‘Men in Black 3′ Takes Down ‘The Avengers’ in Underwhelming Debut

Will Smith and Men in Black 3 finally ended The Avengers‘ 4-week reign at the top of the box office with an estimated $70 million over the four-day Memorial weekend. The movie marks the return of Smith to the movie theater after a 4-year status and while it’s clear that he remains a major draw at the box office, Sony must be disappointed at the underwhelming start for a production that cost upward of $225 million.

The studio will look for the movie to hold its ground over the next week or two but that seems unlikely. Word of mouth is positive with Men in Black 3 receiving a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore but the audience skewed 56% age 25 and older. The film already registered $132 million in its foreign debut but it’s going to be a long road to profitability for Sony.

Dropping to second place is The Avengers which continues its superb run with another $46.9 million this past weekend. The Marvel superhero movie has now raised its domestic total to $523.6 million, good for fourth highest tally of all-time and is about to pass The Dark Knight for third within days.

In third is Peter Berg’s explosion extravaganza Battleship which added $13.7 million over the holiday weekend. Needless to say, the $209 million- movie is a major bust, having only grossed $47.2 million to date.

Box office revenue is up 12.5 percent over 2011 receipts, year to date. However, this Memorial weekend was down over 30% compared to last year’s when The Hangover Part II delivered a $100 million-plus debut.