'Avengers' dominates the box office, with a second nine-digit weekend

Dropping exactly by half, The Avengers led the pack for the second weekend in a row with an astounding $103.1 million. The super-superhero picture beat The Dark Knight for the second-week hold record for films that opened about $120 million. Returns from overseas brought The Avengers' worldwide total above $1 billion. As if there wasn't enough champagne popping already, this marks Disney's fifth billion-dollar movie. No other studio has cracked the billion-dollar mark more than twice. Disney's $4 billion purchase of Marvel in 2009 isn't looking so outlandish now, is it? Plus, new Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man films are already on Disney's schedule, and I have a feeling a decade from now audiences will be watching The Avengers 3.

In second place, Dark Shadows underperformed to finish with $28.8 million. Most expected the gothic comedy would earn in the $30 million range, so it's possible the Tim Burton-directed film was hurt by the overwhelming success of The Avengers. Also, the adaptation of a '60s soap opera, a cult hit, may have resonated most with niche audiences--more like Burton's Sweeney Todd (which opened to just $9 million) than his crowd-pleasing, family-oriented Alice in Wonderland (one of Disney's $1 billion+ films). The second week in May is also considered a less-than-ideal time to open a film, yet another reason for Dark Shadows' lackluster weekend.

Think Like a Man, The Hunger Games and The Lucky One, which comprised the rest of the top five, all dropped under 25% while earning between $4-6 million, picking up the rest of the non-Avengers crowd.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel cracked the top ten with $2.6 million while playing in just 178 locations, enough to dub the film an indie success.

Lionsgate/Pantelion's Hispanic and Mother's Day-targeted Girl in Progress landed in tenth place with $1.6 million. With just over 300 locations, the coming-of-age picture had a strong per-screen average of $4,000. This is the kind of middle-of-the-road movie that could die out next week or have strong hold through word-of-mouth--but with a B+ CinemaScore, it doesn't sound like audiences are giving it a strong endorsement.

The Weinstein Co. decided to give its Oscar-winner, The Artist, one final push timed to Mother's Day. Moving from 41 to 751 theatres, it earned $161,000, its best weekend in a month. The per-screen average of $214, however, was the worst of all movies reported at Boxofficemojo.com.

On Wednesday, Sacha Baron Cohen plays a ridiculously awful leader in The Dictator. Friday brings aliens 'n big boats picture Battleship, which will go against the comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting.