posting the highest domestic box office debut in history last weekend,

“Avengers” set another record by easily topping the $75.6 million “Avatar” pulled in during its second

weekend in 2009, making “Avengers” the first movie to exceed $100 million in its second

weekend.

“Avengers” has now racked up a staggering $628.9 million internationally since opening

overseas on April 25, distributor Walt Disney Co said, positioning it to break the $1 billion threshold

after just 19 days.

“We’re obviously thrilled,” said Robert Iger, Disney’s Chairman and CEO in

a statement.

“You can never anticipate this kind of success,” echoed Dave Hollis, executive vice

president for motion picture distribution. “It’s a staggering result.”

Its success owed in

large part to “a story that delivers on every level, to every segment of the audience,” he

added.

The big-budget 3D flick – the first of Hollywood’s lucrative summer season – unites Iron

Man, Black Widow, Captain America and other Marvel comic book heroes in a fight against a villain

determined to destroy the planet. Disney announced this week it is planning an “Avengers”

sequel.

The movie took in $207.4 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters over its

opening weekend, helping improve the performance of the studio, which earlier stumbled at box offices

with its big-budget release “John Carter.”

“Avengers” mania overwhelmed new horror comedy “Dark

Shadows,” according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters. “Dark Shadows” pulled in an estimated

$28.8 million from Friday through Sunday at domestic theaters.

The latest collaboration between

actor Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton, the $100 million “Dark Shadows” is based on the cult TV soap

opera that ran from 1966 to 1971 about vampires, werewolves and witches living in a ghostly countryside

manor. Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter also star.

Studio executives said the total

was in line with expectations of about $30 million.

“We’re hoping to leg it out over the next

few weeks,” said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros., referring to films

developing “legs” and performing well for a period in the weeks after opening.

Fellman noted

that big May films coming up were not really competing for the same audience as “Dark Shadows,” which

drew more than 50 percent of its opening weekend audience from viewers 35 and older.

“The

audiences are applauding,” he said, adding “There’s a magic and chemistry that Tim Burton and Johnny

Depp have had over the years, and we’re hoping that will continue as we approach” the lucrative

Memorial Day period.

“We opened extremely well internationally,” with $36.7 million, Fellman

noted.

In third place, romantic comedy “Think Like a Man” grossed $6.3 million during its fourth

weekend in theaters.

Teen survival drama “The Hunger Games,” the year’s biggest movie before

“Avengers” came on the scene, finished the weekend in fourth place with $4.4 million.

Fifth

place belonged to love story “The Lucky One,” which took in $4 million, with animated family film “The

Pirates! Band of Misfits” coming in sixth at $3.2 million.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner

Inc, released “Dark Shadows” and “The Lucky One.” “Think Like a Man” and “Pirates” were distributed by

Sony Corp’s Sony Pictures studio. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp released “Hunger

Games.”

(Reporting By Lisa

Richwine and Chris Michaud; editing by Bob

Tourtellotte and Todd

Eastham)

 

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