It’s almost like all the other films should have run with the slogan, “We are the 99%!” this weekend as The Avengers is pulling all the wealth its way. Whether or not it ends up holding the second weekend record is no longer a question as Avatar‘s $75.6 million record will look puny compared to the Hulk-sized result Avengers will enjoy, be it anywhere from $90-100 million after an estimated $29 million on Friday.
What’s becoming interesting now is just how quickly will The Avengers hit $1 billion worldwide? It could happen anywhere from this Sunday to mid-week next week. How high can it go? How long will people continue to watch? The one thing Avatar had going for it was its late year release, which meant it was able to stay in more theaters during the dumping ground season of the early part of the following year, Avengers won’t have the same luck as it kicked off the summer movie season and will soon need to give way to other films demanding 4,000+ screens. Either way, it’s a massive hit and will now have everyone looking at The Dark Knight Rises to see how well it can do.
In second is Tim Burton‘s latest collaboration with Johnny Depp, Dark Shadows, which was expected to make anywhere from $30-40 million and it’s right on track to do so with an estimated $10.5 million on Friday. Though, it is looking at the low end of that number and it would be a major upset if it couldn’t even manage $30 million after tracking all week had it up around $40m.
The only other newcomer in the top ten is the new Eva Mendes feature Girl in Progress, which Lionsgate rolled into 322 theaters and has managed $409,000 so far and will look at a weekend around $1.3 million.
The Friday top ten is listed below and I will be back tomorrow morning for a complete weekend wrap-up.
- Marvel’s The Avenger – $29 million
- Dark Shadows – $10.5 million
- Think Like a Man – $1.5 million
- The Lucky One – $1.28 million
- The Hunger Games – $1.2 million
- The Five-Year Engagement – $951,000
- Pirates! Band of Misfits – $740,000
- Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – $665,000
- Girl In Progress – $409,000
- The Raven – $401,000
