Friday Report: The Avengers grosses $29.124 million on Friday, Dark Shadows underperforms

With $29.124 million in the bank on Friday, The Avengers is on track to dethrone Avatar's record of biggest-second weekend gross of $75.6 million. Obliterating the $200 million barrier in only 3 days , The Avengers is going to break another barrier and garner a smashing $102.8 million over its second weekend, making it the first and only movie to earn that much. By Sunday, the superhero ensemble movie would have broken another 2 records, namely fastest film to $300 million and fastest film to $350 million accomplishing each in a mere 8(9*) days and 10 days respectively.

The Avengers' $29.124 million Friday compares well to other superhero movies and big-box office hits. In 2008, The Dark Knight grossed $23.3 million on its second Friday, but those numbers weren't boosted by 3D premiums. The movie's second Friday is even 26% more than that of Avatar(3D) which ultimately grossed $750 million in North America. The superhero tentpole's 8-day cume is 14% ahead of The Dark Knight's $261.8 million, and 70% ahead of Iron Man 2's $159.2 million

Look for the The Avengers to stay at #1 spot again with $102.8 million which that by itself stands as the 18th highest-opening weekend.

Internationally, the Avengers has pulled in decent numbers on Friday with $21 million, placing its international haul at $555.2 million. As of now, the worldwide revenue is $854.3 million. The Avengers has already become the highest-grossing superhero title of all time internationally.

Final Domestic Forecast: $579.3 million
Final Worldwide Forecast: $1.34 billion

*As Friday's gross is an estimate, there is room for error so a higher/lower Friday gross is possible. Actual grosses will be revealed on Monday.