The dust has settled on the box-office drama centering on Lionsgate's "Kick-Ass," as the comic book adaptation has [article id="1637357"]officially secured first place[/article] with a $19.8 million performance. While the final weekend tally isn't quite in the $30 million region that some box-office analysts expected from "Kick-Ass," comic book author Mark Millar is nonetheless elated with the film's performance.

"I'm just back from a weekend's break to find messages from Lionsgate, Matthew Vaughn and various actors on the movie buzzing that we were #1 in America this weekend," Millar told MTV News in an exclusive statement on Monday (April 19). "We were top Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- which is amazing, considering we're up against 3-D competition with an R-rated superhero movie.

"It's also worth remembering that [the film] only cost $28 million after the U.K. tax breaks, and our U.K. and U.S. gross alone is already at $38 million as of last night," he added. "We're looking at a very nice profit here and word of mouth is spectacular -- the reviews being among the best I've ever seen -- and so we're all very proud to find ourselves in this position."

While Millar confessed his hopes that "Kick-Ass" could earn " 'Avatar' numbers," the comic book creator said that director Matthew Vaughn provided some sensible wisdom on the matter: "We were made on a Tarantino budget and should be more than happy with Tarantino numbers."

Millar said that he is "very excited" to see if "Kick-Ass" can stay in first place at the box office next weekend, with new competitors including rival comic book movie "The Losers" and Jennifer Lopez's big screen comeback "The Back-Up Plan."

"[Box office #1] is brilliant news for all concerned, and it's amazing to see a movie at the top of the charts that was rejected by every studio when we pitched it," he said. "The whole gang are feeling very pleased and, since most of us took deferred payments, pretty relieved, too."

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