With Men in Black 3 making its big debut this weekend, The Avengers will have no choice, but to wave goodbye to the #1 spot. Back in 2001, Men in Black 2 opened to the tune of $52.1 million. While that’s a pretty wide time gap to be making a connection, there’s still a good shot MIB 3 might wind up on a similar trajectory, but with a boost from the holiday, possibly propelling it to a $70 million four day weekend start. As for The Avengers, it’ll enjoy an even lesser drop than last weekend, but that’s thanks to that extra day this weekend. For four days, The Avengers looks to post about $40 million.
While MIB 3 and The Avengers will hog most of the cash flow, Battleship has a shot of taking another $20 million to the bank by the end of Memorial Day weekend. The Dictator is looking at a 45% three-day weekend drop, which would leave it with $13 million for four days. Here’s where newcomer Chernobyl Diaries should nestle right in. While found footage film The Devil Inside hit it big back in January, even with the extra day, this one is heading towards a far lesser start, something along the lines of Apollo 18. Should that be the case, Chernobyl Diaries should expect a $12 million holiday weekend.
After taking a tough 57.6% weekend one to two hit, this long weekend should give Dark Shadows a bit of a breather. It’ll still suffer a slash in half as far as the three-day weekend is concerned, but for four days, it’ll post a little over $8 million. This weekend’s wild card is definitely The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It’s enjoyed a very solid run thus far and this weekend, it’s getting another 879 locations. Even if its per theater average drops to $5,000, it’s still looking at $6 million for three days and about $8 million for the full holiday weekend, which should be just enough to steal the seventh spot from What to Expect When Your Expecting with its $7.5 million Memorial Day weekend haul.
After nine weekends in theaters, The Hunger Games is still in the top ten and the same will be true this time around. In fact, there’s a good shot The Hunger Games will only lose 40% for the three-day weekend, which would give it another $2.3 million for the four-day span. Rounding out the top ten will be Think Like a Man, which could also enjoy a rather minimal fall on top of the holiday boost for $2 million its sixth weekend out.
Shockya.com Predictions
1. Men in Black 3
2. The Avengers
3. Battleship
4. The Dictator
5. Chernobyl Diaries
6. Dark Shadows
7. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
8. What to Expect When You’re Expecting
9. The Hunger Games
10. Think Like a Man
By Perri Nemiroff (via Box Office Mojo)
