'Men in Black 3'

Box office update: 'Men in Black 3' earns $18 million on Friday; 'Avengers' holds strong

by Grady Smith 5-26-2012

After 10 years away from the big screen, the alien-hunting Men In Black (Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and now, Josh Brolin) are back on top of the box office.
Men In Black 3 ended The Avengers‘ 21-day reign in first place with an $18 million Friday, which puts
the $230 million action-comedy on track for a four-day weekend take of $72 million. Sure, that number sounds strong, but don’t be deceived — the sequel cost an egregious amount of money and should have had a bigger built-in audience than this.
That gross pushed The Avengers into second place, but the superhero ensemble still pulled in $9.7 million on its fourth Friday. That puts The Avengers on track for a $45-50 million take by Monday, and with $486.4 stored up already, it has a good shot of passing $500 million tonight.
In third, the Oren Peli-produced horror horror flick Chernobyl Diaries got off to a weak start with just $3.5 million on Friday. Chernobyl will have to settle for about $11 million.
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Holdovers Battleship and The Dictator stuck around in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Battleship continued to disappoint with just $3 million (a troubling drop of 66 percent from its opening Friday), which may lead to a $11 million weekend. The Dictator, meanwhile, grossed $2.8 million on its way to a likely $10.5 million frame.
Further down the chart, British comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earned a sturdy $1.6 million following a wide expansion. The sleeper hit may take in about $8 million.
1. Men In Black 3 — $18.0 million
2. The Avengers — $9.7 million
3. Chernobyl Diaries — $3.5 million
4. Battleship –  $3.0 million
5. The Dictator — $2.0 million
Stay tuned to EW for more box office coverage over the holiday weekend, and follow me on Twitter for up-to-the-minute box office updates.