North America Box-Office, Weekend 21-29 June

Men In Black 3 storm to the top as The Avengers is finally toppled over the Memorial Weekend.

The superheroes reign at the top finally came to an end as The Avengers was toppled by Will Smith and Men in Black 3.

A decade between alien adventures, Agent J (Smith) is forced to travel back in time to 1969 and the eve of the Apollo 11 launch. His mission is to save the life of partner Agent K – Tommy Lee Jones – and ensure the safety of the Earth.

Men in Black 3 recorded, marginally, the best opening weekend of the series with $54.6 million, although audience figures were, taking into account inflation, the lowest, but with a more than respectable $69.3 million four-day holiday weekend and excellent returns around the world, it’s already tracking to overtake the second in the series.

Top five films

It’s lost its throne, but after four weeks, The Avengers dropped a mere 35% to $37.7 million. And that meant more box-office records for the superheroes, including the fastest film in history to reach $500 million – just 23 days. James Cameron’s Avatar had previously held that particular record with 32 days and The Dark Knight 45 days.

In its second week, Battleship crumbled by 58% to $12 million, whilst The Dictator held slightly better, falling 47% to $9.3 million and a $41.1 million total.

The second major opening of the weekend, horror feature Chernobyl Diaries struggled to a shade under $8 million – a long way from writer/producer Oren Peli’s normal success. The Israeli-born filmmaker is better known for his $100 million+ box-office Paranormal Activity series.

Holdovers and limited releases

The big news of the weekend other than MiB3 toppling The Avengers is the mammoth opening of Moonrise Kingdom.

Direct from opening the 2012 Cannes Festival, the latest from Wes Anderson, starring Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bill Murray and Oscar-winners Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, recorded an astonishing $523,000 on just four screens. Its $130,700 average is the highest in history for a live action feature.

On any other weekend, the French sensation The Intouchables and its $25,900 average on four screens would have easily been the screen average champ. But not this weekend.

Having already notched up a mammoth $345 million on limited release (including $166 million at its home box-office), The Intouchables is currently the second most successful non-English language film in history. Pole position is held by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which collected $612 million back in 2004.

Elsewhere, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel increased its screen count to 1230 from 350 and saw a $6.4 million total for the weekend, pushing it to an overall $16.6 million.

Animation giant Dr Seuss’ The Lorax recorded, for the third successive weekend, a small increase – 3.7% and $475,000 – and saw its overall total climb to $210.8 million.

Top of the foreign language films was Norwegian thriller Headhunters with $125,000, faring considerably better than its compatriot at this week’s Eurovision Song Contest, which finished in last place with null points.

With MiB3 and The Avengers posting good numbers, the weekend box-office picked up $146.3 million for the three-day weekend ($185.2 million for four days), up 7.8% on last weekend but down some 30% for the same time last year when The Hangover Part II and King Fu Panda 2 both opened.

Top five films at the North American box-office, weekend 21-28  june 

1. Men in Black 4 (Sony), $55.6 million ($55.6 million)
2. The Avengers (Buena Vista), $37.7 million ($513.4 million)
3. Battleship (Universal), $11 million ($44.6 million)
4. The Dictator (Paramount), $9.3 million ($41.1 million)
5. Chernobyl Diaries (Warner), $8 million ($8 million)

Top five films at the North American box-office, 4-day Memorial Weekend 23-29 june 

1. Men in Black 4 (Sony), $68.8 million ($68.9million)
2. The Avengers (Buena Vista), $47.2 million ($523.9 million)
3. Battleship (Universal), $13.9 million ($47.4 million)
4. The Dictator (Paramount), $11.5 million ($43.3 million)
5. Dark Shadows (Warner), $9.4 million ($64.9 million)