The Weekend Box Office: ‘Avengers’ On Top for Third Week, ‘Battleship’ Sinks

by Chris Quibol | May 22, 2012 | 1 comment

For the third straight week, Marvel’s The Avengers takes the top spot in this past weekend’s box office results, besting three highly touted new releases fairly easily. The Avengers currently ranks sixth all-time on the domestic box office charts. Making its debut in a distant second place this past weekend was the Hasbro board game based Battleship, followed by Sasha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator, which made its debut last Wednesday. Romantic comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting finished in fifth place on its first weekend.

Hit the jump for a full rundown of this week’s box office results.

The Avengers dropped 46 percent from last week with $55.6 million, which was still strong enough for first place this weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, The Avengers passed $450 million domestically, which, in only 17 days, is the fastest film ever to reach that milestone. Assuming the film stays strong for the next couple of weeks; The Avengers should pass The Dark Knight for third-place all time.

Battleship debuted at second place this weekend with a respectable $25.5 million; however, the film’s huge $209 million budget means it has undoubtedly been a disappointment for Universal. The film has had a fair amount of worldwide success, making over $215 million worldwide since its release. Still, with a disappointing start at the US box office, things are looking good for Battleship.

In third place was The Dictator from Sasha Baron Cohen with $17.4 million. This total is far less than Baron Cohen’s previous films (Borat debuted with $26.5 million, Bruno with $30.6 million). In fourth place was Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, which fell 58 percent with $12.6 million in its second week. Another slight disappointment was ensemble comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting, which finished in fifth place with $10.5 million. While the film didn’t have a huge budget, it has had a very strong marketing push, so the weak debut comes as a bit of a surprise.

After a weekend full of disappointing debuts and Avengers dominance, look for Sony Pictures Men in Black 3 to challenge for the top spot this weekend when it releases on May 26.

Domestic Box Office Top Five

  1. Marvel’s The Avengers ($55.6 million)
  2. Battleship ($25.5 million)
  3. The Dictator ($17.4 million)
  4. Dark Shadows ($12.5 million)
  5. What to Expect When You’re Expecting ($10.5 million)

Discuss:

Will you be seeing Men in Black 3?

[Via Box Office Mojo]