By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Black" is back in style at the North American box office.

Five years after the sci-fi comedy "Men in Black" grossed $250 million during its run, the sequel to the Will Smith- Tommy Lee Jones hit smashed sales records in its first five days of release over the July 4 holiday weekend.

According to studio estimates issued Sunday, "Men in Black II" sold about $90 million worth of tickets since its release on July 3.

The film, in which the duo play government alienbusters who save mankind from "the scum of the universe," pulled in $54.1 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, on top of its $35.9 million haul for Wednesday and Thursday.

The old three-day record for the July 4 holiday period was set by the 1997 original (also a Wednesday release), with $51.1 million. The film's five-day haul THUwas $79.3 million, second to Smith's alien-adventure "Independence Day," which had opened with $85 million one year earlier.

Barry Sonnenfeld returned to direct the $140 million "Men in Black" sequel, which was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp ( news - web sites).

With the overall box office on full-throttle this year, a record opening seemed like a sure thing. But the original "Men in Black" opened against meager competition, while the sequel had to compete with strong efforts from the likes of Adam Sandler ("Mr. Deeds") and Tom Cruise ("Minority Report"), said Jeff Blake, Sony's president of marketing and distribution.

"What made it exciting to the public was the fact that we brought back the original elements," Blake said.

Studio chairman Amy Pascal said a second sequel was likely, although she doubted it would take another five years to put together.

"DEEDS" REACHES $74 MILLION

The Sandler comedy "Mr. Deeds," which topped the rankings last weekend, slipped to No. 2 in its second round with $18.8 million for the three days, $26.3 million for the five days and $74.1 million to date.

It was also released by Columbia, which claimed about 50 percent of the weekend's receipts. With five No. 1 movies to date this year, led by the $400 million-grossing "Spider-Man," the studio will beat its own speed record when it passes the $1 billion mark for domestic sales later this week; the old mark was set in 1997 when Columbia passed $1 billion in early September. Sony executives are also bullish about such upcoming films as "Stuart Little 2" and the Vin Diesel vehicle "XXX."

The top 10 contained two other new releases. The urban sports fantasy comedy "Like Mike" opened at No. 3 with $13.1 million for Friday-to-Sunday, and $20.1 million since its Wednesday bow. Teen rapper Lil Bow Wow stars as an orphan who becomes a basketball powerhouse after he stumbles onto a pair of Michael Jordan's old sneakers.

The film, which cost under $30 million, skewed to young black audiences. It was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc, which said the opening was on target.

"The Powerpuff Girls Movie" launched at No. 9 with a disappointing $3.6 million for the three days ($6.1 million since Wednesday). The low-budget animated film, targeted at young girls, is based on the Cartoon Network series. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.

Rounding out the top five, the Walt Disney Co. cartoon "Lilo & Stitch" slipped one place to No. 4 with a three-day haul of $12.7 million in its third weekend. Its total rose to $103.1 million.

Fox's sci-fi thriller "Minority Report" fell three places to No. 5 with $12.4 million for the three-day weekend. The total for the Steven Spielberg-directed movie rose to $96.8 million, also after three weekends in theaters.

The top 12 movies grossed $142.4 million for the three-day weekend, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The tally represented an eight percent jump from last weekend, and a 17 percent leap from the year-ago period, when "Cats & Dogs" opened at No. 1 with $21.7 million.

Wide new releases next weekend include the Tom Hanks gangland drama "Road to Perdition," the Matthew McConaughey apocalyptic thriller "Reign of Fire" and the Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin adventure "Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course."

Reuters/Variety

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the July 5-7 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross

1. Men in Black II .......... $52,148,751

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $87,241,586

2. Mr. Deeds .......... $18,411,597

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $73,613,421

3. Lilo & Stitch .......... $12,636,421

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $103,018,879

4. Minority Report .......... $12,556,624

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $97,119,723

5. Like Mike .......... $12,179,420

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $19,018,444

6. The Bourne Identity .......... $9,156,240

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $89,020,190

7. Scooby-Doo .......... $7,022,624

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $137,527,058

8. The Sum of All Fears .......... $3,715,435

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $111,723,472

9. The Powerpuff Girls Movie .......... $3,583,114

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $6,127,313

10. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood .......... $2,814,943

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $61,144,497

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  What's that I hear?  It sounds like another annoying Will Smith rap record that explains the plot of his latest film.  Nod ya head, the black suits are back.  Men in Black II has been released and it has opened to huge business... sort of.  The producers must pray to the movie ticket inflation gods because those higher prices helped the movie break box office records.  The Powerpuff Girls are fairly well known to the Cartoon Network geeks, but beyond that, like Hey Arnold, mass appeal is not easily acquired.  A cartoon with poor animation has to have some extra hook to bring in people not familiar with the material.  

MEN IN BLACK II - FULL REVIEW

Men in Black II continues the adventures of Jay (Will Smith) and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) as the secret government agency that tracks extraterrestrials on planet Earth.  It appears that there are many aliens living among us who pretend to be humans and blend into society.  It is somewhat allegorical to the Ellis Island activity in the early part of the 20th century.  Aliens register with the MIBs and then assimilate into everyday culture.  The movie Alien Nation had a similar plot but the aliens in that didn't try to hide their alien heritage as much as the ones in the Men in Black movies.  When last we left Jay and Kay, Kay had retired and been neuralized while Jay was remaining in the group and looked to become a future leader.  Five years later, another alien has arrived on Earth that does not want to register.  Linda Fiorentino decided to not do this movie and is written out in a throwaway line so we get Smith, Jones and several other one scene characters from the first movie in expanded roles like Frank the Dog and Jeebs played by Tony Shalhoub.  Lara Flynn Boyle flies in as the villainess (sort of) Serleena looking for the Eye of Zartha so that she/it can control the universe... I guess.  The Eye is more of a Maguffin used to have a plot and could have been called anything.  Kay knew where Zartha is and has to be de-neuralized so that he can find it before Serleena.  Mayhem occurs and everybody seems to have a good time fighting various aliens and teaming up with others.  MIB 2 is okay, but pretty empty as it doesn't even try to expand on the concept of these snazzily dressed X-File wannabes.  The weak links of the film are Smith and Jones since they are not given the best lines or the best moments.  It all goes to the supporting cast and most of the time it is because of the magic of computer generated dog mouths and twister playing worms.  Jones is especially wasted since it takes at more than half the movie for Jones to start acting like the calm cool collected Kay.  He is put in a Will Smith in part one position as being somewhat wide eyed in everything he sees.  It would have been better to just have him get de-neuralized and then immediately get his act together.  His lack of memory got old quickly.  Smith is okay and does have a couple really funny moments, but there is no extra effort on his part to do anything special with the movie.  He gets a love interest in Rosario (Josie and the Pussycats) Dawson who witnesses the murder of her boss and may be the key to saving the universe.  She's pretty good in the movie and is quite the looker, but there is not enough time given to the little romance that eventually fizzles out before it can get going.  I actually liked her better than the leads.  The star of the film is definitely Frank the Pug dog who after being roughed up by Jones in MIB 1, joins the team and steals the movie.  Frank has more personality than anyone else and looks the best in the black suit.  Too bad he is forced to take it off as soon as it is put on.  If he had worn it the whole time, this movie would get an unqualified positive review from me.  MIB 2 plays just like a two part television episode.  This sequel needed to be a bit more epic and it falls way short.  It doesn't take any risks and any cool looking aliens that show up are only on screen briefly.  X-Flies has a Men in Black episode where Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek nodded their head sort of speak.  Those are still my favorite renditions.  A harder, more darker edge could have helped this movie take their premise to another level.  If you are a fan of the first one, you will most likely be disappointed in this film.  Final Review:  2 stars out of 5; 5 out of 10; C; thumbs down.  Wait for video or the F/X channel to air it.

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    Mr. Deeds is a hit for Sandler despite its bland self.

2.    My favorite average guy gets a lot of money movie is still Richard Pryor and John Candy in "Brewster's Millions."

3.    Lilo and Stitch was forced to have a lower budget than other recent Disney animated movies and it looks like it paid off as this movie should get a nice profit.

4.    Minority Report was supposed to be around $150 million by now, but it will struggle to get near $120 million which will amaze those who made this flawed picture.

5.    Lil' Bow Wow gets superpowers in Like Mike, but he is still not strong enough to attract more than just his regular fans.

6.    There are 2 other Bourne stories that Matt Damon could try to make and maybe they will be better received than this almost hit.

7.    The front runner for sleeper hit of the year is Scooby Doo.

8.    Ben Affleck played a young Jack Ryan in Sum of All Fears, and I have to wonder if he will play a young Indiana Jones in that series too.

9.    Powerpuff Girls is that weird pseudo Japanimation that really isn't and just turns people off before they can give it a chance.

10.    Ya ya ya ya, ya ya ya ya, hey hey hey, say goodbye to the sisterhood in the top ten.

MID SUMMER 2002 REVIEW

The box office take for this Summer that started in mid Spring with Spiderman has been very good.  Spiderman has grossed $400 million, Attack of the Clones is just past $290 million, and Scooby-Doo shocked the critics with its staying power.  There have been very few outright bombs.  The biggest disappointment is probably Windtalkers' low box office.  It had been held back for over a year and its promotion was not done well because of that.  Also it continues to annoy me that movies that are supposed to praise Native American history are still promoted from the "white man's" point of view.  Windtalkers should have been promoted as an Adam Beach movie and not a Nicholas Cage one.  The box office would have probably been the same, but at least the promotion would have shown some respect to the people that used their own language as a military code.  Chris Rock's return to film was greeted like most of his others with complete indifference.  Bad Company did bad box office and it looks like it will be a while before Rock enters the $20 million club when his movie have difficulty earning a total of $20 million.  On the flip side, Eddie Griffin did not do much better, but was better received in the movies he did especially Undercover Brother which was one of the better movies to come out the last 2 months.  The early 70s gimmick has been satirized for years, but UC took it too extremes.  I would like to see a sequel to this movie.  Spiderman is on track to be the biggest hit of the year with only Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings challenging it later this year.  I am a huge Spiderman comic fan and enjoyed the movie for the most part even though it lost its spark once Peter Parker put on the costume which is somewhat odd.  However the look was good and it stayed close to the modern version of the comic which is very popular now and Spiderman has finally surpassed Superman and Batman in all phases of the entertainment business.  Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was supposed to be the $400 million gorilla, but it will have to rely as being just a run of the mill mega hit.  Clones was better than the underrated Phantom Menace, but Clone's love story, though necessary, is hard to sit through multiple times.  Ewan McGregor was excellent and gives the only performance that could be considered good that is done by a real actor.  Hayden Christensen is fine as Annakin, but the future dark side is barely touched on and is way too justified in this film.  Hopefully Episode 3 will be at least 3 hours long since it will take that much screen time to have it fit with Episode 4's Star Wars: A New Hope.  The rest of the Summer has 3 films that are getting some interest from the casual movie goers. Austin Powers 3: Goldmember, XXX, and Signs look to open well and if all 3 are good it will be quite the trifecta.  Goldmember should break July box office records but I doubt it will gross more than Austin 2's total box office in the opening weekend release like Austin 2 did when it earned more in 3 days than the entire run of Austin Powers 1.  Triple X (XXX) has the most intriguing cliffhanger moment of the year with the snow board avalanche sequence in the trailer.  Everytime I see it I have to find out how Vin Diesel gets out of that.  Signs is M. Night Shyamalan's take on what the heck those crop circles are, and Mel Gibson is along to help them.  I guess Bruce Willis was sick that day.  Tom Hanks and Paul Newman show off their acting chops in the period hitman thriller drama Road to Perdition and it should do well with its star power.  The quality of movies overall is nothing that great, but for mass market entertainment, Summer 2002 is shaping up to quite eventful with the Fall and holiday sections being no joke as well.  

Lots of stuff come out next week with Road to Perdition, Reign of Fire (say it in that gravelly voice like the voice over guy and it sounds cool), and Halloween Resurrection or Halloween Part 8 to the newbies.  Bye for now.