LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - 'The Avengers,' the smash hit movie about Marvel superheroes who team up to save the Earth, crushed competitors for a second weekend with a record $103.2 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales and was poised to top $1 billion worldwide, studio estimates showed on Sunday.
After posting the highest domestic box office debut in history last weekend, 'Avengers' set another record by easily topping the $75.6 million 'Avatar' pulled in during its second weekend in 2009, making 'Avengers' the first movie to exceed $100 million in its second weekend.
'Avengers' has now racked up a staggering $628.9 million internationally since opening overseas on April 25, distributor Walt Disney Co said, positioning it to break the $1 billion threshold after just 19 days.
The big-budget 3D flick - the first of Hollywood's lucrative summer season - unites Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America and other Marvel comic book heroes in a fight against a villain determined to destroy the planet. Disney announced this week it is planning an 'Avengers' sequel.
The movie racked up $207.4 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters over its opening weekend, helping improve the performance of the studio, which earlier stumbled at box offices with its big-budget release 'John Carter.'
'Avengers' mania overwhelmed new horror comedy 'Dark Shadows,' according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters. 'Dark Shadows' pulled in an estimated $28.8 million from Friday through Sunday at domestic theaters.
The latest collaboration between actor Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton, 'Dark Shadows' is based on a TV soap opera that ran from 1966 to 1971 about vampires, werewolves and witches who live in a ghostly manor house in the countryside.
In the film, Depp plays a vampire who returns to his ancestral home to help protect his dysfunctional descendants. Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter also star.
In third place, romantic comedy 'Think Like a Man' grossed $6.3 million during its fourth weekend in theaters.
Teen survival drama 'The Hunger Games,' the year's biggest movie before 'Avengers' came on the scene, finished the weekend in fourth place with $4.4 million.
Fifth place belonged to love story 'The Lucky One,' which took in $4 million, with animated family film 'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' coming in sixth at $3.2 million.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, released 'Dark Shadows' and 'The Lucky One.' 'Think Like a Man' and 'Pirates' were distributed by Sony Corp's Sony Pictures studio. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp released 'Hunger Games.'
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Chris Michaud; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Eric Beech)
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