In the midst of its opening weekend at the box office, there is no doubt that Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Age of Ultron" will not only win the weekend but make a tremendous amount of money for the House that Stan and Jack built. But the question for industry analysts is whether the sequel will be able to beat its predecessor's record-breaking performance.

On its May 1 opening day, the film brought in $84.5 million at the U.S. box office (okay, $84,460,000 according to Box Office Mojo). That's in addition to the $340 million from ticket sales overseas.

As DeadlineYour text to link... explains, that opening is already enough to make it the second biggest international opening of all time (#1 was Warner Bros. final "Harry Potter" film). As Saturday ticket estimates roll in, the industry odds have the film earning around $202.6 million across its opening weekend domestically. That would put it a hair behind the record-breaking opening weekend of the original "Avengers" film.

Odd as it may sound to comic book diehards, there is some actual competition for the attention of the American public this weekend. The Mayweather-Pacquiao title fight, the NBA playoffs and even the Kentucky Derby have some marking out their weekend plans for something besides superhero action. So until Sunday's totals arrive, it's up in the air as to whether Earth's Mightiest Heroes will take home Earth's Biggest Opening.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow on CBR.