Weekend Box Office: “Moonrise Kingdom” breaks PSA record, “Men in Black 3” tepidly tops chart

A scene form Wes Anderson's MOONRISE KINGDOM.“Men in Black 3” may have won the weekend, but its $70 million four-day take was not anywhere near what studio Sony was hoping for. Thus, the real box office story this weekend is “Moonrise Kingdom”, which managed to be the 14th biggest movie of the Memorial Day Holiday despite playing in just four theaters. Wes Anderson’s latest managed to gross a whopping $669,000 — the highest non-Disney per-screen-average ever recorded. If you are to compensate for the fact that Disney’s seven record-holding engagements, from “The Lion King” to “Brother Bear,” cheated by charging $50+ for tickets, then “Moonrise Kingdom” is the new PSA victor. It may not go down in the official books that way, but in terms of tickets sold, “Moonrise” is the true champ.

Also holding up well on the specialty front–and the only movies worth wasting digital ink on this weekend–were Fox Searchlight’s “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and Millenium’s “Bernie,” which grossed $8.2m and $1.2m, for eighth and twelfth place, respectively. Clearly, adults have been seeking non-blockbuster options, as these films have thrived in limited releases while every wide release outside of “The Avengers” has tanked.

Check out the full four-day chart after the jump…

No. Title Weekend Per Theater Average Total
1 Men in Black 3 $70.0M $16,478 $70.0M
2 Marvel’s The Avengers $46.9M $11,965 $523.6M
3 Battleship $13.8M $3,719 $47.3M
4 The Dictator $11.8M $3,900 $43.6M
5 Dark Shadows $9.4M $2,763 $64.9M
6 Chernobyl Diaries $9.3M $3,822 $9.3M
7 What to Expect When You’re Expecting $8.9M $2,929 $23.9M
8 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel $8.2M $6,671 $18.4M
9 The Hunger Games $2.9M $2,006 $395.9M
10 Think Like a Man $1.8M $2,290 $88.7M

Source: Box Office Mojo