The Avengers once again smashed allcomers at the US box office, taking another $55 million over the weekend to take its total to an incredibly impressive $457 million. It believed that its continued success at attracting repeat business is one of the reasons Universal’s Battleship opened to a disappointing $25 million, well below the $35-$40 million that had been expected.

It’s a big blow to the film, which may have made $200 million outside the US, but is unlikely to break $100 million in America, ensuring the film will make a loss. So while Universal was hoping for a Transformers style franchise, that’s no longer likely to happen.

It wasn’t the only film that underplayed as The Dictator took $17 million over the weekend for a total of $25 million since it opened last Wednesday. Thankfully though, it took $45 million overseas in the terriories it opened in, ensuring that while the US has been weak, it should make a profit worldwide.

Even a film designed to attract a very different audience to the male dominated summer blockbusters failed to attract an audience, with What To Expect When You’re Expecting taking just $10.5 million. Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of May 18th-20th.

After its record-breaking $207 million opening in the US last week, The Avengers isn’t done with setting firsts, as it’s become the first movie to ever make $100 at the North American box office in its second weekend, taking $103 million. On the way to that it became the fastest film ever to reach $300 and $350 million.

The film had plenty to cheer worldwide too, and globally its take now stands at $1.03, equalling Avatar and Harry 8′s record of getting there in only 17 days, an achievement made more impressive by the fact those film opened pretty much everywhere on the same day, while Avengers didn’t reach the US until a week and a half after its first openings in some other countries.

While Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows had been expected to open in the $35 million range, it ended up disappointing with only $25 million. It’s a lot softer than Warner Bros. would have been hoping and won’t be helped by relatively poor word of mouth over the coming weeks.

The only other new entry in the top 10 was the Eva Mendes comedy-drama Girl In Progress, which took $1.35 million to place 10th on the chart. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel also made its first appearance in the top 10, after expanding onto more screens following its limited opening last week. The movie took $2.6 million to place eighth.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of May 11th-13th.

This weekend exactly 10 years ago, an adaptation of a Marvel comic became the very first movie to make $100 million is a single weekend. That film was Spider-man and now, a decade on, another Marvel property has become the first movie to power past $200 million in only three days in the US, smashing numerous records in the process.

The film took $200.3 million on its US release, which is by far the biggest opening ever, ahead of last year’s Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2′s $169 million. It became the fastest film to $100 million, $150 million and $200 million, took the biggest Saturday ($69.7 million) and Sunday ($50.1 milion) gross ever and had the highest per-theatre average ever for a nationwide release of $46,057.

Perhaps just as impressively its already beaten the lifetime US take of Thor, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk, and will almost certainly pass both Iron Man films by next weekend. It’s a massive vindication of Marvel’s plan to make a series of interconnected movies and will ensure we see many more movies featuring the characters in the future.

The only bad news what that The Avengers dominance meant all the other movies in the top 10 took a big hit, but cinema owners are unlikely to be complaining, and will hope this is only the beginning of a huge summer. Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of May 4th-6th 2012.

After surprising many with its strong $30 million plus opening last week, Think Like A Man has continued its successful run at the US box office topping the chart for a second week with $18 million. It beat out quite a few new movies, none of which found a particularly big audience.

The Pirates! Band Of Misfits did best of the new entries, placing second with $11.4 million, which was about in line with expectations. And yes, it is the same film as The Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists, but got a bit of a title change as US marketing people thought the word ‘scientists’ would turn kids off.

The Five-Year Engagement landed with a bit of a thud, underperforming with only $11.1 million. Going in to the weekend, some analysts thought the Jason Segel and Emily Blunt rom-com had a chance of topping the chart, but it appear audiences weren’t interested, perhaps because there are already several other movies hoovering up the female audience at the moment.

It did however beat out the Jason Statham film Safe, which placed sixth on the chart with $7.7 million, as well as The Raven, which came seventh on the chart with $7.2 million.

Next weekend it’ll be all change as The Avengers will hit the US this week, with many expecting a $150 million plus opening weekend. The movie is already making waves outside the US, making a huge $178 million even though it only opened in around 75% of territories. In the UK, the film pulled in a rather stellar $15 million, one of the best openings ever and the best for a superhero movie.

Hollywood has never quite gotten to grips with the African American audience, so that every time a film with a largely black cast does well, it’s treated as a massive surprise. That’s certainly the case with Think Like A Man, which was barely on most people’s radar but scored a huge $33 million opening to top the box office chart.

The film knocked the movie many had expected to top the chart, The Lucky One, into second spot with $22 million. It’s certainly not a bad start for a romantic drama and marks a rare weekend when two female-focussed movies have opened strong against one another.

Disneynature’s Chimpanzee opened in fourth spot with $10.3 million, which is the biggest opening ever for a nature documentary. Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of April 20th-22nd.