Up, up and away: "The Avengers" has earned more than $1 billion at the global box office, beating records set by "Avatar" and "The Dark Knight". Source: The Daily Telegraph
"THE Avengers" is taking a page out of Superman's comic book - flying faster than a speeding bullet to the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
The superhero blockbuster took in $US103.2 million ($102.9 million) at the US box office to lead for a second-straight weekend, raising its US total to $US373.2 million, according to studio estimates overnight.
With $US95.4 million more overseas, "The Avengers" lifted its international receipts to $US628.9 million and a worldwide haul of just over $US1 billion, only 19 days after it began rolling out in some markets.
"You never think that it can happen this quickly," said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney, whose Marvel Studios unit produced the ensemble film after a long build-up in its solo superhero outings.
"You hope you can get to this day, and the fact that it is happening this early is a testament to a lot of work that went in on the Marvel side over the last six years to get us to a place where people wanted to see the Avengers assemble."
"The Avengers" easily fended off Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's vampire romp "Dark Shadows", which had a so-so start of $US28.8 million in the US to finish a distant No.2.
That's far below such past Depp-Burton collaborations as "Alice in Wonderland", which opened with $US116.1 million, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", which debuted with $US56.2 million.
"The Avengers" was the first movie ever to pull in more than $US100 million in its second weekend in the US, passing the previous best of $US75.6 million for "Avatar". The film also topped $US300 million in the US on Saturday after just nine days in release, beating the previous record set by "The Dark Knight", which hit that mark in 10 days.
Already the year's biggest hit worldwide, "The Avengers" is on the verge of passing "The Hunger Games" at $US386.9 million to become the top-grossing film in the US for 2012.
Revenue for "The Avengers" was off just 50 per cent from the film's US debut of $US207.4 million the previous weekend, a remarkable hold given how big it started.
A round-up of such Marvel idols as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), "The Avengers" has shot past the revenues that its solo superhero predecessors took in for their entire runs. The best of those in the US was "Iron Man" with $US318.4 million.
"There has been a surprise around every corner with this picture in terms of how high is high and how big is big," Disney's Mr Hollis said.
Inspired by the supernatural soap opera that debuted on TV in the mid-1960s, "Dark Shadows" stars Depp as an 18th century vampire who is freed after two centuries of burial and returns to his ancestral homestead in the 1970s, aiming to rebuild the family fortunes.
The TV show has only a cult following, so the Warner Bros. update relied on the lure of a reunion between frequent collaborators Depp and Burton taking on another otherworldly tale. But "Dark Shadows" left both critics and audiences cold, failing to make much of a dent in the intense appeal of "The Avengers".
"Certainly, more is better, but it was a busy weekend, especially with 'Avengers' doing $US100 million in its second weekend," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros. "The box office can only expand so much, and that was a hard one to anticipate. Those numbers are staggering."
Fox Searchlight's crowd-pleaser "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" broke into the top-10 in its second weekend as it expanded from a handful of cinemas to 178 theatres. The film took in $US2.7 million to finish at No.8.
"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" features Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson in a tale of older Brits looking to retire to a cosy life in India.
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