Prepare for many, many headlines making terrible puns about sinking, as this weekend's new releases couldn't manage to compete with Marvel and Disney's superhero team-up.  The Avengers continues to dominate the domestic box office, according to the estimated grosses, while wide releases Battleship, The Dictator, and What to Expect When You're Expecting all basically had to settle for also-ran status.

How do you know it's summer?  When an event movie debuts to positively absurd fanfare and astonishes everyone by making a phenomenal amount of money in its debut.  Last year we knew that summer started a bit earlier than usual when Fast Five closed out April by ranking at number 30 on the all-time domestic chart.  Everybody knew that The Avengers would announce the start of summer, but few imagined that Marvel's showpiece would become the biggest domestic opener ever released.

For the second consecutive weekend, Think Like a Man ended up the number one movie in America, again surpassing all expectations and defying projections that had the film dropping down at least a spot or two, considering competition from four new releases.  But the ensemble relationship comedy stayed on top over a weekend notable principally for being a quiet one, commercially.

Fourteen years ago, the otherwise unremarkable antiquated-TV-show-turned-movie Lost in Space became known as "The Iceberg" on account of being the first movie to knock the seemingly unstoppable Titanic from the number one spot after a remarkable fifteen weeks in the number one spot at the domestic box office.  The Hunger Games didn't exactly spend as much time in first place, but it did spend a solid four consecutive weekends at first, and now it has encountered its own icebergs, as both Think Like a Man and The Lucky One topped it, according to weekend estimates.

With director and co-writer Gary Ross opting not to return for the sequel Catching Fire, Lionsgate has no doubt had its hands full over the last week, since the studio now needs to find a director who can keep things going on an exceedingly tight schedule.  That The Hunger Games once again ranked at the top of the domestic box office this weekend should serve as a security blanket for anyone in the company fretting over its sequel.  The adaptation of Suzanne Collinss novel held off competition from three very different new releases to hold the number one spot.

Easter weekend needn't be spent expressing religious devotion, hunting for pastel-colored treats, or gorging almost to death on Cadbury Creme Eggs.  Nope, it can also consist of trips to the local multiplex.  Plenty of people did so over the holiday weekend, and if you've been paying any attention for the last few weeks, you'll have expected that The Hunger Games once again did brisker business than the competition.  Two new releases quite specifically played off 1990s nostalgia, but neither could unseat Katniss Everdeen from her place atop the heap.

Going into last weekend, expectations for the adaptation of the first novel in Suzanne Collins' dystopian novel trilogy were huge, but The Hunger Games opened even huger than anyone anticipated, becoming the third-biggest domestic opening of all time.  In its second weekend, the film was facing competition from two new releases, the sequel Wrath of the the Titans and the family-friendly Snow White tale Mirror Mirror.  Though both of those films opened well, they were up against the indomitable The Hunger Games.

While it undertook the task of actually making The Hunger Games, Lionsgate smartly began pumping the film up as an inevitable blockbuster, expertly playing the hype-harmonium on the adaptation of Suzanne Collins's first novel in her dystopian trilogy.  It started a year ago with breathless yet seemingly endless casting talk, it continued over months of official images, and led up to weeks of fevered anticipated and total marketing ubiquity.  It all paid off, as The Hunger Games just opened to an estimated $155.0 million over three days. 

Okay, let's get the bad news out of the way right off the bat: this weekend's box office was down from the corresponding weekend last year, a first in this so-far commercially robust 2012.  Still, it was only down 8% from last year, when Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Paul all opened.  This weekend had just one wide release, and that one performed excellently.  21 Jump Street opened in first place, while two very different films in limited release got off to promising starts.

This weekend saw the addition of three new wide releases to the movie marketplace, one an expensive would-be franchise starter, one a thriller remake built around a cinematography novelty, and one family-friendly vehicle from an erstwhile stand-up comedian with a predilection towards leather outfits.  Of these three, none were able to really make an impression commercially, and last week's number one movie, The Lorax, once again stood atop the box office heap grooming his Wilfred Brimley-style mustache.  Disney's John Carter, a movie whose budget has been the subject of much hemming and hawing, debuted in second place.