Universal’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” had a fairy tale of a weekend with a better-than-expected first place debut of $56.2 million. The film also performed well internationally in 45 territories taking in $39.3 million for a worldwide total of $95.6 million. The highly stylized and dark interpretation of the classic story stars “Twilight’s” Kristen Stewart as Snow White, “The Avengers” Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as the scenery-chewing Evil Queen. The film attracted women (53%) who related to the strong female characters and intricate storyline as well as men (47%), who enjoyed the action elements and darker side of this film’s re-imagining of the Snow White mythology. Kudos to first time director Rupert Sanders for knocking this one out of the park!
Sony’s “Men in Black 3” last week led the Memorial Weekend box office derby in its debut and gave the studio its fifth number one opening this year. After a ten year hiatus the alien-busting crime fighters returned to the big screen with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the roles of Agent J and K that they made famous. A time-twisting plot device lands Josh Brolin in the sci-fi mix as a young version of Jones and global audiences have responded by buying up over $386 million in tickets to date. This weekend a second place finish of $29.3 million pushed the film to $112.3 million in North America after just 10 days in release. To re-cap: “Men in Black 3” took in $78.6 million overseas this weekend for an international cumulative of $274.6 million and a massive worldwide total of $386.9 million.
Disney release of Marvel’s “The Avengers” crossed the $500 million mark in record time last Saturday after just 23 days in release and in the process became the 4th highest grossing film in North America in record time. In its fifth weekend the box office superheroes smashed their way into third place with a gross of $20.3 million. The record-breaking blockbuster also surpassed “The Dark Knight” and its $533.3 million total domestic gross to become the third highest grossing film of all-time behind only “Avatar” and “Titanic,” with $552.7 million by Sunday night after just 31 days in release. “The Avengers” also became the third highest grossing film of all-time globally over the weekend.
More data courtesy of Disney:
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS (Marvel): 5th week of release
Over the weekend Marvel’s The Avengers became the #3 film of all time globally (passing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’s $1,328M) and domestically (passing The Dark Knight’s $533M). It is the #5 film of all time internationally (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is #4 with $803M).
DOMESTIC WKND ESTIMATE (June 1-3): $20.3M at 3,670 locations.
INTERNATIONAL WKND ESTIMATE (June 1-3): $12.4M
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is currently in release in 54 territories representing about 95% of the international market.
ESTIMATED DOMESTIC CUME: $552.7 MILLION
ESTIMATED INTERNATIONAL CUME: $802.5MILLION
ESTIMATED GLOBAL CUME: $1,355.2 MILLION
Universal’s “Battleship” and Paramount’s “The Dictator” both in their third weekends took the fourth and fifth spot with $4.8 million and $4.7 million and both crossed the $50 million domestic mark by the end of the weekend.
Weekend Box Office (Estimates)
For weekend of June 1, 2012
Movie Weekend Gross Total to Date
1 Snow White and the Huntsman (PG13) $56.2M $56.2M
2 Men in Black 3 (PG13) $29.3M $112.3M
3 The Avengers (PG13) $20.3M $552.7M
4 Battleship (PG13) $4.8M $55.1M
5 The Dictator (R) $4.7M $50.8M
