THE AVENGERS SETS YET ANOTHER RECORD

Chalk up yet another record for The Avengers: fastest film ever to reach $1 billion worldwide. It did so on Sunday, barely, as the Marvel/Disney movie earned $103.2 million in North America and $95.4 million abroad, putting its worldwide total at $1.002 billion. By contrast, the Johnny Depp vampire drama Dark Shadows looked toothless, pulling in $28.8 million. While The Avengers dominated among younger moviegoers, Dark Shadows drew 73 percent of its audience from people over the age of 25. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dan Fellman indicated that the film would ordinarily have performed more strongly but that it found itself in the “unusual position of being behind the vacuum cleaner that is The Avengers.” Will the film be able to recoup its $125-million production cost and $35-million marketing expenditure? Said Fellman, “It’s now all about taking a deep breath and seeing how we hang in there for the second weekend.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. The Avengers, Disney/Marvel, $103,052,274, 2 Wks. ($373,071,647); 2. Dark Shadows, Warner Bros., $29,685,274, (New); 3. Think Like a Man, Sony/Screen Gems, $5,816,108, 4 Wks. ($81,432,840); 4. The Hunger Games, Lionsgate, $4,505,362, 8 Wks. ($387,007,048); 5. The Lucky One, Warner Bros., $4,107,492, 4 Wks. ($53,788,233); 6. The Five-Year Engagement, Universal, $3,314,010, 3 Wks. ($24,623,420); 7. The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Sony/Aardman, $3,143,442, 3 Wks. ($23,047,000); 8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Fox Searchlight, $2,672,140, 2 Wks. ($3,744,656); 9. Chimpanzee, DisneyNature/Disney, $1,755,507, 4 Wks. ($25,717,478); 10. Safe, Lionsgate, $1,447,174, 3 Wks, ($15,717,429).