The time has come for Marvel’s The Avengers to pass the torch. Men in Black III proved to be a worthy competitor to the box office giant this weekend, finally knocking it out of the number one position. Also making its debut this past weekend was Chernobyl Diaries (yeah, I haven’t heard of it either). **Note: These totals are just for the three-day weekend, not including Memorial Day.**
#1. ‘Men in Black III‘
After a 10 year hiatus, the Men in Black have returned with a bang. When word spread that Chitauri were taking over New York City in Marvel’s The Avengers, the alien monitoring duo of Agent J and Agent K returned to kick them out (not really, but what a cross-over that would be!) Making their presence known with a commendable $55 million domestically from Friday to Sunday, it seems Men in Black III may have what it takes to re-energize the franchise. Unfortunately the film was not able to shatter any records (The Avengers‘ $207.4 million weekend debut will be very hard to break), but Men in Black III did have the highest opening weekend of the movies in the franchise (check out my review here).
#2. ‘The Avengers‘
Even though it had to relinquish its top spot that it held onto for three straight weeks, The Avengers is still knocking the socks off the competition. Over the weekend the film added $37 million to its domestic gross, bringing its current total to $514 million; the fourth film ever to gross over half a billion dollars domestically. This also makes the film the fastest in history to gross over $500 million domestic, with a record of just 23 days. And it’s fast approaching The Dark Knight, with just $20 million to go to tie the domestic box office gross. It looks like the film’s sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, will have some catching up to do. With Avatar, Titanic, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 still ahead of it as the highest grossing films of all time, The Avengers only needs $23 million more to take the 3rd place title away from Harry Potter. This goal is well within reach and may be achieved this week.
#3. ‘Battleship‘
And now a word from Agent J… “If I could have everybody’s attention for a moment please. *nuralizer flash* Ok. Remember that board game with the pegs y’all had as kids? Ya’ know… Battleship. Well, that’s all it was; a game. There was no movie ever made about it, and Rhianna is still just a singer.” Battleship continued to drown (bad pun but I’m using it) this week, bringing in only $10.9 million. Which I guess is as good as can be expected from a movie about a pegged board game where the pegs are played by aliens. Add this weekend’s total to what it’s grossed so far and that’s $44.4 million for the two weekends the film has been in theaters… less than a quarter of the film’s budget of $210 million. Needless to say, it’s not looking good for Battleship. Will the movie finally hit the bottom this week?
#4. ‘The Dictator‘
The Dictator was barely able to hang on this week, only adding $9.3 million domestically to its box office total and bringing the total so far to $43.6 million. This puts Sacha Baron Cohen‘s film in third place with Brüno ($60 million) in second and Borat ($128.5 million) in the lead. Although The Dictator is quickly coming up behind Brüno (no pun intended) and may pass that film, it looks highly unlikely that it will do as well as Borat.
#5. ‘Chernobyl Diaries’
Bradley Parker makes his directorial debut in this horror flick. Unfortunately, it is a debut to be forgotten. Bringing in only $7.9 this weekend, the movie looks to be about as big a disaster as the Chernobyl meltdown itself. Even having producer Orin Peli’s (of Paranormal Activity fame) name attached couldn’t help give this film a memorable box office weekend.
What are Your Predictions for Next Week?
That wraps things up for this week. What do you think will happen next week? Will Men in Black III stay the fairest of them all against Snow White and the Huntsman? Will Piranha 3DD take a bite out of the competition? Make your predictions in the comments below.
Box Office Report: May 23rd-27th, 2012
1. Men in Black III – $55 million
2. Marvel’s The Avengers – $37 million
3. Battleship – $10.9 million
4. The Dictator – $9.3 million
5. Chernobyl Diaries – $7.9 million
6. Dark Shadows – $7.4 million
7. What To Expect When You’re Expecting – $7.1 million
8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – $6.3 million
9. The Hunger Games – $2.2 million
10. Think Like A Man – $1.4 million
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