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'Men in Black: International' leads box office with muted $28M

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Rebecca Rubin, Variety.com via Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/entertainment/06/16/20190616-mib_1.jpg"/><figcaption>A scene from &#x27;Men in Black: International.&#x27; Handout</figcaption></figure></div>LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood seems to be coming down with a contagious case of franchise fatigue this summer, as &quot;Men in Black: International&quot; and &quot;Shaft&quot; become the latest sequels largely dismissed by moviegoers in North America.Sony&#x27;s &quot;Men in Black: International&quot; led ticket sales at the box office this weekend with $28.5 million, but still fell short of expectations. Those receipts represent roughly half of what the previous installments in the sci-fi series earned during their first weekend in theaters.The latest entry, toplined by Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, wasn&#x27;t expected to reach the same heights as the original films starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but analysts anticipated a start above $30 million. Directed by F. Gary Gray, the sequel sees Thompson and Hemsworth team up as black-suited agents protecting the Earth from a series of alien attacks. &quot;Men in Black: International&quot; is now banking on moviegoers overseas to make the action adventure a hit. Sony co-financed the movie with Hemisphere and Tencent, spending $110 million to produce the film, roughly half of what it cost to make &quot;MIB 3.&quot;Critics praised the chemistry between Hemsworth and Thompson, who first shared the screen in &quot;Thor: Ragnarok,&quot; but reviews were otherwise uninspired for the follow-up, which comes seven years after the latest installment and 25 years after the first film. It carries a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were equally unenthusiastic, giving &quot;MIB: International&quot; a B CinemaScore.&quot;Men in Black: International&quot; wasn&#x27;t the only sequel this weekend that got the cold shoulder from ticket buyers. Warner Bros. and New Line&#x27;s &quot;Shaft,&quot; starring Samuel L. Jackson, flopped with a dismal $8.3 million in sales from 2,952 locations. That&#x27;s less than half of what box office watchers predicted the follow-up would make in its first three days of release. By comparison, 2000&#x27;s &quot;Shaft&quot; debuted with $21.7 million. The latest remake reunites three generation of Shaft men, played by Jackson, Jessie Usher, and Richard Roundtree, who starred in the original 1971 movie. It carries a $30-million price tag.Positive reviews didn&#x27;t salvage this weekend&#x27;s other new nationwide offering, Amazon&#x27;s &quot;Late Night.&quot; The comedy, written by Mindy Kaling and co-starring Kaling and Emma Thompson, finished in ninth place with $5.1 million after the studio expanded the comedy to 2,220 venues. It debuted in limited release last weekend, collecting a solid $249,654, which brings ticket sales to $5.4 million. &quot;Late Night,&quot; about a TV host who makes a diverse hire to save her talk show from becoming a ratings disaster, was well-received after premiering at Sundance, where Amazon shelled out $14 million for distribution rights in one of the biggest sales of the festival.The final newcomer this weekend was &quot;The Dead Don&#x27;t Die,&quot; Jim Jarmusch&#x27;s zombie comedy starring Adam Driver, Billy Murray, Selena Gomez, and Chloe Sevigny. The film, which debuted to mixed reviews at Cannes, opened at No. 12 with $2.35 million from 613 theaters. According to Focus Features, the studio distributing the movie, that figure marks the largest opening weekend of Jarmusch&#x27;s career. Males accounted for 58% of tickets sold, while 64% of audiences were over the age of 35.&quot;We&#x27;re thrilled to see Jim&#x27;s biggest opening and his top grossing weekend ever with this film,&quot; said Lisa Bunnell, Focus Features&#x27; president of distribution. &quot;His unique take on the zombie genre delivers his signature brand of humor, style and substance for moviegoers.&quot;In a not-so-distant second place, Universal and Illumination&#x27;s &quot;The Secret Life of Pets 2&quot; brought in $23 million during its sophomore weekend of release, marking a 49% decline from its inaugural outing. The animated sequel has now earned $92 million in North America.Disney&#x27;s &quot;Aladdin,&quot; a live-action remake of the Arabian musical cartoon, nabbed the No. 3 spot during its fourth weekend in theaters. It collected another $17 million, boosting its domestic haul to $264 million.Another Disney title, &quot;X-Men&quot; entry &quot;Dark Phoenix,&quot; was a big-budget misstep last weekend. It dropped to fourth place, adding $9 million, a massive 73% downturn in ticket sales compared to its first weekend in theaters.Rounding out the top five is Paramount&#x27;s &quot;Rocketman.&quot; The fantasy biopic, which sees an inspired Taron Egerton dramatize the life and times of Sir Elton John, picked up $8.8 million in its third outing for a total of $66 million in North America.Overall, ticket sales at the domestic box office are down just over 7% compared to last year, according to Comscore. A number of upcoming blockbuster-hopefuls, including Disney&#x27;s &quot;Toy Story 4&quot; and Sony&#x27;s &quot;Spider-Man: Far From Home,&quot; are expecting to breath some life into an otherwise lackluster summer moviegoing season.

Sony's "Men in Black: International" led ticket sales at the box office this weekend with $28.5 million, but still fell short of expectations.

Sony's "Men in Black: International" led ticket sales at the box office this weekend with $28.5 million, but still fell short of expectations.

'Men in Black: International' leads box office with muted $28M

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'Men in Black: International' leads box office with muted $28M

Rebecca Rubin,

Variety.com via Reuters

Published Jun 17, 2019 12:20 AM PHT

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Men in Black International

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