"The Avengers" set to pass $600 million domestic milestone

Until "Avatar" came through and reset the record books $600 million domestic was a seemingly unreachable milestone held aloft by "Titanic" as a tease to wannabe blockbusters. "Ha ha! You'll never catch me!" There were a lot of pretenders to the throne before Avatar, most notably 2008's "The Dark Knight" which leapt out of the gate and, for a while, seemed like it might grab the brass ring. Ultimately the cowled one faded down the stretch and the record was safe. Until Avatar. We all know what happened there with The Big A producing a new benchmark of $760 million domestic.

Still, $600 million retained a certain amount of luster what with the Titanic name and all attached to it. Well, Jack and Rose, say hello to your new neighbors because Tony Stark and his friends are moving in next store with "The Avengers" set to pass $600 million sometime early this coming week. If Titanic hadn't done a cash-grab 3D rerelease earlier this year we'd be talking about a new #2 all-time domestic. As it is we're talking about only the 3rd member of the $600 million club. The Avengers isn't stopping there however. The film has been holding up amazingly well in its golden days at the box office and could, conceivably, give the big boat that sinking feeling before all is said and done.

"We bow to no film."