Battleship Torpedoed by The Avengers ‘ Third #1 Weekend

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

If you’re sick of all of our box office reporting on the mega-blockbuster Marvel’s The Avengers (Walt Disney Pictures) then you probably should stop going to see it so much, because it once again dominated the box office with another $ 55.1 million to take first place, defeating three new movies all which did disappointing business. The Avengers‘ domestic gross is estimated at $ 457.1 million after three weekends, putting it just behind Star Wars as the sixth-highest grossing movie of all time domestically.

Internationally, the film continues to keep pace with North America, as it added another $ 56 million in 54 territories to bring its international total to $ 723.3 million and its global cume to $ 1.180.4 billion, making it the fourth-highest release of all time behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($ 1.328 billion), Titanic ($ 2.183 billion) and Avatar ($ 2.782 billion).

Just to go over some of the records The Avengers has broken over the past few weeks. It set a new opening weekend record with $ 207 million, also becoming the fastest movie to achieve that amount, took the second weekend record as well, before becoming the fastest movie to reach $ 400 million domestically. Right now, it looks like it also might become the fastest movie to $ 500 million as it becomes only the fourth movie in history to cross that mark in North America. It’s also Walt Disney Pictures’ most successful movie to date, surpassing Toy Story 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

The only movie that seemed like a serious contender to take down The Avengers was Peter Berg’s Battleship (Universal), based on the Hasbro board game and starring Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard and pop singer Rihanna. Despite costing over $ 200 million, it opened with an abysmal $ 25.3 million in 3,690 theaters, averaging less than $ 7,000 per site. Internationally, the film has already grossed $ 226.8 million, having opened nearly a month ago and still playing in 63 territories.

Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen returned as The Dictator (Paramount), co-starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Anna Faris, which opened on Wednesday with roughly $ 4 million, then picked up business over the weekend, earning $ 5.7 million on Friday and an estimated $ 17.4 million in 3,008 locations for third place. Its five-day gross is roughly $ 24.4 million.

Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows (Warner Bros.), starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green, dropped to fourth place with $ 12.8 million and $ 50.9 million total in ten days.

Despite being based on a huge best-selling maternity help book, the ensemble comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting (Lionsgate), starring Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock and others, tanked this weekend with just $ 10.5 million in 3,021 theaters, averaging less than $ 3,500 per site, and settling for a fifth place opening.

The John Madden ensemble comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight), starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, and Maggie Smith, continued to fare fantastically in limited release, moving up to sixth place with $ 3.2 million as it expanded into roughly 350 theaters, bringing its current take to $ 8.2 million.

Lionsgate’s far more successful ensemble movie The Hunger Games added another $ 3 million this weekend for seventh place, bringing its total to an estimated $ 391.6 million. It’s currently the 14th-highest grossing movie of all time domestically and is well on its way to get into the $ 400 million club.

An ensemble comedy that actually hit with audiences, Think Like a Man (Sony/Screen Gems) took in another $ 2.7 million to take eighth place and an astounding $ 86 million since opening last month.

Despite the success of The Avengers, the box office was down roughly 15% this weekend from last year when Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opened at #1 with $ 90 million.

Tanya Wexler’s unconventional period comedy Hysteria (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Felicity Jones, platformed in five theaters in New York and L.A. to the tune of $ 41 thousand.

Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.