'Avengers' Tacks On Another $55 Million

By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Avengers continued as a box-office bonanza.

The superheroes thriller finished in first place for a third straight weekend, earning another $55 million, bringing its cumulative total over the $450 million mark.

That put the blockbuster well ahead of all three of the weekend's new mainstream attractions.

The new military science-fiction thriller, Battleship, was the runner-up with a debut total of $25 million.

The debuting Sacha Baron Cohen comedy, The Dictator, was third with $17 million.

The holdover Dark Shadows took fourth with $13 million.

And the new childbirth comedy, What to Expect When You're Expecting, claimed fifth place with $11 million.

Overall, despite The Avengers' march through the record books, industry-wide totals were slightly below those of a year ago.