Weekend Box Office: 'Battleship' Sinks, 'The Avengers' #4 of All Time

You would think, considering the success of "Transformers," that a movie from the same studio and the same toy company would produce similar results at the box office. But Universal forgot something: battleships aren't Transformers.

"Battleship" was supposed to be the big opener of the weekend, and Universal certainly had a lot riding on it: the movie supposed cost just over $200 million to make. That's a mighty big gamble, considering this isn't a sequel, remake, or even true adaptation, unless you count the fact that it's based on a board game.

So, "Battleship" only brought in about $25.3 million, where it was expected to earn upwards of $40 mil its first weekend. That's obviously a disappointment considering the budget, and could mean that other movies based on board games (like "Monopoly," which was already dropped by Universal) might not make it through development.

"Battleship" took second place, because (of course) "The Avengers" is still king of the box office. The movie took another drop of about 50%, but that still puts it at $55.1 million for its third weekend. The domestic cume for "Avengers" now stands at $457.1 million, and the global cume is at a staggering $1.18 billion over three weeks, making "The Avengers" the #4 movie of all time in box office grosses.

"The Dictator" placed third, partly because of its early Wednesday release. The five-day total for the movie was $24.5 million, with $17.4 mil of that over the weekend. Apparently conservative states have tired of Cohen after his "Borat" and "Bruno" antics, as the movie was largely ignored by middle America. However, the movie is doing fairly well overseas with $30 million thus far, not a surprise considering Cohen's nationality and the subject matter of the film.

In fourth place was "Dark Shadows," which earned only another $12.8 million in its second weekend for a cume of $50.9 million. That means it just beat out "What to Expect When You're Expecting," which debuted to a small $10.5 million.

1. "The Avengers" - $55.1 million ($457.1M)
2. "Battleship" - $25.3 million
3. "The Dictator" - $17.4 million ($24.5M)
4. "Dark Shadows" - $12.8 million ($50.9M)
5. "What to Expect When You're Expecting" - $10.5 million