... and that's all Nikki Finke has to report. However, I don't think Burton's fans do midnight screenings. To counteract that, I don't know if Burton has many fans left after his last batch of misfires.

Boxofficemojo has the weekend projected with:
1. The Avengers - $95.4 million (-54%)
2. Dark Shadows - $33.3 million

The Numbers has the weekend projected with:
1. The Avengers - $100 million over/under
2. Dark Shadows - $30 - $40 million

It'll be interesting to see how this weekend progresses based upon last weekend. The Avengers' estimates were way off all weekend and it was the rare time a film rakes in a lot more cash than the studio estimates it doing so. The better question: does it $400 million within its second full week of release?

The Avengers proved people are hungry for good movies. Seeing as how Dark Shadows doesn't fit that bill, I think $100m is feasible, and clearing $400m by this time next week is a possibility. Hell, I could see it beating the OW of Battleship, too. Not much buzz on that one from what I can tell.

I notice that my local theaters are running Dark Shadows screenings within five to ten minutes of Avengers. I wonder if WB is hoping to get some of the "spillover" from sold out Avengers showings? You know, where people make a trip to the theater wanting to see one thing, it sells out, so they go see something that's starting within the same time frame.

That's an interesting point, can the studios suggest/enforce showtimes?

I know they usually can suggest/enforce how many screens a film is on. However, I don't know about screen size, capacity or showtimes.

Anyone care to give us the low down, dirty details?

Seems like something the theater chain would do on it's own anyway.

yeah. It seems like an in-house type of thing. I don't think the studios do anything on that.

The timing seems odd for the Dark Shadows release. I think it would be a better late September/October opening. Of course, I also think it would have been better to bring it back as a TV series at somewhere like HBO (after True Blood ends its run of course).

It might've helped if they had run ads earlier, a whole bunch earlier. Didn't they put out a trailer only like a month and a half ago? They must've really had confidence in the Depp/Burton combo after Alice in Wonderland.

P.S.-Oh and also they should've not fucked with The Avengers either.

Dark Shadows midnight showings on 1600 screens last night brought in a whopping $500,000.

The Avenger effect, no one is going to go watch Dark Shadows.

This time next week? If avengers has a $100 million weekend, it should break $400 million by Tuesday.

I think The Avengers will be #1 until Men in Black 3 arrives. I think Battleship, at best, will have something like a $35-$40 million opening. I think Avengers will earn above that in weekend 3. But MIB 3 will likely have enough to get in the $60 million range, especially with the 3D surcharge.

Burton and Elfman need to both take a 10 year sabbatical. Hell Depp is reaching that territory as well.

i'd rather watch Avengers for a third time than see Dark Shadows

Ok, so would the theater possibly be doing it so the people select DS as their second option if Avengers sells out and they still get concession revenue?

Who exactly IS the audience for DARK SHADOWS? Other than the few fans of the TV series? It's certainly not a kids' film, and teens have no idea what DARK SHADOWS is. Johnny Depp alone isn't always a draw...remember The Tourist?

Still it IS summer movie season, so I think those $30 million predictions are spot-on. If it makes less than $25 million, maybe - just maybe - studios will be less anxious to give those Burton/Depp colaborations a greenlight in the future.

If it's like their recent ouput, that's a good thing. They seem to be doing stuff more for self amusement than entertaining an audience. I will also say that I think this movie would have fared better to be a Halloween release; that would have probably given it a much larger opening weekend.

Deadline has Avengers at $80+m for the weekend. Doesn't mean much, but I still think high 70s, low 80s.

Avengers took in $12.3 million Thursday. US total now $270 million, new 7-day record (beating TDK's $238 mil). Worldwide is now $803.3 million.

Avengers $112 million. Bank on it!

I wonder if it breaks $1B this weekend worldwide. Does it open in any markets?

Next big market is Japan... in Aug.

Noddy Holder

whoa..why August?