Alien-hunting black-suited secret agents have invaded the top of the box office.

Columbia Pictures' sci-fi action comedy Men In Black 3 starring Will Smith opened at No. 1 in thePhilippines, amassing a nationwide gross of an out-of-this-world P68.73-million for the five-day opening weekend May 23-27 frame. This was announced today by Victor R. Cabrera, managing director of Columbia Pictures Philippines.

Men In Black 3's first weekend haul in thePhilippinesis the second best opening of 2012 for a foreign movie, behind only Marvel’s The Avengers and beating the bows of Wrath of the Titans (P62.5-million), The Hunger Games (P62.3- million) and Battleship (P46.3-million).

In the U.S., the sequel which reunited Smith with co-star Tommy Lee Jones and director Barry Sonnenfeld, effectively wrestled away the box-office crown from Marvel's The Avengers, which has dominated the North American tills for the past weeks.


Men in Black 3 debuted as the No. 1 movie over the Memorial Day holiday weekend with $55 million. Distributor Sony estimates that by the end of the four-day holiday weekend Monday, this sci-fi movie will have pulled in $202 million worldwide.

Back in the Philippines, MIB 3 rolled out on 260 screens, with SM Mall of Asia getting the lion's share of sales with P3.95-M, followed closely by SM North EDSA (P3.86-M) and Trinoma (P3.55-M).

Other top performing cinemas are Power Plant (P2.64-M), Greenbelt 3 (P2.41-M), SM Megamall (P2.40-M), Newport (P2.12-M), Glorietta 4 (P2.05-M), SM Cebu (P1.95-M) and Alabang Town Center (P1.93-M).

Rounding out the Top 20 cinemas are Eastwood (P1.79-M), Greenhills (P1.429-M), Gateway (P1.42-M), Robinsons Ermita (P1.36-M), Shang Cineplex (P1.33-M), Robinsons Galleria (P1.11-M), SM Southmall (P1.08-M), Ayala Cebu (P1.05-M), SM Fairview (P1.03-M) and Festival Mall (P978,423).

In Men In Black 3, Agents J (Smith) and K (Jones) are back... in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K's life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him--secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.

Audiences who watch Men in Black 3 in Digital 3D also get to screen an extended 6-minute sneak peek of Columbia Pictures’ next super-blockbuster The Amazing Spider-Man as an added attraction. 2D screenings of MIB 3 will play a new trailer of The Amazing Spider-Man, opening in Philippine cinemas on June 29.

Men In Black 3 is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.