'Avengers' Add $103M In Sprint To $1 Billion

(AP) ‘Avengers’ add $103.2M in sprint to $1 billion
LOS ANGELES

The superhero blockbuster took in $103.2 million to lead for a second-straight weekend, raising its domestic total to $373.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

With $95.4 million more overseas, “The Avengers” lifted its international receipts to $628.9 million and a worldwide haul of just over $1 billion, only 19 days after it began rolling out in some markets.

That’s far below such past Depp-Burton collaborations as “Alice in Wonderland,” which opened with $116.1 million, and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which debuted with $56.2 million.

Already the year’s biggest hit worldwide, “The Avengers” is on the verge of passing “The Hunger Games” at $386.9 million to become the top-grossing film domestically for 2012.

Revenue for “The Avengers” was off just 50 percent from the film’s domestic debut of $207.4 million the previous weekend, a remarkable hold given how big it started.

A round-up of such Marvel idols as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), “The Avengers” has shot past the revenues that its solo superhero predecessors took in for their entire runs. The best of those domestically was “Iron Man” with $318.4 million.

Inspired by the supernatural soap opera that debuted on TV in the mid-1960s, “Dark Shadows” stars Depp as an 18th century vampire who is freed after two centuries of burial and returns to his ancestral homestead in the 1970s, aiming to rebuild the family fortunes.

The TV show has only a cult following, so the Warner Bros. update relied on the lure of a reunion between frequent collaborators Depp and Burton taking on another otherworldly tale. But “Dark Shadows” left both critics and audiences cold, failing to make much of a dent in the intense appeal of “The Avengers.”

Fox Searchlight’s crowd-pleaser “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” broke into the top-10 in its second weekend as it expanded from a handful of cinemas to 178 theaters. The film took in $2.7 million to finish at No. 8.

Also in narrower release of 322 theaters, Eva Mendes’ comic drama “Girl in Progress” opened at No. 10 with $1.4 million. The Lionsgate release stars Mendes as a nomadic single mom with a precocious teenage daughter.

Domestic receipts for the year are at $3.83 billion, 17.6 percent ahead of last year’s with a huge summer lineup yet to come.

Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian said he expects Hollywood to break the summer revenue record of $4.4 billion it set last year and top its all-time annual high of $10.6 billion from 2009.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “The Avengers,” $103.2 million ($95.4 million international).

2. “Dark Shadows,” $28.8 million ($36.7 million international).

3. “Think Like a Man,” $6.3 million.

4. “The Hunger Games,” $4.4 million ($2.4 million international).

5. “The Lucky One,” $4.1 million ($2.5 million international).

6. “The Pirates! Band of Misfits,” $3.2 million ($2.2 million international).

7. “The Five-Year Engagement,” $3.1 million ($1.7 million international).

8. “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” $2.7 million ($1.9 million international).

9. “Chimpanzee,” $1.6 million.

10. “Girl in Progress,” $1.4 million.

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Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. “The Avengers,” $95.4 million.

2. “Dark Shadows,” $36.7 million.

3. “American Reunion,” $15.6 million.

4. “Battleship,” $11.2 million.

5. “21 Jump Street,” $3.2 million.

6. “Titanic” in 3-D,” $3.1 million.

7. “As One,” $2.6 million.

8. “The Lucky One,” $2.5 million.

9. “The Hunger Games,” $2.4 million.

10. “The Pirates! Band of Misfits,” $2.2 million.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.