LOS ANGELES (AP) - Disney's "The Avengers" will continue its global supremacy and could post the first $100 million-plus second-weekend gross in domestic box office history, besting previous record-holders "Avatar" at $75.6 million and "The Dark Knight" at $75.2 million.
Averaging $15 million per-day mid-week in North America and close to $30 million internationally, "The Avengers" has the potential of grossing more than $400 million at home and an astounding $1 billion worldwide by Sunday night.
Warner Bros.' debuting "Dark Shadows," starring Johnny Depp and directed by long-time collaborator Tim Burton, will be long in "The Avengers'" own dark shadow this weekend with an expected domestic gross of around $35 million. Drawing only mediocre response from critics, the riff on the cultish 1960s TV soap opera also stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter.
"Think Like a Man," Sony's ensemble adaptation of Steve Harvey's bestselling dating book, will continue to attract attention in its fourth weekend at around $5 million, pushing its overall total into the $80 million range. Not bad for a movie that only cost $12 million to make.
Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games," Warner Bros.' "The Lucky One" and Sony's "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" will all earn in the $2 million to $4 million range, rounding out the rest of the weekend's top five.
Paul Dergarabedian is president of the Box Office Division of Hollywood.com and provides box office analysis for The Associated Press.
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