Weekend Box Office Roundup (June 8-10)

1. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (N)
$60.35 million ($60.35 million)
I saw a Yahoo! article with the headline "Box office slip for Prometheus" on Sunday. Um, not quite. While I applaud the boldness of anyone who had money on Prometheus beating Madagascar 3 this weekend, that was never a realistic scenario. Yes, Prometheus pulled out a surprise win on Friday, but saying that it slipped and let Madagascar 3 win is an unfair statement. If anything, Madagascar 3 slipped on its opening day. Dreamworks talking-animal threequel in 3D? Yeah, that's kind of a blank check.

Overall, Madagascar 3's opening weekend gross of $60.35 million clocks in at No. 2 for the Madagascar franchise, coming in behind Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa's $63.11 million. While the numbers seem close at first, the franchise's second installment didn't have 3D tickets to beef up its numbers.

2. Prometheus (N)

$50.00 million ($50.00 million)

Back to Prometheus now. Ridley Scott's return to the universe of Alien (and, yes, no matter what he tells you, is the same universe) beat expectations and grossed $50.00 its opening weekend, aided by especially strong midnight screenings. Personally, I think Prometheus is going to get repeat business. After going back and watching the original Alien after seeing Prometheus and reading a deep-thoughts blog post about Prometheus and learning how Scott originally intended to tie Jesus into the film, I want to see it again.

3. Snow White and the Huntsman (1)

$23.02 million ($98.50 million)
Kristen Stewart's Snow White and the Huntsman fell almost 60 percent in its second weekend, which in a busy movie weekend can be taken one of two ways: The film was affected by poor word of mouth, which dragged down its second-weekend gross. Or, it was just a busy movie weekend, and everyone was seeing Prometheus or Madagascar 3.

4. Men in Black 3 (2)

$13.50 million ($135.51 million)

Men in Black 3 will probably match Men in Black II's total gross of $190.42 million, but I'm guessing it doesn't have enough steam or a clear enough calendar to get to the original's $250.69 million. The movie was driven by 3D screenings, something it's rapidly losing to other movies.

5. The Avengers (3)

$10.81 million ($571.86 million)

Could this really be the last weekend in the top five for The Avengers? The film just keeps making money, and is now less than $30 million from becoming only the third film to ever cross the $600 million mark at the domestic box office. 

Next week's predictions:

1. That's My Boy

2. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

3. Rock of Ages

4. Prometheus

5. Snow White and the Huntsman

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo