Box Office: Men in Black Zap Avengers, Chernobyl Diaries Nuked, Battleship Continues to Sink
Steve Barton
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Box Office Mojo
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The Avengers‘ reign of box office tyranny has finally come to an end thanks to the triple threat of Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin.
Radioactive Russian mutants failed to scare up much money while a pair of big budget bombs prepare for their own memorial services this Memorial Day weekend.
The good news for Men in Black 3 is that the threequel sci-fi comedy dethroned The Avengers after four weeks on top of the box office by taking in about $70 million. The bad news? It was expected to open to about $90 million, and reports have the movie’s hefty price tag at somewhere in the neighborhood of $375 million after combining its budget, marketing, and distribution costs. Will Smith’s first film after a four-year hiatus opened big internationally so the studio probably isn’t worried too much about losing Battleship-sized money.
Speaking of the rapidly sinking Battleship, its $10.8 million weekend haul was down nearly 60% from its disastrous opening weekend. Domestic totals have it at just over $44 million. To call it a mega-sized bomb would be putting it politely. So big a bomb it’s rather surprising it hasn’t gotten as much publicity as John Carter got when it lost upwards of $200 million for Disney. One thing is certain: Say ‘adios’ to any other movies based on classic games for the foreseeable future.
Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity rub did not generate a whole lot of box office for The Chernobyl Diaries. Its $8 million sixth place opening might be considered good for what amounts to a low budget horror flick that probably would have gone direct-to-DVD without having producer-writer Peli’s name attached to it, but that $8 million is even softer than the openings of the likes of Apollo 18 and Orphan, neither of which were box office successes. That the movie got mostly negative reviews and deplorable word-of-mouth (a very bad “D+” Cinemascore rating) doesn’t expect it to make much more than that.
Dark Shadows has been relegated to the shadows pretty much since it opened three weeks ago and now appears to be just about ready to return to the coffin from whence it came. Down to sixth place with $7.5 million and a $65 million sum, expect whatever project Johnny Depp and Tim Burton team up for next to be a much safer bet than a horror comedy based on a late 1960’s cult TV series.
Next week brings us the dark fantasy Snow White and the Huntsman starring Bella Swan-Cullen, The Mighty Thor, and Aeon Flux.
Next week is also the release of Piranha 3DD – sort of. Its box office performance may not even be relevant with word being that it is only going to open on less than a hundred screens in the US. Has anyone even seen a TV spot for it? When Dimension said it would be opening in theaters and on VOD, it seems they mainly meant VOD.
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