When the Avengers assemble, the world opens its collective wallet. In just under three weeks since its international opening, "Marvel's The Avengers" has earned more than $1 billion worldwide. In America, it blew through the $200 million mark over opening weekend alone, and now holds the title of best three-day opening in film history. Or does it?

While dollar signs fuel the engine of Hollywood movie production, they are not necessarily the most objective measure of a film's success. Most importantly, the dollar is not a static unit of measurement like the meter; as a result of inflation, a dollar in 2008 has more purchasing power than a dollar in 2012. If we search for a better way to measure film's opening weekend success, is it possible to dethrone the mighty Avengers? Let's try to find out.

If we look only at unadjusted gross opening weekend revenue, the top 10 most successful films of all time are as follows, with the amount of money earned in parentheses:

"Marvel's The Avengers" ($207,438,708)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" ($169,189,427)

"The Dark Knight" ($158,411,483)

"The Hunger Games" ($152,535,747)

"Spider-Man 3" ($151,116,516)

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" ($142,839,137)

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1" ($138,122,261)

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ($135,634,554)

"Iron Man 2" ($128,122,480)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" ($125,017,372)

This data, and all data that follows, has been pulled from Box Office Mojo. Notice that Hollywood's love affair with the sequel can be explained in large part by this list: of these films, only one, "The Hunger Games," is not a sequel, and even this one is not a new property, but is based on the hugely successful book by the same name.

By this measure, "The Avengers" is the clear front-runner. However, it is one of only two films on this list to have been released in 2012. If we adjust these opening-weekend figures to account for inflation, how much does the picture change?

Thankfully, Box Office Mojo has already performed the necessary calculations. They do this by adjusting a film's revenue to take into account the average ticket price in the year it was released. For example, "The Dark Knight" made roughly $158 million in 2008, when average ticket prices were $7.18. In 2012, the average has increased to $7.92 (see here for a complete list of yearly averages). This means that if we want a more accurate comparison of this film to The Avengers, we should multiply its opening weekend gross by the ratio of the 2012 average price to the 2008 average price. This ratio is $7.92/$7.18 or approximately 1.10, meaning that The Dark Knight's opening gross in 2012 dollars would be closer to $175 million.

By this measure, the top 10 films are as follows (now the amounts are adjusted to 2012 dollars):

"Marvel's The Avengers" ($207,438,708)

"The Dark Knight" ($174,738,000)

"Spider-Man 3" ($173,959,700)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" ($168,763,300)

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ($164,003,900)

"Spider-Man" ($156,551,700)

"The Hunger Games" ($152,535,747)

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" ($148,657,800)