Two animated features sit atop the box office this past weekend. Disney/Pixar's Brave seized the top of the b.o. as expected. The animated feature grossed over $66.7 million Friday through Sunday. That total is above Pixar's previous feature title Cars 2, which opened with $66.1 million in 2011. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted held strong with $20.2 million.
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Moviegoers in the U.K. continued to send Prometheus, Men in Black 3, and Snow White and the Huntsman into the top three spots of the box office, while '80s hair metal pic Rock of Ages, which landed at number four though its numbers actually suggested a softer opening than its U.S. equivalent, according to figures from The Guardian. Red Lights, which will not open in the U.S. until mid-July and starring Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro, performed "landed limply."
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Those colorful wild animals sat atop the box office once again over the weekend. Madagascar 3 held onto the premiere position for the second consecutive week, while Warner Bros. Rock of Ages bit the dust despite its star-wattage. It wasn't a total surprise, however, though a disappointment all the same. The Tom Cruise starrer grossed just over $15 million in 3,470 theaters. Prometheus outshined Rock in its second weekend, holding onto the number two spot in the broader box office. The Fox feature took in $20.2 million in 3,442 theaters, averaging $5,869 - over $1,500 more than Rock of Ages - ouch.
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Prometheus held the box office throne in the United Kingdom last weekend. Madagascar 3 won't have its British theatrical roll out until the fall of all things, so Prometheus had no big newcomers to contend with in the United Kingdom last weekend. The Ridley Scott directed feature took in £3.14M ($4.87M) in its second weekend, a 50 per cent drop. Still, its ten day total is £15.47M ($23.99M), just behind the complete cumulative for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood which totaled £15.65M, according to figures by The Guardian.
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The latest in a string of big budget studio movie lawsuits has been lobbed at the makers of Men in Black 3, with extra Danika Gerner claiming that she was outfitted with a costume that led to her suffering "serious bodily injuries" during filming last May. The curious part: Reports give no clues as to just how Gerner's costume injured her, or which background character she played. More on the litigious wardrobe malfunction after the jump.
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It's no secret that Chinese censors are tough nuts to crack when it comes to Hollywood imports like Men in Black 3. And, sure — those scenes of aliens with reptilian tongues disguised as Chinatown restaurant workers serving up contraband foodstuffs played on easy jokes, and were reportedly excised from the Chinese release. But was there something more subtle and subversive at play when Agent J "neuralized" a crowd of innocent Chinatown bystanders?
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Also among this morning news briefs: James Bond gets a complete retrospective in Los Angeles, a film journalist jumps to the production side, Men in Black 3 melts at the British box office, and more...
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The Memorial Day frame wasn't one quite worth remembering for Will Smith, who walked away with the holiday's biggest opening almost by default as The Avengers waned — not a lot, but enough — in its fourth weekend. Meanwhile, the week's other wide release suffered a catastrophic B.O. meltdown en route to sixth place overall. Your special holiday-edition Weekend Receipts are here.
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I’m a sucker for a good time-travel story. I’m also a sucker for a mediocre time-travel story with a stylish veneer or a sense of humor, so I found myself surprisingly captivated by the latest, belated Men in Black sequel. It doesn’t really work, but it does make for a more interesting story than the tedious Exploits with Alien Goo that I remember from the first two Men in Black films. Fortunately, it looks like there might be even better time-travel movies on the horizon. I have high hopes for Looper, which looks somewhat Twelve Monkeys in its mood and time-travel philosophy, and Sundance favorite Safety Not Guaranteed appears to be taking the indie, Dana Scully approach to the conceit. For these and other future efforts, I’m offering four ingredients for a successful time-travel story.
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It would be very easy to show up here and report that Men in Black 3 has no reason to exist, that it’s just another threequel that didn’t have to be made. The truth is a little more complicated: Men in Black 3 — which was, like its two predecessors, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld — is neither as much fun as the first picture in the series nor as totally useless as the second. It has an actual story line, one that’s quite moving in places. And it features a bit of casting that’s pure genius. Men in Black 3 is almost good enough to make you care about its existence. And yet not quite.
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Director Barry Sonnenfeld exudes a nervy confidence that extends from his blithe dismissal of reported troubles in the making of Men in Black 3 (“The story is if the movie works when it’s finished…”) to the navy blue stingray leather cowboy boots he rocked as he sat with Movieline for a chat (“They’re fish. Feel ‘em!”). And with the sci-fi comedy threequel earning pleasing grades from critics, marking box office titan Will Smith’s return to the screen, Sonnenfeld is already basking in another coup — his first, effective, foray into 3-D filmmaking: “I think this is — I’ll just say it — the best use of 3-D.”
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This week marks the big screen return of Will Smith — Hollywood’s most bankable star — after a four year absence from acting, during which time the erstwhile Fresh Prince refocused his personal pursuit of happiness: namely, producing the burgeoning entertainment careers of kids Jaden and Willow Smith, while fine-tuning his own career. So where do you go when you’re already on top — or were, a few films ago? Back to the blockbuster well, if you’re Smith, whose Men in Black 3 headlines the latest step in a lifetime career plan that, he describes, began when he was just a kid himself.
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In the of chance you survived the tsunami of Avengers tie-ins, sample some of this evil marketing genius from Baskin-Robbins: "Pink Surprise Cake - Straight out of one of the most pivotal scenes in Men In Black 3, the Pink Surprise Cake is a delicious triple layer ice cream cake made of Oreo® Cookies 'n Cream ice cream sandwiched between two layers of Devil's Food Cake and adorned with pink frosting roses. This custom cake is sure to capture the imaginations of ice cream lovers and 'MIBelievers' alike! Lunar Cheesecake Flavor of the Month - Lunar Cheesecake is making its way back into Baskin-Robbins shops as the May Flavor of the Month to celebrate the time traveling theme of Men In Black 3! Originally introduced in 1969 to commemorate the first spaceflight to land on the moon, this classic flavor features green and white cheesecake ice cream loaded with cheesecake bits and wrapped up in a crunchy graham cracker ribbon." [PR Newswire]
While talking up this month’s Men in Black III – in which he does an uncanny Tommy Lee Jones impersonation playing Jones’ ‘60s-era younger self – Josh Brolin took a moment to discuss the upcoming project that makes him nervous just to think about: Spike Lee’s Oldboy, the remake of Park Chan-wook’s ultraviolent 2003 film, for which Brolin says he sought Park’s blessing before taking on the Hollywood remake.
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Sony has debuted a new chase scene from their upcoming sci-fi sequel Men in Black III, in which Will Smith and Josh Brolin (playing the young Tommy Lee Jones) hop onto a pair of newfangled high-tech monocycles to chase some alien perps. But where have we seen these super-speedy circular vehicles before? Mr. Garrison, take "It" away...
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