Four years ago, after Iron Man, when Marvel Studios announced its plan for a crossover series of blockbusters leading up to this year's The Avengers, the plan seemed almost ludicrous, a fanboy wet dream that could never possibly become a reality.  A week ago, the ensemble blockbuster truly busted up some blocks, setting the record for the biggest opening weekend of all time by earning more than $200 million in just a few days.  Now, The Avengers has set another record, this time for the biggest second weekend of any movie.  Ever.

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.

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.

Once again, the people of America have proven that we can drive to the multiplex and unironically enjoy a movie with an overtly environmental message from the comfort of air-conditioned movie theaters.  Any broader economic issues aside, the young year has consistently posted far bigger weekend numbers than the corresponding weekends last.  This was the case for the ninth consecutive weekend, with The Lorax posting the biggest opening of 2012 so far and the found footage comedy Project X contributed significantly in second place.

It's Oscar weekend, which means the culmination of months and months of fevered speculation and whatnot.  While The Artist is the subject of Awards Season discussions, four new releases hit nationwide theaters on Friday, and according to estimates, Relativity Media's military actioner Act of Valor won the weekend by a sizable margin.  One of the other new releases performed within expectations in second place, while the other two disappointed in eighth and ninth.

It's Presidents' Day weekend, folks and in anticipation of the day commemorating revolutionary ass-kicker his Excellency George Washington, the American moviegoer showed some love to another cool, though historically less significant Washington.  The actioner Safe House starring Denzel Washington is squeaking out a victory in its second weekend of release, as current estimates have it making just a bit more than fellow holdover The Vow.  Both films managed to best three new releases, though.

As the nation recovered from last weekend's Super Bowl festivities, it sought entertainment through the movies, resulting in a very busy weekend, resulting in a few minor records being broken.  So far in this young year, the box office has been surprisingly robust, particularly considering the often feeble showings throughout 2011.  This particular weekend, no less than four major movies opened to well over $20 million, quite an accomplishment on a seemingly unremarkable February frame.  Strong showings all around meant that, overall, there was a 30% increase from the comparable weekend last year.

Traditionally, January is seen as a time of box office doldrums during which there's little scratch to be made after the orgiastic movie-going of the holiday season.  As such, it was generally a time when studios would dump less-than-exciting fare.  This year, however, has seen a bunch of bigger releases that have pretty consistently exceeded expectations, and so the last three weekends have consistently seen busier business than comparable weeks in years before.  Leading the charge this weekend is Underworld Awakening, the latest sequel to follow the tried and true formula of Kate Beckinsale + pleather catsuit + guns, guns, guns = profit.

The first full weekend of January saw only one major new release, a critically reviled faux-documentary horror film that performed quite spectacularly despite eliciting a vitriolic reaction from damn near everyone who saw it.  The second weekend was considerably more competitive, however, with a number of titles with very different audiences.  In that environment, the Mark Wahlberg-led crime drama Contraband surprised many by easily winning the number one spot, while the 3D reissue of a twenty year old Disney movie came in second place, a third sequel passed an important mark, and a music-centric comedy-drama opened in fourth place.