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Weekend Report: 'MIB 3' Beats 'Avengers' With Solid Memorial Debut by Ray Subers May 27, 2012 It's not a great start, but MIB 3 got the job done by finally dethroning mega-blockbuster The Avengers over Memorial Day weekend. Chernobyl Diaries also opened, though it barely made a blip on the radar, while Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom had one of the best limited debuts ever. For the three-day weekend the Top 12 earned an estimated $147.5 million, which is off 32 percent from last year when The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2 ruled. MIB 3 opened to an estimated $55 million this weekend, which is Will Smith's third-highest Friday-Sunday debut ever behind I Am Legend ($77.2 million) and Hancock ($62.6 million). That's not really an apples-to-apples statistic, though, given how many of Mr. Smith's bigger movies didn't opened on Friday. For example, Men in Black II opened on a Wednesday and earned $54.9 million through its first three days in theaters. Adjusting for 10 years of ticket price inflation and 3D ticket prices, MIB 3's initial attendance was significantly lower than that of Men in Black II. That being said, the fact that MIB 3 was about on par with Men in Black II from a revenue perspective is somewhat admirable considering it hit theaters nearly 10 years after that very poorly received second entry (5.8 rating on IMDb) sullied the franchise's reputation. The marketing campaign was fairly effective in conveying that the Men in Black are back with a plot that retains the light-hearted vibe of the original movies while adding a new twist to the mix with time travel. The real credit, though, belongs to star Will Smith—his three-year hiatus may have lost him a few fans, but this opening is solid enough to suggest that his box office drawing power isn't too diminished. Sony is reporting that the audience was 54 percent male and 56 percent over the age of 25, which indicates that families were probably not a huge contributor. The movie received a solid "B+" CinemaScore, which improved to an "A-" among moviegoers under the age of 18. boxofficemojo.com

Starting Friday, rival studios were right on target telling me that MIB3 was falling short of what Hollywood expected for North America or overseas. Barry Sonnenfeld’s/Rick Baker’s latest playing in very wide release at 4,248 theaters opened with $18M Friday and then went up 9% with $19.6M Saturday. “It’s a little less than we hoped for,” a Sony exec admitted to me tonight. So that’s just $56M for the 3-day weekend and only $70M for the 4-day holiday. Not anywhere close to the $90M which Hollywood thought this popular franchise could open its threequel, or even the $80M which Sony expected. Even overseas, depending on who’s analyzing, MIB3 started out as a mixed bag. Sony won’t have an official update until Sunday - Deadline

Opened with $18 million Friday.. Sony is predicting 70 million for the 4 day weekend

Finally saw the video..it was brilliantly done!!

FRIDAY 10 PM UPDATE: A lot is riding on this weekend’s worldwide totals for Will Smith (back at cineplexes after a 4-year hiatus) and Sony Pictures (reviving a decade-long dormant franchise). Yes, Sony’s new #1 Memorial Weekend movie Men In Black 3 will beat Marvel’s The Avengers which is starting its 4th week in domestic release. But I can’t ignore rival studio claims that the 3D scifi laugher is not looking as strong as Hollywood thought for North America or overseas. At first this just seemed to be sour grapes. But now it’s clear that Barry Sonnenfeld’s/Rick Baker’s latest playing in very wide release at 4,248 theaters looks to open in the range of $18M today and only $75M for the 4-day holiday. That’s not anywhere close to the $90M which Hollywood thought this popular franchise could open its threequel. This makes the 5th major studio release that has underperformed at the start of Summer 2012, though not as badly as the others. Even overseas, depending on who’s analyzing, MIB3 is a mixed bag. My Sony sources are quick to point out that it opened bigger in Russia than The Avengers. But rival studios tell me that “despite great tracking internationally, their midweek openings in Australia, France, Korea, and Germany are mostly behind Battleship or John Carter. Weird.” Those are two comps which no studio wants to hear in the same sentence with its summer blockbuster. The reason this is a problem is that MIB3 was very expensive to make. The time travel elements of Etan Cohen’s script had to be re-worked by Jeff Nathanson who needed more time to pull off the tricky plot device. So the film shut down for about six weeks, which is a rarity for a major tentpole. That caused the cost to skyrocket from a range of $225M (which is what Sony claims as the budget) to $300M (which is what rival studios say it really was). Between that and all the gross profit participants, every dollar counts. Overseas, Sony claimed “some fantastic new openings around the world, led by Russia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. Highlights: Russia was ”a sensational, dominant #1 opening grossing $3.5M, accounting for 85% of the box office. This is bigger than the opening day of Avengers and is Sony’s biggest opening day of all time.” In line with Russia’s opening, Ukraine scored a big $314K and headed to finish with 3 times the opening weekend box office of Mission: Impossible 4. United Arab Emirates took in $427K, tracking 50% above Will Smith’s Hancock. Latin America also tracked ahead of M:I4’s opening weekend with the big markets of Brazil and Mexico opening tonight. Yesterday Argentina took in $217K, Peru $134K, and Chile $62K. In Asia, Sony had strong openings in Malaysia $369K, Hong Kong $341K, and Singapore $290K which should end up above M:I4 as well as Pirates 4 come Sunday. Tonight Sony doesn’t sound worried. “All around the world, the feeling is there is a big family audience which will be coming out over the weekend. While Western Europe continues to work to overcome some beautiful weather, we have the benefit of a holiday on Monday in various markets which should help boost our Sunday results there.” As for North America, ”Give us sometime to breathe here and wait for the kids to come out. Today will be good but Sat-Sun-Mon great.” MIB3 will be helped by good word of mouth with audiences giving it a ‘B+’ CinemaScore (‘A-’ from those under age 18). Holdover The Avengers (3,918 theaters) is a solid #2 with about $9.5M today and $45M this 4-day weekend as the Disney movie’s foreign gross hits $752M foreign and $478M domestic coming into this weekend for a global cume of $1.2B. High hopes for writer/producer Oren Peli and his Paranormal Activity-pedigreed horror newcomer Chernobyl Diaries (2,433 theaters) deflated a bit with a dreaded ‘D+’ CinemaScore from audiences. But tonight Alcon Entertainment’s genre acquisition according to distributor Warner Bros should open to $3.5M this weekend. Other studios are predicting less and agree on a mediocre $11.5M for the weekend. It made more than Universal’s Battleship (3,702 theaters) today sinking -69% from a week ago and Paramount’s disappointing holdover The Dictator (3,014 theaters). Here’s the Top Ten (based on Friday estimates). Full analysis in the AM: 1. Men in Black 3 3D (Columbia/Sony) NEW [4,248 Theaters] PG13 Friday $18M, 4-Day Weekend $75M 2. Marvel’s The Avengers 3D (Disney) Week 4 [3,918 Theaters] PG13 Friday $9.5M, 4-Day Weekend $45M, Cume $523.5M 3. Chernobyl Diaries (Alcon/Warner Bros) NEW [2,433 Theaters] R Friday $3.5M, 4-Day Weekend $11.5M 3. Battleship (Universal) Week 2 [3,702 Theaters] PG13 Friday $2.8M (-69%), 4-Day Weekend $13.5M, Cume $43.3M 5. The Dictator (Paramount) Week 2 [3,014 Theaters] R Friday $2.6M (-53%), 4-Day Weekend $11.5M, Cume $43.3M 6. Dark Shadows 3D (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,404 Theaters] PG13 Friday $2.1M, 4-Day Weekend $9.5M, Cume $65.0M 7. What To Expect When You’re Expecting (Lionsgate) Week 2 [3,021 Theaters] PG13 Friday $2.1M (-43%), 4-Day Weekend $9.0M, Cume $24.0M 8. Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight) Week 4 [1,233 Theaters] PG13 Friday $1.8M, 4-Day Weekend $9.0M, Cume $17.9M 9. The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) Week 10 [1,421 Theaters] PG13 Friday $625K, 4-Day Weekend $2.7M, Cume $395.7M 10. Think Like A Man (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 6 [786 Theaters] PG13 Friday$450K, 4-Day Weekend $2.0M, Cume $88.9M FRIDAY AM: This will be the first weekend in a month that Marvel’s The Avengers has not dominated North American box office as #1. Instead, Sony Pictures’ Men in Black 3 is anticipated to top today at a giant release in 4,248 runs for the start of Memorial Weekend as Will Smith returns to the cineplex after a long hiatus. This is his first major starring role in four years, and what could have been a tired franchise was freshened by a time travel plot and Josh Brolin. The studio just announced the scifi comedy made $1.5M for its first midnight showings in 2,233 locations calling it “Good. Expect a big day today, and kids to drive a huge Saturday-Sunday-Monday.” Hollywood believes the popular laugher can scare up as much as $80M-$90M domestic and north of $200M worldwide for the four-day holiday. Meanwhile Alcon Entertainment’s horror genre acquisition Chernobyl Diaries distributed domestically by Warner Bros posted a larger than expected midnight opening with $525K from 1,325 locations. “This result is at the very high end of all horror comps,” an exec emailed me. ”Stay tuned… It could beat tracking for the weekend.” Immediately Hollywood began revising up its $15M estimates for the film whose theater count is 2,433 this weekend. Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here. Get the latest Industry news sent straight to your Wall.

So they did do brand new funk! That was the best video so far!! When jjfp do brand new funk..they show they still got it!

Hang on guys you can't blame the weather..this is Wills first movie in 4 years..on opening day I expect to see a movie in a full cinema...it was for I an legend, Hancock, hitch, pursuit of happiness, I robot, bad boys 2... If we are all having the same experience and it's quiet then this is a flop...

Got the European numbers off the forum of hsx.com .. It's also not doing too well in Australia... I was surprised how few people were in the cinema for the opening day

Naa I don't think they did brand new funk..it was just MIB/fpoba & summertime

Domestic: $175,300,000 29.0% + Foreign: $445,600,000 71.0% = Worldwide: $620,000,000

fresh prince of bel air theme is so good live!

Unless Will commits to doing an album with Jeff..and goes into the studio with him for a month it will probably never happen.

You've got to understand how old Will is now..why wouldn't his kids be a priority? As AJ said he's already made music..it looks like we won't be hearing it anytime soon though

Joined by Terrence J and Rocsi, Will dropped a little freestyle, impressing the hosts before being asked by Terrence whether he would consider doing another music album. ''You know what it is, there's too many other people making music in my house right now...you know, so...I'm really inspired by the movies...and its taking a lot of my time, you know, producing Jaden's stuff, producing Willow's stuff, and my oldest son Trey....so, it's taking a lot of time doing that. So maybe.''

http://www.delmarvan...ENT11/205240398 DEWEY BEACH -- When the much-touted new dance club Ivy hosts its grand opening on the site of the former Venus on the Half-Shell restaurant this weekend, the music will be provided by a disc jockey who is a household name. DJ Jazzy Jeff, aka 47-year-old Jeff Townes, is a turntable pioneer in the world of hip-hop. As half of the Philadelphia-based duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, he played the foil to rapper Will Smith. Their massive success in the music world in the mid-'80s led to acting roles for both of them on the long-running television sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Townes is now a Delawarean. Speaking from his New Castle County home, he answered a few questions for The Beachcomber shortly after returning from a grueling run of shows overseas. How was the tour? It was excellent, but it was definitely tiring. I'm glad to be home. I was in the UK, Romania; I did a week-and-a-half in the Middle East. It's always amazing. I've been getting offers to do international touring since before I even started doing solo things in the states, which was a surprise. I was like, 'Are they sure they want me?' I can't even pronounce the names of some of the cities I've played in Russia. I'll show up and there will be 2,000 screaming kids who just want to hear good music. Is the reaction different from country to country? No. It just goes to show how universal music is. Even here in the states? I see on your schedule that you're in Las Vegas later this month. Actually, Vegas is a little different. There's a different vibe because most of the people don't live there. If they're on vacation, then their whole mindset is different because they came to have a good time all day and all night. I enjoy that. I imagine that's what the vibe will be like at the beach. What can people expect in Dewey? Bring a towel, because you're gonna sweat. I'm a very old-school DJ. I believe there are two kinds of music -- good and bad. You're gonna hear everything from Led Zeppelin to TV show theme songs. You'll hear rock and hip-hop, things you're familiar with and a few things you're not familiar with. My job is to make people dance, and I like to think I'm very good at what I do. How did this gig come about? Ever since I moved to Delaware, I've told my friends I'd like to do something at the beach. Some of the clubs have 1,000 people per night packed in there regardless of what's going on, so I figured they didn't really need a DJ. I always thought it would be cool, though. Then my road manager contacted me out of the blue recently and said, 'There is an offer in from one of the Delaware beaches.' I was surprised. I'm really looking forward to it. Do you hang out at the beach? Yeah, me and my wife take our kids down there. It's fun walking around and getting to know the area. Growing up in Philly, I always went to Atlantic City, Wildwood and Cape May. Occasionally, we'd go to Ocean City, Md. The Delaware beaches are nice. How did you wind up moving to Delaware? I had a friend who moved to Delaware a long time ago. I would visit and we'd all go shopping. As you get older, you start to pay attention to your surroundings a little more. In Delaware, the real estate is much more reasonable. Usually the athletes and people in Philly end up moving to Jersey, but Delaware has much lower taxes, which is a deal-maker. Now I have seven or eight friends who have also moved to Delaware. Is it true you and Will had a demo tape of "Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble" floating around the Tri-State area back when you were still in high school? Not a demo, but maybe someone made a live tape before we had a record deal. That would be something I'd like to hear. Will and I used to perform at parties before we ever recorded anything. We would take that Art of Noise song "Moments of Love" and Will would basically rap overtop of that whole record. Then we eventually added the "I Dream of Jeannie" samples and stuff in the studio. We were extremely young and didn't think to ask people for permission when we sampled things. It was so early in the days of hip-hop that everything was kind of under the radar. You have a new project with a female singer named Ayah. How is that going? Good. I'm mixing a full-length album for later this year. There isn't any record company or corporate structure, so we're doing whatever we want to do. It's music without barriers. Any plans to record with Will? It's hard. Will is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Every time we're on the phone, he talks about wanting to go back into the studio, but his schedule is crazy. I'm doing the "Men in Black III" movie premiere with him in New York. Every time we have the opportunity to do something, we do it. We can go a year without performing together and then get back up on stage without missing a beat. People are always surprised how tight our shows are, but we can read each other's thoughts at this point. I can tell what Will's thinking just by reading his body language. You were featured in the video game "DJ Hero." How did your family react? My son absolutely loved it. 'Hey, Dad is in a video game!' Beyond even that, I loved it. I always swore I would remain a kid at heart, and I'm holding onto that.

Haha loved how Will got the timing wrong on the verses of summertime..he needs more practice!

Just got back from the movie..I enjoyed it! There was only about 10 people in a 400 seat cinema which i thought was strange..haven't been in something like that for a will movie since wild wild west..it was a bit of a rough start to the movie but Josh Brolin really is great..Barry sonnenfield can't do comedy..it wasn't that funny like wild wild west and mib2..but the story was good..and he makes the movie look fantastic..he's a good director for action scenes and making a film look nice for sure..it was great to see Will on the big screen after so long! And a nice twist at the end. Jermaine clement as Boris was only okay..it shows how huge Vincent donofrio was in the first men in black..he was a key ingredient to the originals success.. If there was a mib4 with will & josh Brolin I'd go see it. Fun movie. And I really liked the griffin character

There is some great photos on twitter of JJFP performing, Charlie Mack was posting photos, they did Summertime & Brand New Funk. Hopefully some more photos and videos come out from the show!

I like the Penny arcade one hah

Great.. you got a good chance of winning this!

Will's coming .. from da south!!

interesting article..but Hitch had the same problems..and so did Bad Boys..so really the end result is all that matters..and it looks like we got a good movie

sure beats KSmith!!

On Location Tours is celebrating MIB Hearts NYC Day on Wednesday, May 23rd by inviting movie fans on the signature New York TV & Movie Sites tour. The unique tour gives MIB lovers the chance to follow in the footsteps of Agents J and K, passing by MIB headquarters and other locations from all three Men in Black films. Movie buffs that come dressed in their best Men in Black chic will be treated to official Men In Black 3 prizes and giveaways courtesy of Colombia Pictures. Mention discount code 'MIB' for 20% off reservations booked for May 23 - May 27, as On Location Tours celebrates the theatrical release of Men In Black 3 all weekend long. To win a free double pass to the tour just reply to this forum thread with your answer to the question, "Which celebrity is obviously an alien?" and the best answer wins. Competition closes May 22nd.