May 20, 2012 by Vinnie Leduc
After another record-breaking draw its sophomore weekend, The Avengers had no problem becoming the second film of the year to three-peat at the domestic office. The challengers this weekend were a trio of newcomers, two of them honorable mentions on our list of most anticipated movies of 2012. None of them got close and together they barely grossed more money combined than what Marvel’s critical and commercial superhero hit made in its third weekend. The Avengers is also moving up the all-time domestic list, where it’s currently in 6th place right behind Star Wars Episodes I and IV, which it will pass later this week.
Battleship‘s maiden voyage couldn’t even manage half of what The Avengers pulled in this weekend and had to settle for an underwhelming second place. Like the previous big-budget Taylor Kitsch sci-fi vehicle John Carter, Hasbro’s board game-inspired destruction-fest appears en route to the same disastrous destination: flop city. Despite a summer release date, Battleship couldn’t even match the debut of spring’s John Carter, which lost studio Disney $200 million. In fact, Battleship‘s opening was the lowest amount ever for a movie budgeted at over $200 million.
The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen’s new character and comedy, opened a couple days earlier last Wednesday and secured third place over holdover Dark Shadows and fellow newcomer What to Expect While You’re Expecting. The Hunger Games, the only other movie this year so far to three-peat (and eventually four-peat) finally fell out of the top five since its release two months ago.
Here were the top five via BOM:
- The Avengers — Weekend Gross: $55.1 million — Total Gross: $457.1 million (#1 last week)
- Battleship — Weekend Gross: $25.3 million — Total Gross: $25.3 million (new)
- The Dictator — Weekend Gross: $17.4 million — Total Gross: $24.5 million (new)
- Dark Shadows — Weekend Gross: $12.8 million — Total Gross: $50.9 million (#2 last week)
- What To Expect When You’re Expecting — Weekend Gross: $10.5 million — Total Gross: $10.5 million (new)
