Sony’s ‘Men in Black: International’ Tops Father’s Day Box Office

(Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp.’s “Men in Black: International” opened as the top film in U.S. and Canadian theaters, drawing viewers on Father’s Day weekend despite poor reviews.

• The film brought in $28.5 million domestically, research firm Comscore Inc. estimated on Sunday, knocking Universal Pictures’ “The Secret Life of Pets 2” from the top spot. Analysts had estimated $28 million.

Key Insights

• “Men in Black: International” bucks a trend of sequels and reboots underperforming this summer. Fans of the franchise looked past the reviews, only 23% of which were positive on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

• Another new release -- “Shaft” from Warner Bros. -- opened in sixth place. The film starring Samuel L. Jackson with Richard Roundtree is the first revival of the John Shaft character in 19 years, but it too suffered from mediocre reviews.
• Disney and Pixar are sitting out Father’s Day weekend for the first time in five years. They’re releasing “Toy Story 4” on June 20.

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• Boxoffice Pro had projected this weekend’s top 10 films to decline between 48% and 53% from Father’s Day weekend last year, when “Incredibles 2” opened to $182.7 million.
• See the weekend release schedule here.
• See Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast

To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Nick Turner, Kevin Miller

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