Davy Jones, meet Battleship.
OK, so Universal Pictures’ titanic new release didn’t exactly burble to the box office’s briny depths this weekend: It only felt like it. Battleship fished an estimated $25.3 million from weekend moviegoers and floated to a second-place finish—far, far behind Marvel’s The Avengers. Even though Battleship’s already made more than $200 million overseas, I expect the movie’s domestic take is giving Universal’s execs a (ahem) sinking feeling.
The Avengers, meanwhile, keeps cruising along like a flying aircraft carrier. The superhero flick earned another $55.1 million to easily win the box office belt for the third weekend in a row. To put the win in perspective, consider this: If the week’s three big new releases (Battleship, The Dictator, What to Expect When You’re Expecting) actually pooled their grosses into one big pot, their collective take of $53.2 million still wouldn’t top Marvel’s powerful collection of do-gooders.
A quick record check: The Avengers is now the year’s highest-grossing film with $457.1 million. That puts it, incidentally, at No. 6 on the all-time domestic gross list, just about $4 million shy of Star Wars (though if you adjust for inflation, Luke, Leia and Han are still a hyperspace leap away from Hulk, Thor and Cap). Worldwide, The Avengers are now fourth with $1.2 billion dollars—in shouting distance of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Elsewhere, Sacha Baron Cohen’s R-rated farce The Dictator waterboarded its way to $17.4 million and a third-place finish, comfortably ahead of holdover Dark Shadows (No. 4 with $12.8 million). What to Expect When You’re Expecting rounded out the Top 5 with a $10.5 million weekend.
Can The Avengers make it four in a row? I kinda doubt it. The movie should still pocket around $25-30 million, probably not enough to take down Will Smith and MIB 3. But as The Avengers proved to Loki, you can’t count these Marvel-ous misfits out.
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