TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Latest 'Men in Black' leads box office but fails to wow critics
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A still from 'Men in Black: International.' (Sony Pictures Entertainment/File)
"Men in Black: International" led North American box offices over the weekend, but the new sci-fi comedy was not as far into the black as Sony would have liked, taking in an estimated $28.5 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.
In this spinoff to the three earlier "Men in Black" installments, the roles of black-suited alien-fighters pass from their originators, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, to the younger Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson also star.
Critics liked the chemistry of the two leads but gave the movie a lukewarm rating of only 24 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Its box-office take for the three-day weekend fell short of "even the slimmest of studio expectations," website BoxOfficeMojo reported.
But as suggested by its title, the film, shot in five countries, is doing better overseas, with earnings of $73 million to date.
In second spot was last weekend's leader, "The Secret Life of Pets 2" from Universal, at $23.8 million. This sequel features the voices of Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and Patton Oswalt in another tale of the mischief pets get into when their owners are away.
In third, for the second week, was Disney's live-action "Aladdin," at $16.7 million. It stars Will Smith as the genie and Mena Massoud as the wily title character craving the attention of the enticing Jasmine (Naomi Scott).
Slipping two spots to fourth place was "X-Men: Dark Phoenix," at $9 million. In what is said to be the final installment in the X-men series, the lead characters face the fierce superhuman Phoenix after a space mission goes awry. The film stars James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain.
Read also: Chris Hemsworth learned Bahasa Indonesia at school
And in fifth, for the second week, was Paramount's "Rocketman," at $8.8 million. Taron Egerton stars in the biopic dramatizing the life of superstar singer Elton John.
Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:
"Shaft" ($8.3 million)
"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" ($8.1 million)
"John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" ($6.1 million)
"Late Night" ($5.1 million)
"Ma" ($3.6 million)
