MIB 3 Zaps Avengers Off US B-O Perch

MAY 28, 2012 - The Men In Black finally got the job done, dethroning mega-blockbuster The Avengers over the Memorial Day weekend in the US. Chernobyl Diaries also opened, although it barely made a blip on the radar, while Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom had one of the best limited debuts ever. For the three-day weekend the Top 12 earned an estimated US$147.5 million, which is off 32 percent from last year when The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2 ruled.

MIB 3 opened to an estimated US$55 million over the weekend, which is Will Smith's third-highest Friday-Sunday debut ever behind I Am Legend (US$77.2 million) and Hancock (US$62.6 million). That's not really an apples-to-apples statistic, though, given how many of Smith's bigger movies didn't opened on Friday. For example, Men in Black II opened on a Wednesday and earned US$54.9 million through its first three days in cinemas. Adjusting for 10 years of ticket price inflation and 3D ticket prices, MIB 3's initial attendance was significantly lower than that of Men in Black II.

While it had to settle for second place, The Avengers was still very impressive. The superhero team-up eased 34 percent to an estimated US$37 million, which is the second-highest fourth weekend ever behind Avatar's US$50.3 million. On Saturday, the movie set a new record by crossing the US$500 million mark in just 23 days. Through Sunday, The Avengers has earned US$513.7 million, and will pass The Dark Knight (US$533.3 million) by Friday to move in to third place on the all-time domestic chart.

Battleship crashed in its second outing, falling 58 percent to an estimated US$10.8 million for the three-day weekend. It's now made US$44.3 million, which is a fraction of recent Hasbro adaptations and is even off from star Taylor Kitsch's John Carter (US$53.2 million) through the same point. The Dictator fared a bit better, dipping 45 percent to an estimated US$9.6 million but that doesn't portend a lengthy box office run for the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy, which has now earned US$41.4 million.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for May 25-27, 2012 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) Men In Black 3 (Sony) $55.0 million ($55.0 million) 1

2. (1) Marvel's The Avengers (BV) $36.9 million ($513.6 million) 4

3. (2) Battleship (Uni.) $10.8 million ($44.3 million) 2

4. (3) The Dictator (Par.) $9.6 million    ($41.4 million) 2

5. (-) Chernobyl Diaries (WB) $8.0 million ($8.0 million) 1