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.

The Avengers Second Weekend Projections (Updated)

With the Dark Shadows opening this week at an approximate 3,700 places, The Avengers should be drastically affected considering the fact that such films suffer a steep drop the following week. However, the superhero tentpole still has enough firepower in it to stay in the #1 seat with a predicted $90+ million. The Avengers should break the record of biggest-second weekend gross and surpass Avatar's $75.6 million over its second weekend.

Breaking records each day, The Avengers also boasts a powerful A+ Cinema Score and 96% on Flixer ratings. Not only is the word of mouth good among fans, but also among critics who are lauding Mark Ruffalo's depictive acting techniques. Standing as the 32nd highest-grossing film of all time in only 17 days with $803.3 million, the ensemble movie will most certainly pass the $1 billion dollar threshold. Currently, The Avengers accounts for 84% of daily sales portending a really good hold-up for this week.

Expect the Avengers to shatter everything again with a second-weekend gross of $105.8 million, a drop of 49.1%.

The Dark Shadows will suffer The Avengers' "smashing" power, and open to a decent $32 million.

The Avengers smashes opening records

The Avengers amassed  a staggering $200.3 million over its opening weekend, obliterating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2's previous record of $169.2 million by a large margin...