Prometheus might have been the polarizing talking point over the weekend, but there is no debate that it made a ton of money over the weekend. Of course even it’s impressive haul was only good enough for second place in a competitive first frame for two new pictures.

Madagascar 3 came from behind after getting slightly edged on Friday with $60+ Million three-day weekend. The third film in the animated series was basically par for the course for the series, which is kind of impressive considering the general perception of the last film.

Coming in second on the weekend was the previously mentioned Ridley Scott film. Prometheus managed to top the $50 Million mark over the weekend which is a major win for the R-Rated horror/sci-fi film. Even though the film is polarizing audiences, its financial success is a win for fans of thought-provoking and edgy sci-fi.

When movie makers started taking toy lines from twenty years ago and made it into movies like Transformers or G.I. Joe, the concepts at least made sense. But when Battleship was announced that it was coming to the big screen, the only thing more frightening than what would appear on screen was the chance that a game adaptation of the film might be made as well. Traditionally movie tie-in games are quick cash ins to coincide with the film’s release, a few exceptions being the much beloved Spider-Man 2 or X-Men Origins: Wolverine games. Now, a strategy game that started on a table top using red and white peg and miniature ships has made its way to the world of movie tie-in first person shooters.

Gameplay

Battleship consists of two main gameplay aspects. Where players will spend most of their time is in a traditional military FPS. While traversing the tropical beaches of Hawaii, players’ choices are limited to three human weapons, a pistol, a shotgun and a carbine, two alien weapons, one resembling a turret gun and another similar to a sniper rifle, and grenades. The lack of variety of weapons or just the sheer lack of different weapons is disappointing as it doesn’t feel like the game really gives a player the opportunity to progress and earn better items. In terms of control, the game moves and shoots in a fairly standard manner, not doing much to try and set itself apart from other shooter combat scenarios but still at least getting the basics right.

Traditionally the long Memorial Day weekend marked the start of the Summer movie season. In the last decade that unofficial date has shifted to the beginning of May, but this is still a marquee weekend for film. And what better way to celebrate that than with the return of one of cinema’s biggest stars.

Will Smith hasn’t been in a movie in nearly four years, and his return also marks the return of one of his most beloved characters, Agent J. Men in Black III had a solid debut bringing in $70 Million over the four-day weekend. That comes in a bit below expectations, but ranks as a strong debut none-the-less considering where the franchise was.

While not an actual reboot, the sequel actually proves that the Men in Black universe is still capable of being an entertaining summer destination. The movie also did well overseas, but only doing well is not what Sony was hoping for. If this franchise makes its way to a fourth installment positive word of mouth is going to have to give this film some legs.

Speaking of hot gams, The Avengers might have dropped to second place, but it still managed to impress. Bringing in over $46 Million over the extra long frame represented a very slight dip for the film. This was extra impressive when you consider Men in Black is direct competition for its target audience.

Before I recount the gory details of Battleship‘s disastrous opening weekend, it behooves me to let you know yet again that The Avengers won the weekend. I adore The Avengers, but it has made so much money so fast that we are just about out of things to say about it in the Box Office report.

It settled a measly 46.6% for another $55+ million at the domestic box office. The Avengers scored a few more speed records, such as fastest film to $450 Million domestic, in 10 less days than the next best film. Next weekend will be interesting though, its first (potentially) non-first place hold will give a decent indication of how big of a final total we can expect.

The good news for Battleship is that it isn’t a complete and utter disaster worldwide. With its international release weeks in the film has already made over $200 Million. Of course it made a paltry $25 Million here in the states and will be viewed as a the new John Carter (and THAT film’s reign as biggest cinematic black eye might end up short-lived).

It’s a board-game movie, so I don’t think anyone has their expectations especially high, though the only other board-game movie I can think of off the top of my head is Clue, and it was fantastic. And Connect Four, but I think that’s a porno. Seriously, we all kind of knew this wasn’t going to be that good.

Anywho, the plot can be deduced from the trailer: Aliens come down and get nasty with the Navy, leading to an all-out aquatic assault. Wedged in between there is a love story involving a plucky, up-and-coming Lieutenant Alex (Taylor Kitsch) and the daughter (Brooklyn Decker) of the fleet Admiral (Liam Neeson).

There’s more: Alex’s brother Stone (Alexander Skarsgard) is a Commander aboard the destroyer USS Sampson, while Alex is aboard the USS John Paul Jones. Alex wants to marry his girlfriend but is worried about asking her father. The girlfriend is a physical therapist helping out an amputee.

Even with Battleship already out in theaters in other countries, there’s still time for the big PR push to keep on going in the US of A. Case in point is this new clip from the movie which debuted last night on MTV.

In it we see some of our men and women of the Navy get their action on and try to attack and alien space ship. We also get more of our favorite cast in action as well.

One thing this clip does prove is that machine guns don’t really have much effect on giant alien ships and those aliens are not to be trifled with. We could have told you that.

UPDATE: As a bonus, we’ve also got another clip for you which just arrived in our mailboxes. Enjoy.

Check out the new clips after the break. Look for Battleship, directed by Peter Berg and starring Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard and Rihanna, hits the US on May 18.

When I first heard there was going to be a movie based on the Battleship tabletop franchise, I was expecting some modern naval epic. Instead, like Michael Bay going to the Ninja Turtles, we got aliens. And now, seeing the game based off the movie off the game takes on a FPS perspective, we can’t help but watch with morbid curiosity at the potential insanity that could be brought to us.

It’s obvious that developer Double Helix Games, known for Silent Hill Homecoming, G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, were forced to tie in to the theme’s of the movie as opposed to the board game like the 1993 NES and SEGA Game Gear classic. But there is something unmistakably interesting about the premise behind the game, by association to the movie, that we can’t take our eyes off of it.

It could be the thought of combining Call of Duty and Halo style gameplay together on a modern locale like Hawaii. Or it could be the premise of a piece of our childhood being completely shattered like it was during the summer of G.I. Joe, Wolverine Origins, Transformers: Rise of the Fallen and Terminator: Salvation.

But, luckily, the Battleship tabletop game didn’t have characters that we could hold close to heart only to be torn from us. Instead, many people just remember the frustration of trying to program the damned Electronic Battleship that almost never worked as well in real life as it did in the commercial. So now, little white and red plastic pegs are replaced with high grade military grade weaponry in a FPS along with a tactical sea-based warfare game alongside it.

Often when searching the vastness of the Internets for interesting things to bring you, our very important readers, we come across people doing cool things with video. This time around it’s Doug King and his show Trailer Shots.

In this particular show, King combines two of the things we love the most: movie trailers and booze. The premise is simplicity itself, he highlights a few trailers for upcoming movies and then details a themed cocktail recipe that fits in perfectly with the trailers presented.

The most recent episode features trailers for upcoming movies Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Battleship and Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated Prometheus. Then, King introduces viewers to a new libation known as the Alien Secretion. We haven’t tried it yet but it sounds pretty good.

We’ve also got an earlier episode of the show after the break to share with you. In this one, look for trailers from upcoming movies Dark Shadows, Rock of Ages, and The Bourne Legacy. And, of course, a cocktail recipe called Barnabas Collins, which works well if you’ve seen the trailer for Dark Shadows.

I can hear the pitch meeting now. It probably went a little something like this: Peter Berg: “Transformers made a crapload of money, right? Well, this is Transformers on the ocean. See, robots attack ships and try to sink the them.” Studio Exec: “You’re a genius. Here’s a bag of money.”

I don’t know if Battlship will be good or not (probably not) or if Peter Berg is really a genius (I’m guessing no) but I can guarantee the movie will be busy and extremely loud. To prove that fact, please take a look at the new trailer just released today. We have it for you after the break.

In it you see lots of robots and whatnot trying to attack a group of ships at sea. All they wanted to do was have some simple war games and now these damn underseas robots have made this shit get real — or something like that. Does the story really matter? Not much as long as stuff explodes convincingly. Hint: it mostly does.

Peter Berg “directs” a cast of pretty people like Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna and the always cool Liam Neeson (obviously doing this one for the money).

As the trailer says “The battle for Earth begins at sea” on May 18, 2012. Check it out after the break.

If toys make an effective inspiration for movie franchises, why not games? After all, regardless of its relative creative merits, the Transformers franchise has managed to make a metric crapload of money.

So, why not try to do the same with a movie based on a classic game? It could work. That’s just what director Peter Berg and his team have done with the upcoming Battleship. To prove it, we’ve got the first trailer for the film for you right now.

In it we get a lot of the film’s story of a young, upstart naval officer (Taylor Kitsch) in love with his Admiral’s daughter (Brooklyn Decker) who needs to put aside his personal feelings and learn to be a man when an alien invasion threatens his fleet of ships. The movie is, of course, based on the classic board game Battleship and from the trailer, it actually looks like director Berg gets that he’s making a movie based on a game, is in on the joke and doing his best to make it a fun and exciting film.

When I first heard they were making a movie based on Battleship, I was, to say the least, skeptical. After watching the trailer I’m now intrigued, especially as to how Berg and company are going to pull it off. Who knows, maybe they can?

Check out the trailer after the jump. Battleship, which stars Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna, arrives in theaters on May 18th, 2012.