Yes, popular thought was that “Men In Black 3” starring Will Smith, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones would have no trouble winning the weekend. But, based on its midnight openings, it could be in some big trouble. The film earned $1.55 million from its midnight showings, well below last year’s “The Hangover: Part II”. That’s not the worrisome fact though. That number is also lower than “Terminator: Salvation” and “Sex in the City 2” made in their midnight showings by about half and those films opened with $65.3 and $51.04 million over the Memorial Day weekend.

If MIB opens to those kinds of numbers, it will be a good $20-30 million lower than what was expected. And, it also means “The Avengers” if it overperforms a little bit and makes closer to $60 million could in fact win the weekend four a fourth time.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.