Hey you got some Lord of the Rings in my Snow White! The movie going crowd of the first weekend of June certainly didn’t mind that particular mash-up, as Snow White & The Huntsman came in at number 1. Bringing in over $56 Million, Snow White proved even fairer than expectations.

What is most interesting to me about the big three day haul for Snow White is that total is not all that much more than Men in Black III did in the first three days of its run. Yet because of expectations, and a healthy dose of public skepticism, Men in Black seems like a mild under-performer, while Snow White represents a win for most involved. Context is key.

Speaking of the black clad men, the sequel did about $29 Million for its second weekend, holding on to second place from The Avengers who continues its strong run. The drop was less than 50%, which means word of mouth must be playing in the film’s favor.

The casting has not come particularly quick or easy for the Spike Lee directed remake of the Korean thriller Oldboy.

Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men, Men In Black III) locked in as the lead character quite early in the process but the quest for a villain so far has involved names ranging from Christian Bale to  Clive Owen, with even Colin Firth being in the mix. All have passed for various reasons and the search continues.

Filling the role of Brolin’s love interest, Marie, has been an equally difficult task. Both Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska have been offered and rejected the part of the female lead role. It is now being reported that the role of Marie has been offered to Elizabeth Olsen.

The film follows an average man who is kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, he soon finds out that his kidnapper has a greater plan for him and is set onto a path of pain and suffering in an attempt to uncover the motive of his mysterious tormentor.

The lesser known Olsen sister, Elizabeth seemingly sprang out of nowhere at Sundance 2011 to become one of America’s most sought after young actresses thanks to parts in the soon to be released Silent House and the under the radar film Martha Marcy May Marlene. With three other projects listed to start in 2013, she’s not going away anytime soon. She’s also got a sizable gap in her schedule before those projects are due to start, which makes this a very plausible option.

In what is probably the least surprising news ever, Men in Black III was all Will Smith’s idea. Men in Black III director Barry Sonnenfeld was recently interviewed by UK entertainment magazine Contactmusic, in which he confirmed that the story and plot of Men in Black III was completely thought up by Will Smith.

”Will calls me Baz.  When we were shooting ‘Men In Black II’ [in 2002], one night he said ‘Hey Baz, I think I have an idea for number three’. The basic idea was that Will’s character, Agent J, would have to go back into the past to save his partner,” said Sonnenfeld.”It allowed the movie to take place in another era, and us to learn more about Tommy Lee Jones’ character. But it turned out to be a very long process of development, mainly because of the knotting issues of time travel, the time travel thing was really hard”