LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "The Avengers" ushers in the summer movie-going season with big special effects and heart-stopping action sequences.

Taking in $18.7 million in midnight screenings, "The Avengers" only got bigger: $80.5 million for all of Friday; $69.7 million on Saturday, a new record for that day; and, a projected $50.1 million on Sunday.

A rally of masked superheroes, "The Avengers" easily bested the opening-weekend performances of the Marvel Studios movies whose hero-stars that were assembled for "The Avengers: Iron Man" at $99 million and "Iron Man 2" at $128 million; "Thor" at $66 million; and, "Captain America" at $65 million.

"The Avengers" even blew away even the superhero-record $158.4 million posted by "The Dark Knight." The showing has raised the bar considerably for the Batman franchise's upcoming adventure, "The Dark Knight Rises," opening July 20.

"The Avengers" had strong crossover appeal, evenly split between the young, or under age 25 and the older, over age 25, polling data showed. Most surprisingly, the film was watched by women at 40 percent, almost as much as men. It worked as a date-night movie; with 55 percent of ticket-buyers were part of couples, and a family movie -- 24 percent were part of a family group.

In addition, the crowds went to see it in 3-D, a process that many people have called outdated. In IMAX, the movie grossed about $15 million, roughly tying it for that format's biggest-ever opening weekend.

"IMAX had one big issue," IMAX exec Greg Foster said in an email. "We ran out of seats to sell!"

"The Avengers" far out grossed the weekend's second-place movie, "Think Like a Man," which held well all things considered, by 2,500 percent.

The top ten films at the U.S. box office were:

1. "The Avengers"
2. "Think Like A Man"
3. "The Hunger Games"
4. "The Lucky One"
5. "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"
6. "The Five-Year Engagement"
7. "The Raven"
8. "Safe"
9. "Chimpanzee"
10. "The Three Stooges"

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