The Avengers assembled even more fans for its second weekend at the box office. Marvel’s superhero blockbuster had the highest second weekend earning in box office history and is expected to break past the $1 billion mark worldwide.

Over Mother’s Day weekend, the film — starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson and others — earned $103.2 million at the domestic box office and $95.4 million overseas.

In total, after 19 days, The Avengers will gross $1 billion worldwide. The film has earned $373.2 million domestically, making it the fasted film ever to each $300 million.

In its debut weekend, Johnny Depp’s vampire movie with Tim Buton, Dark Shadows came in second at the box office with $28.8 million.

Rounding out the top 10: Think Like a Man ($6.3 million), Jennifer Lawrence’s The Hunger Games ($3.3 million), Zac Efron’s The Lucky One ($4.1 million), Hugh Grant’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits ($3.2 million), Jason Segel’s The Five-Year Engagement ($3.2 million), Judi Dench’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ($2.7 million), Tim Allen’s Chimpanzee ($1.6 million) and Eva Mendes’ Girl in Progress ($1.4 million).

The Dictator

Release Date: May 16, 2012

Genre: Comedy

MPAA Rating: R

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Director: Larry Charles

Screenwriter: Sacha Baron Cohen, Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, David Mandel

Movie Website: RepublicofWadiya.com

Actors/Actresses: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, Megan Fox, John C. Reilly, J.B. Smoove

Plot Summary: The film tells the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. It is inspired by the best selling novel “Zabibah and The King” by Saddam Hussein.

Production may have only recently begun on Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s The Smurfs 2, but plans are already underway for a third adventure with Karey Kirkpatrick and Chris Poche returning to provide the screenplay.

The second film is set to hit theaters on July 31, 2013 and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, Hank Azaria, Brendan Gleeson, Katy Perry, Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin, John Oliver, Christina Ricci and JB Smoove.

In it, the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants — and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs — Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world’s greatest sorcerer. It’s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our world, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her! Will Smurfette, who has always felt different from the other Smurfs, find a new connection with the Naughties Vexy and Hackus – or will the Smurfs convince her that their love for her is True Blue?

There’s no word yet on who else might be returning for The Smurfs 3, but check back for details as they become available.

Robert De Niro has officially joined Michael Douglas in the Jon Turtletaub ensemble comedy Last Vegas.

The plot of the CBS Films production has four estranged male childhood friends from the fifties reuniting in Vegas to finally marry off Billy, the lifelong unmarried playboy of the group. The conflict comes when both Billy the bachelor and Paddy (De Niro), the widower of the group, begin vying for the affections of the same lounge singer.

Previous reports suggested that Christopher Walken may be up for a role as well, but that currently remains unconfirmed.

Last Vegas features a screenplay by Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love).

Rachel McAdams has landed a leading role in Richard Curtis’ About Time. McAdams is replacing the previously-attached Zooey Deschanel.

The movie is a modestly budgeted time-travel romance that will have McAdams star opposite Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson and Vanessa Kirby. The film is also scripted by Curtis and is set up at Working Title Films.

Curtis’ recent writing credits include Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, and in what could be considered a time travel crash course, the 2010 “Doctor Who” episode, “Vincent and the Doctor,” which guest-starred Nighy.

McAdams, meanwhile, recently appeared in The Vow opposite Channing Tatum and can soon be seen in Terrence Malick’s still-untitled next film.

It is officially official! Ashton Kutcher is playing Steve Jobs. According to the AP, Kutcher’s publicist has confirmed that the “Two and a Half Men” star will play the late Apple co-founder in the indie film “Jobs.”

According to Variety, which first broke the news on Sunday, the movie will follow Jobs on the journey that took him from “wayward hippie” to Apple co-founder. The movie is scheduled to begin production in May while Kutcher is on hiatus from “Two and a Half Men.”

While many reacted negatively to the news that Kutcher, famous for playing goofy characters onscreen, would take on an icon like Jobs, at least one of the late visionaries former colleagues wasn’t too upset.

“The fear that many might have is that Ashton was selected because he’s ‘hot’ right now,” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told TMZ. “But I feel that his selection was done in the most professional manner. And I’m glad that he’s onboard. I think he’ll put a lot into it and that he cares about this particular subject.”

Kutcher, who has over 10 million Twitter followers, used the social networking site to pay tribute to Jobs when he passed away in October.

The 34-year-old actor, who has over 10 million Twitter followers, will portray Jobs through his rise from hippie to hugely revered technological entrepreneur as the co-founder of Apple Inc. Jobs died last October after a long battle with cancer.

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Wrath of the Titans

Release Date: March 30, 2012 (3D/2D theaters and IMAX)

Genre: Action, Adventure

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Screenwriter: Dan Mazeau, David Leslie Johnson

Movie Website: WrathoftheTitans.com

Actors/Actresses: Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Edgar Ramírez, Toby Kebbell, Danny Huston, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson

Plot Summary: A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus (Worthington) –the demigod son of Zeus (Neeson)–is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades (Fiennes) and Poseidon (Huston). The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus’ godly son, Ares (Ramirez), switch loyalties and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans’ strength grows stronger as Zeus’ remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son, Argenor (Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Mirror Mirror

Release Date: March 30, 2012

Genre: Comedy

MPAA Rating: PG

Studio: Relativity Media

Director: Tarsem Singh

Screenwriter: Melisa Wallack, Jason Keller

Movie Website: MirrorMirrorFilm.com

Actors/Actresses: Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, Robert Emms, Mare Winningham, Michael Lerner, Mark Povinelli, Jordan Prentice, Danny Woodburn, Sebastian Saraceno, Ronald Lee Clark, Martin Klebba, Joey Gnoffo, Sean Bean

Plot Summary: One of the most beloved stories of all time is coming to life in the motion picture event for the whole family, “Mirror Mirror.” A fresh and funny retelling of the Snow White legend, “Mirror Mirror” features breakout star Lily Collins (“The Blind Side”) as Snow White, a princess in exile, and Oscar®-winner Julia Roberts as the evil Queen who ruthlessly rules her captured kingdom. Seven courageous rebel dwarfs join forces with Snow White as she fights to reclaim her birthright and win her Prince in this magical comedy filled with jealousy, romance, and betrayal that will capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences the world over. The film also stars Armie Hammer (“The Social Network”) as the Prince, and Nathan Lane (“The Birdcage”) as the hapless and bungling servant to the Queen.

Young people, selected by lottery, slaughter one another with kill-or-be-killed desperation in The Hunger Games. The savagery is a yearly ritual mandated by the tyrannical regime of Panem, a broken nation built, after a terrible war, on the futuristic ruins of North America. It’s also broadcast on live TV, a national media event. This horrific vision of a near future in which teenagers are in peril is sickening, but the individual heroism of some who fight is also thrilling, as millions of readers can attest: Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy is a literary sensation. The good news now coming out of Panem, both for those who already know just how brutal the Games become and those who are new to the dystopian tale, is that the movie adaptation knows how to play too.

This Hunger Games is a muscular, honorable, unflinching translation of Collins’ vision. It’s brutal where it needs to be, particularly when children fight and bleed. It conveys both the miseries of the oppressed, represented by the poorly fed and clothed citizens of Panem’s 12 suffering districts, and the rotted values of the oppressors, evident in the gaudy decadence of those who live in the Capitol. Best of all, the movie effectively showcases the allure of the story’s remarkable, kick-ass 16-year-old heroine, Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss — who volunteers to fight in place of her sister as one of District 12′s two unfortunate ”tributes” when the little girl is chosen — is the heart and soul of the story, one of those feisty female protagonists pitched to the YA market but appealing to adults as well. Katniss is happiest when she’s hunting food for her family with the bow-and-arrow precision that is her specialty. She’s a tomboy with a trademark brunet braid down her back, and she’s a graceful young woman — strong, self-possessed, and unaware of her own beauty, whether dressed like a backwoods scout or dolled up for pageant display in gorgeous gowns. And Jennifer Lawrence, previously dressed as a backwoods scout in her galvanizing breakout, Winter’s Bone, is, in her gravity, her intensity, and her own unmannered beauty, about as impressive a Hollywood incarnation of Katniss as one could ever imagine. Much of Katniss’ experience throughout the Games — as she improvises with an ingenuity far beyond the scope of any TV Survivor contestant — is interior, silent. Lawrence is expressive in her stillness, and moves with athletic confidence.

Fans of the book and moviegoers coming to the story fresh may reach different conclusions about the effectiveness of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, the baker’s son from District 12 who is at once Katniss’ competitor and the boy who loves her. In the book, interesting edges rough up his niceness; he’s not quite so easy to peg. But to these eyes, on screen he’s been sanded down to a generic sensitive good guy, so much so that it’s difficult to understand why Katniss is prickly around him. Meanwhile, so little is seen of Liam Hemsworth as Gale, Katniss’ soul mate/fellow hunter, in this first episode that the uninitiated might not pay attention to the third angle of the story’s romantic triangle — about the only element this high-quality pop culture phenomenon has in common with the swoons of Twilight.

Director Gary Ross does a tight job of establishing the future-meets-1984 vibe in Panem: the slog of daily life, the hopelessness that dulls the citizens, the fear that returns each year at the Hunger Games lottery known as the Reaping. Aided by outré costumes from designer Judianna Makovsky, he also goes to town in the Capitol sequences. Elizabeth Banks as Effie the PR handler, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch the mentor, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna the stylist, Stanley Tucci as Caesar the unctuous TV interviewer — they’re all reasonable facsimiles of what’s on the page, and fabulous oddities for those who are just meeting them. And if the depiction of the death-by-death progress of the Games themselves, as Katniss struggles mightily to save her own life on behalf of her sister, doesn’t match the psychological tension on the page, well, thems may be the rules of the adaptation game. The movie shows how, but the book shows why.

Our Verdict: It is better than any of the Twilight movies, which isn’t saying much, but it isn’t bad. It is just barely O.K. and it badly needed more Steadicams.