Sony Armageddon Hoax in Crashing Bad Taste

'Avengers' finally falls off the top spot

(NEWSER) - Men in Black: 3 turned out to be much more in the black than The Avengers , winning the three-day holiday weekend with a whopping $55 million domestically and $202 million worldwide. But, notes the Hollywood Reporter , it needs to do well to justify the $230 million Sony spent to make it. The Avengers, meanwhile, pulled in $37 million to put it at a hefty global gross of $1.3 billion. Battleship grabbed No. 3 honors with $10.8 million, while The Dictator took in $9.6 million, and Chernobyl Diaries pulled in $5 million, reports the AP . More»

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones return for alien flick

(NEWSER) - Sure, no one was that desperate for a Men in Black 3—but it's actually a pretty good summer movie. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back defending the planet from aliens, and this time, Josh Brolin's along for the ride as a young Jones.

• The movie "turns out to be so much fun," writes AO Scott in the New York Times . While it "carefully fulfills its blockbuster imperatives—with chases and explosions and elaborately contrived plot twists—it swerves into some marvelously silly, unexpectedly witty, and genuinely fresh territory."

Kerouac adaptation 30 years in the making debuts

(NEWSER) - The film adaptation of On the Road has finally reached the screen, more than 30 years after producer Roman Coppola bought the rights to Jack Kerouac's Beat Generation classic. The movie, which stars Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, and Kirsten Dunst, made its debut at the Cannes film festival yesterday, reports the BBC . Director Walter Salles told reporters that he tried to stay true to Kerouac's improvisational style in his sex, drugs, and jazz-filled semi-autobiographical novel. More»

Alexander Huls: Sick of talkers, texters? Try the midnight experience

(NEWSER) - Movie theater etiquette is dying , but there is still one tradition that makes for “a near-ideal cinematic experience,” writes Alexander Huls in the New York Times : “the midnight show.” It’s the first opportunity for passionate fans to see a new film, which means the experience is filled with long lines, people in costumes, and—once the show finally begins—raucous and elated reactions to pretty much everything that happens onscreen. It may sounds like a “nightmare” to those who see the movie theater as “cathedral,” but it’s actually not, Huls writes. More»

Marvel-Disney movie shatters domestic box office record

(NEWSER) - The Hunger Games is looking a little anemic this weekend: The Avengers swooped in and grabbed a record-bursting opening weekend of $200.3 million, reports the Hollywood Reporter , easily thumping the $169.2 million that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 took in last year in the previous record holder. The Marvel-Disney partnership is headed quickly for the $1 billion mark, already with $641.8 million globally, and it grabbed the biggest Saturday gross ever, with $69.1 million. "It's been a fantastic weekend on every single front," says a Disney exec. More»