Box Office Preview: Avengers to put Depp in shadow

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney's "The Avengers" will continue its global supremacy and could post the first $100 million-plus second-weekend gross in domestic box office history, besting previous record-holders "Avatar" at $75.6 million and "The Dark Knight" at $75.2 million.

Photos: Top 10 comic book movies

Averaging $15 million per-day mid-week in North America and close to $30 million internationally, "The Avengers" has the potential of grossing more than $400 million at home and an astounding $1 billion worldwide by Sunday night.

Photos: Billion dollar box office hits

Warner Bros.' debuting "Dark Shadows," starring Johnny Depp and directed by long-time collaborator Tim Burton, will be long in "The Avengers'" own dark shadow this weekend with an expected domestic gross of around $35 million. Drawing only mediocre response from critics, the riff on the cultish 1960s TV soap opera also stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter.

"Think Like a Man," Sony's ensemble adaptation of Steve Harvey's bestselling dating book, will continue to attract attention in its fourth weekend at around $5 million, pushing its overall total into the $80 million range. Not bad for a movie that only cost $12 million to make.

Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games," Warner Bros.' "The Lucky One" and Sony's "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" will all earn in the $2 million to $4 million range, rounding out the rest of the weekend's top five.

___

Paul Dergarabedian is president of the Box Office Division of Hollywood.com and provides box office analysis for The Associated Press.

___

Online: www.Hollywood.com