MiB pintas kutipan Avengers, duduki carta teratas dalam kutipan box-office domestik

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hero komik aksi "Men in Black 3" kini mengambil alih box office hujung minggu daripada  superhero buku komik "The Avengers."

Menurut anggaran studio, filem terbaru"Men in Black" lakonan Will Smith dan Tommy Lee Jones ini memperoleh debut ansuran dalam negeri bernilai $70 million selama empat hari Memorial day pada hujung minggu, yang membuktikan kelainan di teater Hollywood secara keseluruhan.

"Men in Black 3" mengambil ahli kedudukan no. 1 daripada "The Avengers," yang telah menduduki tangga teratas selama tiga minggu berturut-turut  tapi tergelincir ke tangga kedua dengan kutipan $46.9 million dalam negeri.

"Men in Black 3" menambah nilai $133.2 million untuk pasaran luar negara yang menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan bernilai  $203.2 million.

"Kami sudah mengambil alih dunia minggu ini," kata Rory Bruer, ketua pengedaran Sony. "Ianya sangat menakjubkan melihat Will and temannya kembali di arena ini. Saya  sudah tentu berfikir bahawa kebanyakan mereka yang menonton filem ini memberikan komen bahawa ini filem terbaik yang mereka pernah lihat dalam industri.

"The Avengers" meningkatkan jumlah kutipan domestik total kepada  $523.6 million, menjadikan ia filem no. 4 dalam keseluruhan carta perolehan domestik dan menjadi filem ke 4 yang menjangkau setengah billion dolar. "The Avengers" dijangka akan mengatasi filem no.3  "The Dark Knight" yang mengutip  $533.3 million, menjadikan hanya dua filem iaitu "Avatar" ,$760.5 million dan "Titanic" yang mengutip $658.5 million didepannya.

While it was a good start for "Men in Black 3" and another strong hold for "The Avengers," Memorial Day weekend was the slowest at theaters in more than a decade. Box-office tracker Hollywood.com estimates that overall domestic receipts for the four days will finish at $190 million, the lowest since Memorial Day weekend in 2001, when revenues totaled $185.3 million.

So far, Hollywood's summer season has been a one- or two-hit wonder, with only "The Avengers" doing blockbuster business and now "Men in Black 3" joining it with a solid opening.

Other than "The Avengers" and "Men in Black 3," summer is off to a slow start.

"Men in Black 3" reunites Smith's Agent J and Jones' K for their first big-screen adventure since 2002. The movie co-stars Josh Brolin as the younger Agent K, who is targeted for death by a time-traveling alien that Agent J chases back to the late 1960s.

Still, many older films such as "Gone with the Wind," ''Star Wars" and "The Sound of Music" sold more tickets than "The Avengers" and other modern blockbusters. Rising admission prices mean today's movies make more money while selling fewer tickets, especially those that earn much of their cash from pricier 3-D shows, such as "The Avengers."