SUMMER SLUMP? Will Smith’s ‘MIB3′ Slows To $70M Memorial Weekend; Fifth Major Movie To Disappoint; Global Cume $203.2M; ‘Avengers’ Still Setting Box Office Records

COMMENTS (245)

• I’m not a huge fan of this franchise but the time travel plot is inspired.

  Comment by Biowulf — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:09am PDT  Reply to this post

  • I can’t believe MIB3 cost 225 million, let alone 300 million. Someone tell me those numbers are off.

    John Carter was a decent movie…..for a hundred million.

    What the hell is going on with Hollywood nowadays?

    Comment by Chuck — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 11:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • When you have the likes of Duncan Jones, Neil Blomkamp, and even Josh Trank getting good SF out there at a fraction of that cost, it’s a valid question Chuck.

      Comment by ROclockCK — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 8:00am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Duncan Jones is about nepotism. Leave him out.

        The younger generation that didn’t grow up with Fresh Prince — both young people here and overseas kids — don’t care about Will Smith. He doesn’t make good movies, just makes money.

        If he did Django, would it turn off his base? Maybe. But it would endear him to a new generation of filmgoers. That movie is going to make so much money. INGLORIOUS made a ton, and DJANGO will be incredible. Whites will see it, blacks will see it, overseas audiences will see it.

        I didn’t even like the first MEN IN BLACK, though it did get good reviews. But as everyone has said in the press and in LA, this was sequel no one was asking for. Will Smith makes bad movies. And his kind of annoying these days.

        Comment by lso — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 12:23pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • If Duncan Jones was about nepotism, surely he’d be calling himself Duncan Bowie?

          Comment by Matthew — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 6:06pm PDT  

        • Smith would have been smart to take on DJANGO. Not as a “comeback” role, but as a way to turbocharge a stellar but maturing career. It pains my inner fanboy to imagine a Tarantino film almost electrified by the the star wattage of Will Smith, especially paired with DiCaprio. (I think similar thoughts when I watch the bug-eyed Eli Roth chew scenery as the “Bear Jew,” the INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS role turned down by Adam Sandler.)

          Comment by Johnny Ringo — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 7:02pm PDT  

        • I saw MIB3 and the others. I totally disagree with your dislike of Will Smith or this franchise. This is a good movie, good plot and pacing. Josh Brolin as “K” (Tommy Lee Jones) is authentic. I recommend MIB3 and I hope it does very well at the box office.

          Comment by mike — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 10:36pm PDT  

        • Smith playing in Django would have drawn too many comparisons to “Wild Wild West”.

          Regardless of quality or pedigree, the short-sighted and obnoxiously repetitive people of the internet would have never let that go.

          Comment by ... no. — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 11:29pm PDT  

        • No one care about being endeared by a new generation.Django is just something Tarantino fanboys wanted Smith to do, not something that would have added anything to his career.As for Django making a ton of money, you are in a fantasy world with that statment.Transformer made a ton of money.Avatar made a ton of money.Inception made a ton of money.Inglourious Basterds made 120 million domestic, 321 million worldwide.While that’s not chump change, it isn’t enough to rank within Will Smith top five box office grosses and will most likely be outgross by MIB 3.With that said, MIB 3 looks awful to me, but that is not reason to bring up that Django as so sort of great alternative.The only people who think Django is going to be great is Quentin Tarantino fanboys lost in their own Delusion.Tarantino has made one great film to go alone with a bunch of garbage and overhype mediocre.Inglourious Basterds being the biggest case of overhyped mediocre.Smith was smart to not get near Django, and I doubt Dicaprio will be attached to it for long.Smith should pick better films and work with better directors, but Django isn’t that film and Tarantino isn’t that director.

          Comment by Redmenace — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 11:43pm PDT  

        • “Smith was smart to not get near Django, and I doubt Dicaprio will be attached to it for long.”

          Considering DiCaprio has already been filming Django, I have a feeling he will be attached to it for long.

          Comment by Impeccable Research! — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 8:01am PDT  

        • Duncan Jones is about nepotism? that is insane. He’s not some 21 year old kid – he’s been around for a while. And how much influence do aging rock stars have over Hollywood? Id’ say Duncan earned any cred he is getting.

          Comment by James — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 9:39am PDT  

        • Django is going to make a lot of money (no, not Transformers money) but it also will be a great film, unlike Transformers or any summer blockbuster crap. Michael Bay is a joke. Peter Berg is a joke.

          Comment by jackson — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 6:28pm PDT  

    • Bro John Carter was like 250-300 million to make and promote!
      I haven’t seen Battleship or MIB3 but the Avengers kicked ass

      Comment by mike — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 7:17pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • John Carter was the biggest loss ever for Disney. Production and marketing cost on John Carter was over 200 million, and they only did about 30 million in the box-office. It was horrible. It was a rotten script, and CGI can’t save a rotten script.

      As for MIB3, the numbers are down for a couple of reasons — They wait too long to deliver MIB sequels, for one thing. For another thing, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones aren’t valuable properties anymore. Hence the introduction of Josh Brolin in MIB3.

      Comment by Charles Austin Miller — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 9:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • i liked John Carter but the studio helped to sabotage it by not titling it “John Carter OF MARS” “John Carter” the name means nothing without the Mars. They hurt themselves.

      Comment by mike — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 10:38pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • I would love someone to breakdown why this cost so much. Profit participations don’t factor into costs, just profits. EFX is getting so cheap these days they have to stop going to the top studios for that.
      Even if Smith gets top dollar, Jones and Brolin can’t.

      Hollywood indulging themselves because the studios can’t say no.

      Comment by bruce — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 6:19am PDT  Reply to this post

      • For one thing, for Smith to even walk on the set, he was paid… UPFRONT… around $85 million. Plus he gets a hefty end of the back end. And yes, that is a real and true number and yes, I would know.

        Couple that with the fact they had to stop production to “fix” the script for six weeks and I can EASILY see how it cost that much.

        Even though below the line people are paid on a weekly basis and technically can be laid off when there is no work, you better believe they got the best of the best for ALL of that work. Those people can not only command higher rates, but can command a contract that says they get paid during any production hiatus.

        So yeah, it probably cost even more than they are saying.

        Comment by anonymous — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 12:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • I think 85 sounds right for his total compensation but no way did he get that up front. Perhaps it was guaranteed money in some way but no chance he got 85 mil day one.

          Comment by Skeptic — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 6:44pm PDT  

        • Yes. He got it. Day one.

          He never wanted to do the film so countered back in negotiations with an outrageous number thinking they would say no. They said yes.

          And stuff like that happens all the time. If an actor doesn’t want to do a film, they will price themselves way high, hoping Hollywood will say no. Sometimes they say yes. And that’s what happened.

          Comment by anonymous — Wednesday May 30, 2012 @ 9:29am PDT  

    • I agree. That seems insanely high.

      Comment by David Laprad — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 2:14am PDT  Reply to this post

    • The problem is, Hollywood is spending money like the US Government. All the “quality” is wrapped up in special effects, and to a lesser extent some acting talent; the quality is CERTAINLY not reflected in the writing and stories. Too Bad, so sad.

      Comment by Big Daddy — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 8:23am PDT  Reply to this post

      • It’s because H-woods not buying quality scripts with the good writing or stories. It’s all about explosions & fluff. They keep bringing in the tired same old, same old. Successful franchises were once a sure bet, not so much anymore. American audience is not as jaded as we make them out to be. We need fresh voices, new writers.

        Comment by realitycheck — Tuesday May 29, 2012 @ 11:34am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Hollywood studios claim fake inflated budgets to steal money from investors, producers, directors, actors and to evade taxes.
      Also all movies get some huge tax cuts when filming. So even if any of those claimed budget was true it needed to be discounted by no less than 50%.

      Comment by frank5869 — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 8:58am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Exactly, at least somebody understands what’s really going on.

        Comment by Troublemaker — Tuesday May 29, 2012 @ 4:20am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Chuck – just stay in the theater until the very end of the credits, instead of leaving when they start. You’ll quickly see why movies cost $250-300 million these days. Hundreds and hundreds (if not over 1,000 on some) of workers who all need to be paid. Yes, the stars jack it up a pretty penny, but it’s all the other people “needed” that drive it up. Hollywood has forgotten how to make low budget movies with fewer people. And by low budget, I mean under $100 million.

      Comment by Bob — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 3:37pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Back in the day, there was an MiB animated series. I believe there was a story involving Agent K in trouble do to time travel.

    Comment by Todd — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 7:01am PDT  Reply to this post

  • For me, I’m just plain tired of Will Smith.

    Comment by chester — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 10:32am PDT  Reply to this post

  • MOONRISE KINGDOM did 127,250 per SCREEEN in just 4 theatres for a total of…………….

    $509,000.

    now that’s a nice per screen average!!!!

    Comment by 90ina30 — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 10:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I caught a screening last night. The movie is pretty damn good. Hated the second one. This one is funny.

  Comment by Well — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:09am PDT  Reply to this post

  • I’m glad you like it. Apparently, this 3rd installment has been getting great reviews across the board. I am sorta interested in seeing it, but I agree with you that the second one was so bad that I’m still hesitant.

    Comment by Zach — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:25am PDT  Reply to this post

    • It’s totally worth seeing, as someone who felt betrayed and hurt by the poor quality of the second film i understand your hesitance to see this threequel but by avoiding it youd be doing yourself a great disservice as this is a purely fun, enjoyable, hilarious film. While it never quite reaches the heights of the first installment it comes damn close and soars above the dismal sequel by leaps and bounds.

      Go see it, i think youll be pleasntly surprised.

      Comment by jacobqueen — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 3:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • “felt betrayed and hurt”

        what are you a chick? its just a stupid movie. get over it.

        Comment by steve22 — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 9:28am PDT  Reply to this post

        • grow up, steve

          Comment by cookmeyer1970 — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 11:15am PDT  

      • “While it never quite reaches the heights of the first installment”

        Men in Black was a fun, sub-par, forgettable blockbuster at best. Let’s not act like this is Indiana Jones we’re talking about…

        Comment by College Student — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 3:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • Agreed. I’ve never understood the gushing praise the first movie got. It was okay at best.

          Comment by Patrick — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 2:59pm PDT  

      • MIB 3 is way better than Avengers and i am not a Will Smith or MIB franchise fan…and i have nothing against Avengers. It’s just not as good as MIB 3.

        Comment by Jenny — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 11:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • You might not be a Will Smith/MIB fan however you are either stupid or an intern for Sony posting drivel like that.

          Comment by RicardoCabeza — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 2:57pm PDT  

  • We just saw MIB3 and it was pretty good. Better than 2, not as good as 1. As a girl I have to say I loved the Awwwww moment at the end. Very poignant. Loved the action. The bad guy was great and the I agree, as a Dr. Who fan I think the Time Travel thing was inspired. The only thing that would have made it better I think would have been more of those inside joke side shots of people we all “know” are really “aliens” However it would have probably jacked the price to high on the film. Also, would have been hilarious to have one of the current or past Doctors make a guest appearance. Would have been brilliant.

    Comment by Mary — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 7:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Actually it was quite boring and not as good as I thought it would have been. My friend almost fell asleep at one point.

    Comment by Miss Manager — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 9:38am PDT  Reply to this post

• With schools wrapping up across the nation that figure does not look good. Of course Friday could still be decent….but Will Smith’s big return you’d think people would be out to see it.

  Comment by Jax — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:16am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Last time Will Smith was a movie star, the kids who are just getting out of school now were in kindergarten. His time has passed, that’s all. Happens to everyone. Ask Harrison Ford.

    Comment by Ed — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 4:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

• *Insert ‘Price is Right’ losing horn here*

  Comment by Well.. — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:18am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Funniest comment ever!

    Comment by Skin — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• I personally loved Men in Black 3. It was the first one in the entire serious I could relax and just enjoy watching. If you have to see one movie this holiday weekend then see Marvel’s The Avengers, If you are going to see two of them then see Men In Black III. It is the best in the series and a solid B+!

  Comment by Nathan Rose — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:30am PDT  Reply to this post

• It’s still too early to know but because of the holiday it still could meet expectations because unlike Battleship, MIB is getting strong reviews and has a chance to grab younger audiences

  Comment by John — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:33am PDT  Reply to this post

• With that midnight gross, Men in Black 3 should go a bit higher than Clash of the Titans’ $61 million start for the three-day, with perhaps close to $80 million for the four-day, altogether in line w/expectations.

  Comment by Blake — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:42am PDT  Reply to this post

  • that wont happen. besides $90 mil is expectations.

    Comment by steve22 — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 9:34am PDT  Reply to this post

• I only saw the first 7-10 minutes before walking out of ‘MiB 3′ and asking for my money back. Hardly enough to judge a movie, but I felt like another 80 minutes of unfunny jokes and a villain I could not possibly care less about failed to be worthy of my Friday morning.

  Comment by Jeff — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:48am PDT  Reply to this post

  • You went to see a 9 a.m. movie on a Friday morning, left after seven minutes, then went straight home to rag about it on Deadline?

    I have to ask — who are you? what do you do for a living?

    and I have to ask — was MIB III really so different than what you were expecting? what were you expecting?

    Comment by bobbyg — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 11:25am PDT  Reply to this post

    • “was MIB III really so different than what you were expecting? what were you expecting?”

      That was my mistake. I barely cared for the first and despised the second, but then again so did a lot of people who will see the film this weekend. The way it was marketed made it look more appealing to me than previous outings, or maybe I just missed Will Smith.

      Comment by Jeff — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 6:58pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • “I barely cared for the first and despised the second…”

        Yet you went to the first show opening weekend and paid movie theater dollars. I hafta say Jeff, you’re either an awful liar or not the sharpest tool in the shed.

        Comment by Chuck — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 3:09am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Bobbyg has a point – heck, if you’d stayed for even another half an hour, you’d still have had most of your Friday…..but if you disliked the first two that much, why’d you even go? At 9 am??

        Comment by herhusband — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 10:28am PDT  Reply to this post

  • You blew it. Once J gets to the 60′s its golden.

    Comment by Flick — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 11:37am PDT  Reply to this post

  • You sir are a liar. No one in their right mind goes to see the third movie of a series they hated at 9:00 in the morning. Clearly you either work for another studio or are so pathetic and have no life that you made this kind of shit up just to amuse yourself. Or maybe Will Smith killed your dog. I don’t know, but you’re so full of shit your eyes are brown.

    Comment by Mark — Monday May 28, 2012 @ 9:19am PDT  Reply to this post

• It gets better especially when he time travels. The beginning is pretty bad, but I ultimately liked it.

  Comment by Addie — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 10:04am PDT  Reply to this post

  • and not just the 60′s… but the end too… totally didn’t see it coming– moved to tears… the kid’s performance was great… makes me want to see the movie again…

    Comment by tom berman — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 2:56pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Early International numbers are pretty dire, with the exception of Latin America. If the good weather in Europe persists and Australia and Asia don’t pick up from where they are, this might end up worse than MIB2 (China excluded).

  Comment by crazy fox — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 10:13am PDT  Reply to this post

• I saw Battleship last night… I know a lot of the negative talk was on Taylor – but I disagree. I thought he was fine. The blame is squarely on the shoulders of Pete Berg. Using a large canvas for a lazy playground is insulting. Casting Rihanna is an insult to movie-goers. While I like to look at Brooklyn and she was fine…. opening a movie where a hot blond like her walks into a pub alone at 11pm looking for a chicken burrito! WTF! How stupid can this be.
  And that soccer game being broadcast like the super bowl? Huh? And a year later a 26 year old kid is the commander of a ship? Huh?
  Berg putting himself in the movie – oh, so narcissistically Michael Bay of you.
  I was insulted.
  I like Taylor Kitsch tho…

  Comment by marge — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 10:22am PDT  Reply to this post

  • You blame everyone/everything but Taylor Kitsch. What’s your excuse for why John Carter failed? Marketing was a huge part of it, but a better, more charismatic actor could have pulled that off.

    Comment by Wicked — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 2:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Kitsch was tofu in John Carter. Complete tofu. I might blame the director, except the leading lady brought the magnetism and charisma to her thankless role. If she can do it, what’s Kitsch’s excuse?

      Comment by JD — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 4:20pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • John Carter suffered from “Let’s be PC” .. they did a poll asking wymen what they thought of the name and the replied the of MARS part made it too chauvinistic sounding.. so the ever PC idiots at Disney changed it to simply.. John Carter.. which cut the feet out of the interest from anyone not familiar with the story..

      Comment by ask — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 11:19pm PDT  Reply to this post

• MIB should do 100 million especially with the 3D ticket prices. This is the biggest holiday movie weekend of the year. If they can’t get to 100 M then there’s something wrong somewhere.

  Comment by Anonymous — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 10:26am PDT  Reply to this post

  • $100m? You’re not serious, are you? This franchise is an anachronism; the first film was mildly amusing back in 1997, but the concept had been run into the ground by countless other movies and comics and TV shows long before MIB2 was released.

    Apparently, Sony forgot nobody liked the sequel. If they wanted to cash in on whatever love remained for the original, they should have made their move in 2005, at the latest. Releasing another film ten years later, especially one with such a threadbare premise, feels like an afterthought.

    Comment by DK — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 8:44pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • it doesnt matter if “nobody liked the sequel” it made $440 mil

      Comment by steve22 — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 9:46am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Actually a sequel’s success has a lot to do with whether or not people liked the movie that came before it.

        All that $440 million says is that a lot of people liked the original and were suckered into paying money to see the inferior MIB2.

        Comment by College Student — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 3:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • The point was that any movie with this budget, start power, franchise history, 3D pricing, etc. *should* be making $100 easily on a four day holiday weekend that has previously seen mammoth grosses.

      Comment by Stefan — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 3:27pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • DK, you sound like you havent actually seen MIB 3.

      Comment by JB — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 11:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • You’re right: I haven’t seen it. Maybe Sony should look into that: How come someone who didn’t like MIB2 is reluctant to see MIB3?

        Comment by DK — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 6:32am PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m sick of Will Smith.

  His age has caught up to his fame and they both dwarf his talent.

  Intouchables here I come.

  Comment by Gruber — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 10:26am PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m not so excited about MIB3. I’m more inclined to watch Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Heard great things about it.

  Comment by Kiki — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 10:53am PDT  Reply to this post

  • I highly recommend Best Exotic Marigold Hotel! My girlfriend and I went and saw it last week and it was a very well written and funny movie. It was also fun to be the youngest person in the audience again. I give it an A and you can trust me because I am an anonymous internet commenter!

    Comment by Frogman — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 11:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • I highly recommend “Bernie.” I liked the way Linklater used some of the real townspeople in roles.

      Comment by Victoria — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 5:30am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Totally agree. And by the way, probably one of the most profitable movie of the year. Micro budget and will gross over $100m around the world, with ease.

      Comment by Art — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 8:07am PDT  Reply to this post

    • I totally agree with Frogman. I saw “Marigold” Friday night and it was an amazingly good film, and not just for a low-budget indie. All the Brit actors we’ve come to admire were in it (Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith). Okay, so the cast was more AARP than “A-list of the moment,” but the acting was across-the-board wonderful. And as a foreign location, India can’t be beat for native color. John Madden has a winner in this one. I’m suggesting here that Dench might be up for a supporting-actor Oscar come awards time.

      Comment by Rick — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 12:49am PDT  Reply to this post

  • I saw Marigold last weekend. Its wonderful. Last night I saw Intouchables- I loved it . They filmed alot of MIB3 in my neighborhood and just watching that was enough for me .

    Comment by joe — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 9:22am PDT  Reply to this post

    • It will be interesting to see how films like Marigoild and Intouchables do this summer.

      Last year “Midnight in Paris” settled into a lot of smaller Cinemaplex halls, and did pretty excellent business for quite a while. Hopefully, since so many multiplex theaters have 8 to 10 screens these days, there’s no reason why some decent movies with realistic budgets can’t get successful runs for a few weeks in theater #7 or theater #8 down at the end of the hall.

      Unless the superhero movies suck the air out of everything and this summer becomes a single plotline narrative.

      Comment by SMP Belltown — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 10:21am PDT  Reply to this post

• Much better than 2…it’s funny the 2nd and 3rd act that got so much press for rewrites…is actually the BEST part of the film. I enjoyed it a lot

  Comment by Watcher — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 11:33am PDT  Reply to this post

• I have a bad feeling that they’re going to be sorely disappointed when the film fails to deliver at the b.o. It has the whiff of “sequel desperation,” the kiss of death.

  And Barry Sonnenfeld’s style is passe — he’s a great director and kicked butt in the 80s and 90s, but this is just not his era.

  Comment by Gangsta Lean — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 12:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Yeah well, I told you so. We need mib to buffer the bloodbath that will be asm. That film has been a pain in the ass all year- every test screening was a nightmare, even when they took out 20 minutes, and it scored even worse, until they essentially made up an “audience”, and even now, its crap.

  Amy won’t let the ship sink, but alas, there are things even Amy can’t control.

  Comment by Gold finger — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 12:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I know. I’m wondering just how bad it will be. I don’t know anyone who wants to see it, and it just reeks of desperation. I hope it doesn’t destroy the franchise but rather just provides a good wake up call.

    Comment by Zach — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 1:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Its godawful, and I’ve seen all the cuts, from th first and including the “final”. Marc Webb was just the wrong choice, flat out.

      Comment by Goldfinger — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 1:53pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • It was too soon to reboot. Even if they recast everybody, they still could have moved the story forward. Nobody wanted to see the spider bite again, and “discovering” his powers again, and designing the suit again. Way too soon for that.

        Comment by may — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 4:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • What was in the 20 minutes they took out?

    I think the trailer looks great so I’m curious.

    Comment by Peter Parker — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 2:32pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • What, it doesn’t live up to such recent Sony “gems” as Zookeeper, Ghost Rider, and the Smurfs?

    Because woof, if this film sucks that much, you guys must have gotten 5000% better at hiding a film’s awfulness in the marketing.

    Comment by Hm. — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 3:35pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Should be a fun movie like Battleship was. Suspension of disbelief is always a tricky thing. With a sci-fi comedy you run the risk of alienating the audience with lame jokes and upsetting our ability to believe the rest of the story.

  My .02 worth.

  Comment by VictorG — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 12:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

• For a $200M+ film and a 6 minute preview of the upcoming Spider-Man, is $1.5M midnight really considered good? Thats less than half of Green Lantern.

  Comment by tsuru — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 12:51pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Unless more than half of those 2,233 midnight screens were IMAX (on which the 6-minute preview plays exclusively) I don’t see how it could have possibly boosted it.

    Comment by Hm. — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 3:12pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • You can’t compare ‘Green Lantern’ to MiB3. GL had Blake Lively so expectations were much higher.

    Thank you. Tip your waitress. Good night.

    Comment by markLouis — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 4:38pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Eventhough Blake Levely is quite easy on the eyes, i doubt she made ‘Green Lantern” more anticipated than “MIB 3″. ‘tsuru’ does make a very valid point however, GL did manage to make over 4 million from it’s midnight previews and ended up making 53 million it’s opening weekend. Yes it’s early, but for “MIB 3″ to only make 1.5 million from it’s midnight screenings, does’nt bode too well. If it does’nt pick up the pace, it could be looking at what would be considered a weak 40-45 million opening over the 4 day weekend. I’m still going to give it the bennifit of the doubt and assume it will still have a decent if not spectacular 4 day weekend take of 55-65 million.

      Comment by orlando — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 5:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Saying expectations were high for GL because of Blake Lively is like saying people are seeing Battleship for Rihanna.

      Give me a break.

      Comment by calm down people — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 7:56am PDT  Reply to this post

      • Um, he was kidding about Blake Lively. You didn’t notice the joke in his second line?

        Comment by michael — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 1:52pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I was thinking the same thing, when you have GL taking in 4 million on midnight and 53 million it’s opening weekend, and that was considered a flop, 1.5 million does’nt sound great at all. To be honest i was looking for “MIB 3″ to take in 4-6 million from it’s midnight showings. I’m calling it now,if “MIB” makes 10 million or more than “The Avengers” does on friday, it will top the box office this weekend, but if it makes only 5-8 million more on friday, “The Avengers” will top the box office once again. I can see “MIB 3″ winning friday by only several million and “The Avengers” winning out through the rest of the weekend because “MIB 3′s” totals will be more front loaded, if you know what i mean. That being said, i’m going to assume “MIB 3″ has a pretty good fri and sat and wins out the box office over the 4 day weekend, but if it under performs lookout, “The Avengers” will take it.

    Comment by orlando — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 6:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Barry Sonnenfeld is a hit or miss director. The original Addams Family was genius, but the sequel was beyond horrible. The original Men in Black was genius, while the sequel was utterly dreadful. Both Wild Wild West and RV were widely panned while Get Shorty was excellent. It’s odd how all over the map the quality of his movies are. (on a side note, Wild Wild West is a guilty pleasure of mine, since Kevin Kline is awesome in it and Selma Hayek….well, she’s Selma Hayek).

  I’m glad to see that the reviews for MIB III are good. While I think that Will Smith couldn’t be more full of himself, he is entertaining and is good at what he does.

  Comment by Wicked — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 2:46pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • genius? Wow. Neither movies were examples of a genius.

    Comment by Justin J. Poppiti, Esq. — Sunday May 27, 2012 @ 8:39am PDT  Reply to this post

• MEN IN BLACK 3 sucked. Kinda Sad, Aliens werent memorable, bad guy sucked. Midnight show crowd at Grove was bored. Ovely long, the last 30 minutes of the fight/chase at Cape Canaveral had everyone checking their cells to see what time it was. Will never pay to see anothe Barry Sonnenfeld film. He’s dead to me. Go see AVENGERS again.

  Comment by Django — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 3:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Youre incredibly old skool, and thankfully, we are moving away from that ridiculous mentality. A shit film is a shit film. A film that doesn’t resonate or find its audience, won’t sell. Regardless if taylor or brad Pitt is starring. Period. I call it the sheen effect- two and a half men was and is bigger than any of actors involved, and went on without a hitch.

  Same diff with a film. Audiences are savvy, word of mouth is everything and money is funny. Quality and Good reviews beat all, including actor popularity.

  Comment by Gold finger — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 3:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I meant to say the first week of filming the 1st Addams Family movie he fainted.

  Comment by Ugggghhhh — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 5:44pm PDT  Reply to this post

• did Katy Perry’s movie come out this weekend? i don’t care about all this alien sh-t.

  Comment by pj — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 7:01pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Yet you’re ok with another teenybopper pop sensation who should have been a one hit wonder in the first place? I see your taste in music is just as bad as your taste in movies. Newsflash, just because MTV and Ryan Seacrest says it’s cool doesn’t make it so.

    Comment by Alex — Saturday May 26, 2012 @ 12:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I like Josh Brolin. He’s a fine actor. But crediting him with some sort of box office success alongside Will Smith is semi-laughable.

  Comment by I mean... — Friday May 25, 2012 @ 9:11pm PDT  Reply to this post