Avengers smashes US box office records
Superhero epic The Avengers has topped the US box office with an astonishing £$207.4m opening weekend.
The Joss Whedon film powered past the previous opening weekend record of $169.2m (held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2) to top the US chart in its first weekend on Stateside release.
The Marvel blockbuster has now taken an incredible $641.8m in just a week and a half on worldwide release, and distributor Disney will be confident its eventual earnings will pass the $1bn mark.
The Top 10 films at the US box office are (last week's position in brackets):
1 The Avengers - $207.4m (-)
2 Think Like a Man - $8.1m (1)
3 The Hunger Games - $5.6m (3)
4 The Pirates! Band of Misfits - $5.5m (5)
5 The Lucky One - $5.4m (4)
6 The Five-Year Engagement - $5m (5)
7 Safe - $2.7m (6)
8 The Raven - $2.6m (7)
9 Chimpanzee - $2.5m (8)
10 The Three Stooges - $1.8m (9)
