The Avengers fought hard and they held on strong for many weeks, but were finally dethroned by Men in Black III this weekend as the box office champion. However, it's not that MIB III had a complete knock out as it came in with $54.5 for the three day weekend and $70 million for the four day Memorial Day weekend. Perhaps it is due to the fact that it is a bit of a "tired" franchise, but this was less than two of Will Smith's last blockbuster entries Hancock ($63m) and I Am Legend ($77m). The Avengers still managed to pull in $47 million over the four day weekend, which is quite impressive given this was its fourth weekend in theaters. The Avengers also crossed the $500 million mark this weekend, which set a new 23 day "speed record" as the fastest film to make this much money in the domestic market, and quicker than Avatar that took 32 days. Chernobyl Diaries entered the market with a pretty meager $7.9 million over the three day weekend and dropped 33% from Friday to Saturday. However, the biggest winner of the weekend might have been Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom that actually did shatter records in the specialty film category. While it didn't yet crack the top 10, Moonrise brought in an average of $130,752 per theater in the four theaters it was showing. To put this in perspective, MIB III had a $12,947 per theater average. This broke a record held by Dreamgirls…yes, that Dreamgirls from 2006. I think this means that for any of you that live in smaller markets, don't fret, it will soon be coming to a theater near you! Overall, the holiday weekend was down 31% from last year, but with Prometheus, The Amazing Spider-man and The Dark Knight Rises set to hit theaters soon, I'm not too worried about this summer…yet.
NOTE: With Memorial Day Weekend the box office numbers are a bit different, so the 3 Day total is the standard Friday – Sunday release; 4 Day Totals include tickets sales during yesterday's holiday.
 | 1. Men in Black III $55 million 3 Day Total / $70m 4 Day Total / $203.2m Total Worldwide The galaxy defenders beat the reigning box office giant…but should it have? I secretly wish The Avengers was still on top (or not so secretly) |
 | 2. The Avengers $36.8 million 3 Day Total / $46.9m 4 Day Total / $523.6m Total Domestic / $1.3b Total Worldwide How do you think they feel being in second place? I hope Hulk doesn't get mad and come after us. |
 | 3. Battleship $10.9 million 3 Day Total / $13.8m 4 Day Total / $47.3m Total Domestic / $280m Total Worldwide Already dropping around 50% in ticket sales, I think this ship is just going to keep sinking… |
 | 4. The Dictator $9.3 million 3 Day Total / $11.8m 4 Day Total / $43.6m Total Domestic / $94m Total Worldwide Sacha Baron Cohen is still funny…Aladeen or Aladeen? |
 | 5. Chernobyl Diaries $7.96 million 3 Day Total / $9.3m 4 Day Total / New Seems like the consensus was Chernobyl was a horror nobody needed to re-visit. |
 | 6. Dark Shadows $7.5 million 3 Day Total / $9.4m 4 Day Total / $64.9m Total Domestic / $171.5m Total Worldwide Tim Burton…you are breaking my heart! |
 | 7. What to Expect When You're Expecting $7.1 million 3 Day Total / $8.9m 4 Day Total / $24.9m Total Domestic / $25.2m Total Worldwide What to expect? A comedy that is actually funny. Is that too much to ask? |
 | 8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel $6.4 million 3 Day Total / $8.2m 4 Day Total / $18.4 Total Domestic / $97.2m Total Worldwide This little movie that most people probably have not heard of is about to cross the $100m worldwide mark. These are my favorite kind of indie success stories…now go see it! |
 | 9. The Hunger Games $2.3 million 3 Day Total / $2.9m 4 Day Total / #395.9m Total Domestic / $640m Total Worldwide Domestic Box Office: Twilight vs. The Hunger Games = The Hunger Games wins. Harry Potter vs. The Hunger Games = The Hunger Games wins. I think it is safe to say, The Hunger Games, just, well, wins. |
 | 10. Think Like A Man $1.4 million 3 Day Total / $1.8m 4 Day Total / $88.7m Total Domestic / $89.8m Total Worldwide Can I just pretend Moonrise Kingdom made it here, so I can talk about it instead? |
so mr. smith can we finally get bad boy's 3 now??
I gave Avengers my money finally! Well worth it. I guess MIB's known franchise status helped it's weekend.
i see Will Smith on that thing and all I can think of is mr garrison's vehicle
for the record, i enjoyed MIB3. i can understand most of people's complaints, but i thought it had a lot of heart, more than the first two movies, and the ending was unexpected, and quite more emotional than i expected an MIB movie to be. :)
So I hope Prometheus knocks MIB III off and beats it's profit records!
Haven't seen much advertisements for it though unfortunately.
Best Exotic is the British Avengers just look at that cast. Now if only it would be showing in my area so I can finally see it. Old British people stuck in a hotel run by Dev Patel that's GOLD JERRY!!!
The Best Exotic is going to cross 100 million because of international moviegoers, not because of domestic moviegoers. It also doesn't interest me at all so I won't be going to see it.
The Avengers made a gajillion dollars and it's not even done. How do they follow that up? Does anyone know if the stars were signed to a multi-picture contract? Are their asking prices already set in ink? I'd want like $40 million or a percentage of the total if I was any of the leads (well except The Hulk because history has shown the producers are okay with replacing Banner in each new outing.)
Obviously!
Though I'm impressed to still see Avengers that up!