Men in Black 3 dethrones box office record-breaker 'The Avengers'

LOS ANGELES - "Men in Black 3" with the reunion of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones successfully dethroned record-breaker "The Avengers" at the North America box office at the long Memorial Day weekend.

The Sony's 230-million budget 3D threequel, opened with a 55- million-U.S.-dollar three-day debut at the domestic box office this weekend, according to studio estimates released by Hollywood. com on Sunday. The film is expected to reach 70 million dollars for the four-day holiday weekend, below the film's projected 90- million-dollar opening.

"When compared to its predecessors, I can understand people saying it should've done more," said box office analyst for Hollywood.com Paul Dergarabedian.

The third installment debuted with 17.5 million dollars on Friday, including 1.6 million in Thursday midnight earnings. Internationally, the movie topped box offices in 104 countries with an estimated 132 million dollars in its initial week, bringing its worldwide total to 202 million.

It's been 14 years after the 1997 original and a decade since the 2002 second, the "Men in Black" franchise has already been one of the billion-dollar club worldwide. This time in "Men in Black 3, " directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, Will Smith's Agent J travels back in the 1960s to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Tommy Lee Jones' Agent K and changing the history.

Mega star Will Smith's long-awaited return to the big screen could be a test of his box office attraction this time. Smith's last film was 2008 little-seen Seven Pounds.

Meanwhile, Marvel Studios' mega-blockbuster "The Avengers", distributed by Walt Disney Co., continued its impressive performance both domestically and internationally, despite losing its box-office crown. The superhero team-up passed the fourth highest grossing film of all-time domestically, "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace" on Thursday after just 21 days of release.

In its fourth weekend of release in North America, the film earned nearly 37 million dollars, putting its domestic total to 513.7 million dollars. It crossed the 500-million-dollar threshold of the domestic box office on Saturday, the 23rd day of its release and has become the fastest film ever to hit that mark. The previous record was the 32nd day held by "Avatar".

The film is currently in release in 54 territories representing about 95 percent of the international market. Worldwide, it has grossed over 1.29 billion dollars since its release, with 781.6 million accumulating from international market. It soon will eclipse the 1.33-billion-dollar Harry Potter series finale to become the third-biggest title of all time behind "Avatar" and " Titanic".

The presence of "Men in Black 3" and "The Avengers" doesn't leave too much room for the other mega-budget blockbuster " Battleship" this month. The Universal Picture's 211-million big budget sci-fi action film slipped to the third place, with a much disappointing 10.7 million dollars this weekend and a disastrous two-week total of 44.2 million.

Paramount's comedy "The Dictator", co-written by and starring Sacha Baron Cohen and directed by Larry Charles, was fourth with 9. 6 million dollars and a North American total of 41.4 million dollars.

Another newcomer this week, Warner Bros.' horror picture "The Chernobyl Diaries," finished in fifth at the weekend with 8 million dollars. The latest scare-fest from "Paranormal Activity" director and producer Oren PeliIt only earned a dismal D+ at CinemaScore.

Rounding up the top 10 movies at the box office this weekend are: "Dark Shadows" (7.5 million dollars), "What to Expect When You're Expecting" (7.15 million dollars), "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (6.35 million dollars), "The Hunger Games" (2.75 million dollars), and "Think Like a Man" (1.4 million dollars).