It’s been almost a month since The Avengers opened internationally and boy did this film gross a lot of money. As expected, there wasn’t much in the way of competition last weekend so the superhero flick was #1 again.

Over the years superhero movies have never been incredibly popular outside North America, I mean sure, there’s Batman and Spider-Man but can you think of another such film that made an insane amount of money? The answer is no, or at least it was no until The Avengers dropped on us. This box office giant made another $59.1 million over the weekend, bringing its total to an unbelievable $726.4 million (a new record for superhero movies). Worldwide the number is even more impressive, $1.19 billion so 4th place on the all time chart. Currently Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is 3rd with $1.32 billion, but it’s only a matter of weeks until The Avengers flies past it. Now 2nd place, Titanic with $2.18 billion, that’s unfortunately out of reach, so in the end The Avengers will have to settle for the bronze medal worldwide.

Surprisingly Dark Shadows had a very solid 2nd weekend with $31 million, good for 2nd place and $81.8 million internationally. Worldwide the Tim Burton directed horror comedy has made $135 million.

3rd place belongs to newcomer The Dictator with a hefty $30.8 million, damn good start for Sasha Baron Cohen in 29 countries. Worldwide the politically incorrect comedy has $59.5 million. In 2006 Borat made $261.5 million worldwide while Bruno in 2009, only $138.8 million. From the looks of things The Dictator should finish somewhere between the two for the British comedian, closer to Borat.

American Reunion was 4th thanks to $9.7 million and right now Stifler and co. have $216 million worldwide. But that’s still last in its class with all previous films making more money (from $231.4 million all the way to $287.6 million for American Pie 2).

Battleship rounds out the top 5 with $6.1 million. Internationally the film has $227.3 million while worldwide (including US) things aren’t much better, only $257.4 million. This will probably finish around $300 million, quite a bust for Universal considering they spent $200 million on it. Also this is probably one of the main reasons why Paramount moved the G.I. Joe sequel, as in they think Battleship would have made more money in 3D.

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You know something is wrong when the top film makes more money in its 3rd weekend than the rest of the new releases put together. Not just that but The Avengers could have made half the money it did on each weekend and still finish 1st.

The box office juggernaut that is The Avengers is still rolling over its competition left and right, this time banking $55.6 million, the 2nd best 3rd weekend of all time (behind only Avatar‘s $68.4 million). So currently the superhero epic has a total of $463.3 million in 18 days, making it already the 5th highest grosser of all time domestically (unadjusted for inflation). Next stop is Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace ($474.5 million) followed by The Dark Knight ($533.3 million). If not for last month’s Titanic 3D re-release, The Avengers might have had a chance at that one also, alas James Cameron seems to always be one step ahead (it’s like he has a damn crystal ball). While $600 million is doable for The Avengers, $658.5 million (Titanic) is a pipe dream. So the superhero team will have to settle for 3rd place on the all time chart domestically, definitely not a bad spot.

Battleship came in 2nd with only $25.5 million, a very disappointing gross for a film that cost Universal $200 million. After an equally underperforming John Carter in March, Taylor Kitsch seems to be on quite a roll this year. Anyway, while the film ain’t half bad and I’d definitely qualify it as a guilty pleasure (for me at least), this Battleship won’t sink anything else besides itself.

In 3rd place Sasha Baron Cohen shows as once again that when you start falling, there’s only one direction left and that’s down. Once upon a time the British comedian made a mockumentary called Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I was not a fan of that movie but I can see why so many liked it. Borat opened with $26.4 million (in just 837 theaters) and went on to gross $128.5 million domestically. Then came Bruno and boy, what a drop. While the movie made its debut with a good $30.6 million, the final gross was $60 million. Now we have The Dictator, in this case a scripted feature (unlike Cohen’s previous efforts), opening with just $17.4 million. In 6 days the comedy has made $26.6 million and I’ll be extremely impressed if it can match Bruno‘s total domestic gross.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s Dark Shadows was 4th with $12.5 million and an unremarkable $50.7 million after 10 days.

Finally, rounding out the top 5 was probably the biggest bomb of them all, What to Expect When Your Expecting, with $10.5 million. Now granted, apparently this mess only cost $40 million but considering all the talent involved, you’d think more would go see it. Maybe, just maybe, people are starting to avoid crappy films when given better options (like The Avengers).

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On Thursday The Avengers passed the $400 million mark and, as promised some time ago, here are the top 10 fastest films to reach that number at the box office in North America, unadjusted for inflation.

Did you know The Avengers is only the 10th film to ever reach $400 million (in a single box office run)? So if you think about it for a second, this is the not just the top 10 fastest to $400 million, it’s the entire damn list. Now for those wondering, The Hunger Games sits at $388.5 million after 56 days and should pass $390 million by the end of the weekend. There is still a good chance that Katniss Everdeen will eventually make her way to $400 million.

10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) – It took 74 days for this mess to reach $400.1 million, finishing with $402.1 million.

9. Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace (1999) – Only the 2nd film to ever pass the mark in a single theatrical run, The Phantom Menace needed 67 days to make $401.4 million, stopping at $431 million.

8. Spider-Man (2002) – Taking 66 days to reach $400 million, arguably one of the most popular superheroes of all time, Spider-Man ended its run with $403.7 million. This year’s reboot of the series, The Amazing Spider-Man, can only dream of such heights. But crazy things can happen, just look at The Avengers.

7. Titanic (1997) – The highest grossing film of all time for 12 years, Titanic hit $402.5 million in 66 days, closing its initial theatrical run with $600.7 million. Thanks to a 3D re-release back in April this year, the film now sits at $658.4 million.

6. Toy Story 3 (2010) – This animated masterpiece made it to $400 million in 58 days, running out of juice at $415 million.

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) – Johnny Depp, pirates, Jerry Bruckheimer, Legolas, Keira Knightley, and a huge Kraken were just some of the ingredients of this Disney blockbuster. It needed 45 days to reach $401.2 million and the film ran out of booty to plunder at $423.3 million.

4. Shrek 2 (2004) – While not exactly on the same level as Toy Story 3 quality-wise, it made a lot of money, and still the highest grossing animated film of all time. This one took 43 days to gross $400.9 million, totalling $441.2 million in the end.

3. Avatar (2009) – This little film made $415 million in 23 days and didn’t stop until $749.7 million during its initial run. Now Avatar, the current highest grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation), has made $760.5 million, a number you won’t see beaten for quite some time.

2. The Dark Knight (2008) – While Avatar made the most green, this film is the undisputed king of reaching milestones in record time. Unfortunately that statement is no longer true because there is a new champion in town. Regardless, The Dark Knight made $400 million in 18 days and with a total of $533.3 million it is still the #1 highest grossing superhero film of all time in North America, at least for two more weeks or so.

1. The Avengers (2012) – After an opening weekend of $207.4 million, this film was bound to break more than a few records during its box office run. So it was fastest to $100 million, $200 million, $300 million, and now $400 million in just 14 days. Right now not even the sky seems to be the limit for this superhero juggernaut, ready to win yet another weekend.

With more and more movies making epic amounts of money extremely fast, reaching $400 million is not as hard as it once was and there are definitely a few contenders on the horizon. No matter how you look at it, The Dark Knight Rises will make a lot money, very much guaranteed a top 5 on the chart above. Then there’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Avatar 2 (2015), Avengers 2 (?) which are all very likely to end up on this list in the years to come.

So besides The Avengers, what other film you see making over $500 million next?

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The Avengers DVD release date – September?

The Avengers continues to dominate at the box office, but that hasn’t stopped Disney and Marvel from looking ahead to the eventual DVD and Blu-ray release. According to Joblo The Avengers DVD release date has been pencilled in for September 25th, and they got their hands on some of the potential special features which includes alternate opening and endings, commentary from director Joss Whedon, and a whole bunch of deleted scenes.

Check out the features below:

AVENGERS 4-Disc BD Combo Pack, 2-Disc BD Combo Pack and 2-Disc DVD Combo Pack Special Features:
• AUDIO COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR JOSS WHEDON
• MARVEL ONE-SHOT: ITEM 47
• SECOND SCREEN
• GAG REEL
• DELETED SCENES
- Alternate Opening – Maria Hill Interrogation
- Extended Scene – Loki & Barton Strategize
- Steve Rogers – Man Out of Time
- Nick Fury & World Security Council
- Extended Viaduct Fight – Raw Footage
- Fury & Hill Discuss the World Security Council
- Extended Scene – Banner and Security Guard
- Alternate Ending – Maria Hill Interrogation
• FEATURETTES
A Visual Journey
- Assembling the Ultimate Team
• SOUNDGARDEN MUSIC VIDEO – “Live to Rise”

AVENGERS DVD Special Features:
• AUDIO COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR JOSS WHEDON
• FEATURETTES
- Assembling the Ultimate Team

Whedon’s first cut of The Avengers was 3 hours long, so it’s not surprising to see that many deleted scenes in the special features.

Apparently there will also be a 10-disc set released around the same time which will include all the pre-Avengers films (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America), but no official details have been released yet.

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There are three new films opening wide this week, The Dictator, What to Expect When Your Expecting and Battleship. Unfortunately for all of them, The Avengers is still going strong and is likely to remain at the #1 spot.

While The Dictator isn’t doing half-bad at 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, right now the general consensus seems to be to skip everything out this weekend and just watch The Avengers again if you just have to see something in theaters. That’s just one of the reasons why I think the superhero team-up will take 1st place for the 3rd time. Around $55 million should be a good take for The Avengers and bring the film to almost $460 million in 17 days.

These days alien invasions seem to be all the rage (yes mighty Avengers, I’m looking at you too) and people flock to them no matter what. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just something always entertaining about kicking some intergalactic ass (or getting your own kicked by said intergalactic ass). While the name would not suggest this in any way, Battleship, very loosely based on the famous Hasbro board game, is a film about an alien invasion. I have seen the flick and out of its 130 minutes running time, there were definitely at least 30-40 minutes of entertaining stuff in there, so for me it’s a passable fun-dumb-summer-blockbuster (as good a rating as you’ll probably get for Battleship). At the box office it should do ok business, $40 million this weekend sounds about right and more than enough for 2nd place. It won’t end up as a big money loser like John Carter was for Taylor Kitsch but one thing is certain, this just isn’t his year.

The other two wide releases, The Dictator and What to Expect When You’re Expecting, fight each other for 3rd place, aiming for $20 million each. Now Sasha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator has been out since Wednesday, grossing $4.1 million that day. That’s a lot less than what you’d expect from his films but it can bounce back this weekend, although right now What to Expect When You’re Expecting definitely has the upper hand. Starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Brooklyn Decker (she is also in Battleship), Anna Kendrick, Dennis Quaid or Chris Rock, this PG-13 romantic comedy might not be anything to write home about but it sure has a lot of star power. So in the end What to Expect When You’re Expecting will probably make more money than The Dictator, at least this weekend.

Rounding out the top 5 will be Dark Shadows with $14 million or so for a very disappointing 10-day total of $52 million.

Next weekend Will Smith goes back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones and a series that’s been on hiatus for a decade now, Men in Black 3. There’s also another film from the crazy mind of Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) that’s not a found footage flick, Chernobyl Diaries is the name, this is the trailer.

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The impossible was made possible and The Avengers managed to cross the $1 billion mark worldwide by the weekend. A lot more about this and how maybe The Avengers isn’t the only fastest film to ever reach 1 billion, right after the break.

Now here’s where the above title turns misleading, you see, having made $1 billion in just 19 days, The Avengers is not exactly the only fastest film to hit that number. Both Avatar and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 reached that number in 19 days. But there’s a catch, Harry Potter and Avatar opened internationally and in the US on the same week while that wasn’t the case with The Avengers. The superhero film had been out in the US for just 10 days when $1 billion was reached. So while technically The Avengers has to share the title for fastest to hit $1 billion with the likes of Avatar and Harry Potter 8, its performance was more impressive. Anyway, with The Avengers hitting $1 billion, it’s the 5th film to do so for Disney. Now consider this, no other studio has more than two billion grossers (Fox and Warner Bros.).

After two phenomenal weekends in release, The Avengers was, as expected, once again on top with $93.8 million. So that’s a total of $627.3 million internationally, a new record for superhero films. At this point $800 million seems like a given, add $600 million or so from North America and The Avengers is bound to make at least $1.4 billion worldwide before it leaves theaters. That will make it the 3rd highest grossing film of all time, not too shabby.

Dark Shadows was 2nd with $37.3 million from 42 countries, a decent start, although less then it was expected. Worldwide Dark Shadows sits at $66.3 million, a fraction of the $300 million it kind of needs in order to at least cover the $150 production budget. When all is said and done, I can see Dark Shadows with $250 million or more worldwide, so the situation won’t be as grim as it looks now for Warner Bros.

In 3rd place American Reunion gathered $14.6 million for an international total of $143.4 million. That means the 4th theatrical American Pie film has officially passed the $200 million mark worldwide, impressive considering it had quite a rough start. Now that the film has definitely recovered its budget (cost $50 million), maybe a sequel can happen at some point.

Battleship, opening on Friday in North America, was 4th with $11.1 million. So far the film has grossed $215.3 million and unless it can make close to $200 million in the US, Universal will lose money on it.

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Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s 8th collaboration, Dark Shadows, was no match for Earth’s mightiest heroes, The Avengers. As expected, Hulk and co. smashed some more records this past weekend, fastest film to $300 million in North America and best 2nd weekend being just a few of them.

So by know you might know that The Avengers broke the opening weekend record a good few days ago with $207.4 million. Well, after such a gigantic debut a big drop was to be expected, at least in the 60% range. Previously, out of the top 10 films with the biggest openings, The Dark Knight was the one with the smallest drop in its 2nd weekend, 52.5%. That number was exceptional and very few would have thought The Avengers could beat hat, well it did. The Joss Whedon directed superhero flick made no less than $103 million in its 2nd weekend in theaters, that’s a $50.3% drop, an absolute record for any film that ever opened above $120 million. In just 10 days The Avengers has accumulated $373 million in North America, another record. Right now this is the 18th highest grosser on the all time domestic chart and if it can keep up this pace, $600 million or more will definitely be within reach, and it may even give Titanic ($658.4 million) a run for its money, quite literally. Soon enough it will be time to finally address the elephant in the room (hint: it has to do with two other superhero flicks coming out later this summer).

Elephants aside, Dark Shadows was 2nd with a somewhat underwhelming $29.6 million debut. Lately Johnny Depp seems to not perform as well as he used to at the box office (The Rum Diary), obviously outside of the Pirates franchise, an animated flick that he voiced (Rango) and a cameo in a movie based on an 80′s TV show. This would actually be a decent opening weekend if not for the fact that Dark Shadows apparently cost $150 million to make. Having seen it (and enjoyed), I can’t possibly see where all that money went. With The Avengers rather large shadow and a slew of upcoming flicks over the upcoming weeks, Dark Shadows will have a hard time reaching the $100 million mark, so either the international market saves this, or it loses money.

Think Like a Man ended up in 3rd with $5.8 million for a total of $81.4 million. This surprising flick ended up as the only real standout of April at the box office.

The Hunger Games showed outstanding box office legs again, down just 19.4% for $4.5 million. Overall the film is now at $387 million and should finish very close to $400 million (maybe even pass that mark).

Rounding out the top 5 was The Lucky One with $4.1 million and a total of $53.7 million. This is now the 4th highest grossing Nicholas Sparks adaptation ever in North America.

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Sure, The Avengers make up a formidable team that can dispose of an alien race that’s trying to invade earth with relative ease, but their real superpower is definitely making money at the box office, lots and lots of money.

Today The Avengers crossed the $300 million mark after just 9 days in release, thus becoming the fastest film to reach that number, ever. Previously the record was chilling in the strong hands of fellow superhero flick The Dark Knight, which did it in 10 days.

After grossing $29.1 million on Friday in North America, The Avengers hit $299.1 million after 8 days. So the title of this post is a bit misleading since I have no idea how much money The Avengers made today (Saturday) but I seriously doubt it wasn’t able to bring in another $0.9 million.

Now I shall redirect your attention to the worldwide side of things where Marvel’s The Avengers entered the weekend with little over $800 million, quite a lot of green. By the time you read this, the film will already pass the $900 million mark and with a bit of chance, it could finish the weekend above $1 billion. Based on Friday numbers we know The Avengers will do about $100 million this weekend in North America, so there goes another record (biggest 2nd weekend) so it only needs about $100 million internationally, doable considering last weekend the film collected $157.4 million.

So what do you think, $1 billion by Sunday night, yes or no?

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It was another great weekend for The Avengers at the international box office where once again the film finished at #1. Actually, The Avengers made so much money so fast that it already ranks 42nd on the all time worldwide chart after just 13 days in release.

A week ago The Avengers scored the 9th biggest foreign opening weekend ever, today it continues to shine with one of the best 2nd weekends of all time. The flick collected $157.4 million from 52 markets, bringing its international gross to a 13-day total of $500.1 million (2nd ever for a superhero film), already more than any other Avengers film. At this rate the Joss Whedon directed flick should more than double Iron Man 2‘s international gross of $311.5 million in less than a week. Worldwide, thanks to a monstrous opening in North America, The Avengers has amassed $744.1 million, making it by far the highest grosser of 2012. Sometime next week the flick should either pass or come really close to the $1 billion mark. As far as its final number is concerned, The Avengers could finish anywhere between $1.2 and $1.3 billion, maybe even higher. Currently Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ranks 3rd all-time worldwide with $1.32 billion, The Avengers should aim for that number.

In 2nd American Reunion had its best weekend yet, $33.5 million, after strong debuts in the UK, France, Italy and Spain. The R-rated comedy has made $117.2 million so far internationally and it should end up with a series best when all will be said and done (right now American Pie 2 is the leader with $142.5 million). Worldwide American Reunion is at $172.6 million, more than three times its reported $50 million budget.

3rd place belongs to Battleship with $11 million for a $200.1 million total so far, ahead of its May 18th release date in North America. Seems like this Battleship is sinking faster than the RMS Titanic.

The Hunger Games finished the weekend in 4th with $6.4 million, bringing its international total to $237 million while worldwide the film has $618 million and ranks 2nd in 2012 so far.

Rounding out the top 5 is The Lucky One with $5.4 million. Internationally the film has made $17.9 million, worldwide the number is $66.7 million. As far as Nicholas Sparks adaptations go, this ranks on the low end currently. We shall see if that will change in the coming months when the film opens in more countries.

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As The Avengers speeds towards $1 billion worldwide (and beyond) it is no surprise at all to hear that Disney CEO Bob Iger has put a sequel into development. Don’t expect it any time soon though, as we still have Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 to get through first.

The earliest we can probably expect to see the sequel is 2015, a year after the Captain America sequel hits. Those who stayed behind during the credits will have an idea of where the next film is headed, and Joss Whedon has an option in his contract to return so i’m sure everyone at Disney and Marvel will want that to happen.

I’m just glad we’ll get to see Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk on the big screen again.

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