The Avengers does super in first weekend

Old characters, new box-office record!

After colossal, gargantuan, elephantine (the thesaurus is so cool!) ticket sales, The Avengers is the first movie ever to collect $200 million in a single weekend — worldwide, it's made $641.8 million in barely a week and a half.

To give some context: The Harry Potter finale made $169.2 million in its debut weekend. The SEPTA workers won $173 million. And it would take a SideShow writer at least 250 years to bring in that kind of dough.

If this is any clue that superheros and/or IMAX screens are, like, the next big thing, we might as well issue an advanced congratulations to The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3) and The Dark Knight Rises (July 20).

And there will be more destruction, er, heroics, with this summer's other planned action tales, Men in Black 3, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Battleship, Total Recall and Prometheus, director Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi territory of his horror hit Alien.

Hail, Stripes!

Basketball fan Bill Murray, in Philadelphia with son Luke to watch his native Bulls play this weekend, made the staff laugh during Saturday lunch at Square Peg at 10th and Walnut Streets.

After eating chef Matt Levin's breakfast poutine, a side of grits, and banana bread with caramel butter, he asked waitress Chau Le, "Do you want anything from the army-navy store?"

Le replied, "Yeah. Camo pants."

Murray paid the check and tipped well.

Twenty minutes later, someone showed up at Square Peg with an I. Goldberg bag containing a pair of camo pants.

— Michael Klein

The next Mia Farrow?

You can't say Woody Allen isn't inspired.

And the director, at least when it comes to movie muses, has good taste (hello Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Naomi Watts, Rachel McAdams ...).

But, can it be? Lindsay Lohan!? The two had dinner in Manhattan this weekend, so says TMZ.com. And although we don't know for sure they were talking about future films, what else would they have to say to each other?

Funny now, funny then

Most people attempt philosophy with their high school yearbook quote. 30 Rock star Tina Fey, 41, tried funny with her 1988 entry. She told People: "We had to fill in the blank: 'Five years from now I will be ...' and mine was 'very, very fat.' I figured if I'm not, then it's like, 'You're not!' And if I am, I'm like, 'I know — I called it!'?"

Babies, babies everywhere

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard took their 17-day-old daughter, Gloria Ray, shopping this weekend ... Mom-to-be Molly Sims celebrated with a baby shower Saturday at a home in the Hollywood Hills. She and her husband, Scott Stuber, are expecting a boy in June ... Jennifer Lopez already has 4-year-old twins, but the single mom tells People having more would be a blessing.

Contact "SideShow" at sideshow@phillynews.com. This article contains information from Inquirer wire services and websites.