‘Avengers’ muscles rivals aside to continue box office dominance

Image: Marvel via AFP Relaxnews

“Avengers: Infinity War” flexed its considerable muscle anew this weekend in North American theaters, pulling in a robust $112.5 million and leaving other top films in its dust, according to industry estimates.

The three-day take by the Disney/Marvel superhero epic gave it the second-highest second weekend of all time, behind only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Only five movies have hit the $100 million mark in their second weekends, according to Variety.com.

“Avengers” sees a veritable army of superheroes — including Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.) and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) —joining forces to save the universe from powerful purple alien Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Globally, “Avengers” has hit the $1 billion mark in just 11 days, the fastest ever, and it has yet to open in China.

But with its enormous success, “Avengers” has left little oxygen for its competitors. The second-highest North American grosser, new rom-com “Overboard”, trailed in its distant wake at just $14.8 million. Anna Faris and Eugenio Derbez star in the Lionsgate remake of a 1987 movie about a struggling single mother who persuades a rich playboy with amnesia that they are married.

In third spot was Paramount’s sci-fi horror film “A Quiet Place”, at $7.6 million. The near-wordless production stars actor-director John Krasinski and his real-life wife Emily Blunt as a couple silently struggling to protect their family from blind aliens that track their prey by sound.

STX Films’ comedy “I Feel Pretty”, starring Amy Schumer as a self-conscious woman who suffers a head injury and then sees herself as ravishingly beautiful, was fourth at $4.9 million.

And in fifth was “Rampage”, from Warner Bros., at $4.6 million. The film follows Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a primatologist who befriends an albino gorilla, which grows to enormous size after a rogue experiment before teaming up with Johnson against invading monsters.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Tully” ($3.2 million)

“Black Panther” ($3.1 million)

“Truth or Dare” ($1.9 million)

“Super Troopers 2” ($1.8 million)

“Bad Samaritan” ($1.8 million)
JB

RELATED STORIES:

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ to set record, fastest to surpass $1 billion

Roman Polanski’s film academy expulsion, 40 years in the making