Here Come The Men In Black: Will Smith Leaves 'Avengers' For Dead

Will Smith and 'Men in Black 3' took charge of the U.S box office this weekend, ousting 'The Avengers' after a monumental five weeks at No.1 which has seen it gross over $1 billion worldwide. The third instalment of the sci-fi franchise, starring Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, grossed $70 million over the four day holiday to take the top spot, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Overseas, the 3-D movie collected a further $132 million to make it easily the most successful movie since 'The Avengers' broke all of the records last month. The superhero action flick collected a respectable $46.6 million over the long-weekend, though it was not enough to see it remain at No.1. Overall, the Memorial Day ticket sales were down some 32 per cent from last year, when 'The Hangover Part II' and 'Kung Fu Panda 2' debuted to strong ticket sales. The Men in Black franchise, which originated in 1997, follows Smith and Jones as two alien-fighting federal agents. The first two movies were incredibly popular with family audiences, and it appears as though the premise has lost none of its appeal.

Meanwhile in the box-office, 'Battleship' continued to sink in its second week, taking a lacklustre $13.6 million after a modest opening of $25.5 million