The summer movie season kicked off with an “astounding” performance by “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which was on track for $187.7 million in opening weekend ticket sales.

Movie industry analyst Paul Dergarabedian, at Rentrak, said the Disney/Marvel was the second biggest opening weekend in Hollywood history, sandwiched in between two other Disney/Marvel releases: “Marvels’ The Avengers” at $207.4 million, and “Iron Man 3” at $174.1 million.

“This is an astonishing feat, considering the level of competition this weekend from the world of sports,” Dergarabedian said, citing the welterweight boxing match fight in Las Vegas, the Kentucky Derby and the NBA playoffs.

In an unusual move, “Ultron” opened overseas two weeks ahead of North America, and it has grossed $627 million in 12 days of global release, Rentrak reported.

“The Age Of Adeline” was in second place, with $6.3 million in projected sales. “Furious 7” was third, with a $6.1 million weekend and $330.5 million domestically in the bank over five weeks of exhibition.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular films in the United States and Canada from Friday through Sunday night, as projected by the studios and collated by Rentrak, were “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” ($5.6 million), “Home” ($3.3 million), “Cinderella” (2.4 million), “Ex Machina” ($2.2 million), “Unfriended” ($2 million), “The Longest Ride” ($1.7 million) and “Woman In Gold” ($1.7 million).

— City News Service

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