Box Office Report: <em>Avengers</em> Sinks <em>Battleship</em>

Led by the debut of big-budget board game adaptation Battleship, three new nationwide releases tried and failed to unseat The Avengers this weekend. In fact, the blockbuster superhero team-up earned about as much in its third weekend as all three new releases combined, the latest sign that the movie is a true box office phenomenon.

Marvel’s The Avengers brought in $55.1 million, which is the second-best third weekend on record behind Avatar ($68.5 million). So far, The Avengers has earned an incredible $457.1 million, and it currently ranks sixth on the all-time domestic chart. In the next day or two, it will pass Star Wars to move in to the Top Five, and by the end of May the movie could pass The Dark Knight to take third place all-time.

Universal’s Battleship opened in second place with a meager $25.3 million.

The Dictator, from Paramount, took third with $17.4 million, bringing the comedy's five-day total to $24.5 million.

In fourth place, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's vampire soap opera revival Dark Shadows brought in $12.8 million in its second weekend, for a total of $50.9 million.

While Battleship was the more obvious bomb thanks to its enormous budget, Lionsgate’s ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting didn't exactly have a successful delivery either, bringing in $10.5 million on its first weekend out.

At number six, Fox Searchlight’s geriatric comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel brought in $3.3 million on its third weekend out for a total of $8.2 million.

Lionsgate's blockbuster The Hunger Games held on in seventh place in its ninth week out, earning $3 million for a total of $ 391.6 million.

Ensemble comedy Think Like a Man, adapted from Steve Harvey's best-selling advice book Act Like a Lady, held eighth place on the box office charts, earning $2.7 million for a total of $85.9 million.

In ninth place, the Warner Bros. film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' The Lucky One, starring Zac Efron, earned $1.8 million for a total of $56.9 million.

Rounding out the list at number 10, the stop-motion animated The Pirates! Band of Misfits, from Sony and Aardman, brought in 1.5 million on its fourth week at the box office for a total of $25.4 million.

Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com [1].