'Dark Knight' not rising to 'Avengers' status as box office sputters

If there’s one thing this past month at the box office has shown it’s that without “The Avengers” and “The Hunger Games” 2012 would be a bust.

First off, the top 10 films this past weekend only took in $126 million, which was down 25 percent from the same weekend last year. “The Watch,” which reportedly cost $70 million to make, only brought in $13 million its opening weekend, confirming the plummeting status of stars Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.

But it’s really much worse than that. Boxofficemojo.com posted a telling comparison chart Monday that showed just how lagging the domestic numbers are.

For example, “The Dark Knight Rises” pulled in almost $288 in its first 10 days, which sounds pretty good until you realize its predecessor, “The Dark Knight,” made $313 million in the same amount of time.

Yeah, but the Colorado shootings and the Olympics undoubtedly dampened the turnout there, right? Probably. But check out “The Amazing Spider-Man,” which has made $242 million in its first 27 days; “Spider-Man 3″ made $309 million in the same time period.

Even “Ice Age 4″ (which is admittedly huge overseas) only brought in about $115 million domestically in its first 17 days, as compared to “Ice Age 3,” which made $139 million in the same amount of time.

These are not numbers Hollywood is thrilled with, especially after “Battleship,” “John Carter” and “Dark Shadows” tanked. Yes, “The Dark Knight Rises” is doing well, but it’s still more than $85 million behind where “Avengers” was 10 days in. As summers go, this one started huge, but it seems to be sputtering out.