Thanks for the link to the SGS interview, MB! Very interesting. For anyone who hasn't heard it yet, I won't "spoil" the deleted scenes, but he describes 2 of them, and for the first one, I think it was very wise decision to cut that out and have it as it was in the film (though I'd love to see the scene on the DVD later). The second one might've been interesting, though.
I'm glad that the film's actual box office was closer to the upper end of the estimate! Now, I hope that it will hold pretty well for the next few weeks. As to the question of why it was put up against The Avengers, I think that once the decision was made to release DS this spring, there probably wouldn't have been a better alternative. Being released right after what might be a record-breaking film was unfortunate. But pretty soon, other blockbusters are coming out- Battleship, Prometheus, Men In Black, etc. etc. Plus, I imagine The Avengers isn't going away any time soon. It would've been up against some competition, no matter what. The best DS could hope for was to offer itself as an alternative for those who might happen to want to see something different than the usual blockbuster. And at least this way, the kids are getting out of school in a couple of weeks and will want to start going to the movies more during the week, so weekday box offices for all films are usually a little better in the summer season.
Maybe in retrospect it would've been better to release DS in the fall or winter, as I think we've discussed. This way, they would be competing with more of the Oscar-bait films, that aren't as big box office hits as the summer movies. And DS even takes place in the fall, as noted by the pumpkins! On the other hand, I see that Twilight is coming out in Nov., and I'm sure they wanted to steer clear of that film, too. Maybe October could've worked, but oh well.