‘Star Trek’ Boldy Goes to Number One

Published by Jeff Leins on May 10, 2009

The newly redone Star Trek boldly went where no other Trek had gone before, capturing $72.5 million in its first weekend and the largest opening for the eleven-movie franchise.  The closest debut was 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact with less than half the amount ($30.7 million).  At this pace, the reboot should become the highest grossing Trek movie by next week.

Technically the movie opened on Thursday night starting at 7pm to get a jump on the competition, so the added $4 from those showings brings its domestic total already to $76.5 million.  This is above analyst expectations of only $50 million, but a logical success when you consider the overwhelmingly positive reviews (96% on RottenTomatoes).  60% of audiences were male and 65% over the age of 25.

Paramount’s wide release didn’t beat last week’s Wolverine bow, but still managed to place second for 2009 openings and 15th all-time in the month of May.  Though J.J. Abrams has produced a number of successful projects, he’s only now directed two films (both live-action TV adaptations).  Mission: Impossible III opened to $47.7 million around this time in 2006.  It’s also the biggest box office weekend in the career’s of the entire fresh-faced cast.  The total includes $8.2 million in IMAX dollars, a new one-weekend record for the extra large screen (beating The Dark Knight’s $6.3M).

X-Men Origins: Wolverine fell 68% in second to $27 million. In 10 days the spin-off prequel has already pulled $129.6 million domestically ($209.3 million worldwide).  Typically fanboy films dive like this, but it seems to have been hit a bit harder by the science fiction competition.

Meanwhile, the box office has been kind to date movie material, adding another $10.5 to Matthew McConaughey’s Ghosts of Girlfriends Past schlock and $6.6 million to Beyonce’s Obsessed.  Zac Efron’s 17 Again made another $4.4 million.

This weekend’s other wide opener was Summit Entertainment’s Next Day Air, which struggled on its 1,138 screens only posting $4 million in sixth place.

Third in “per theater averages” was a Salvador Dali biopic called Little Ashes with $6,417 at each of its 12 addresses.  The small film was boosted by Twilight fandom scrambling for a look at Robert Pattinson briefly in the buff.

3-Day weekend estimates:
1. Star Trek $72.5 million
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine $27 million
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past $10.5 million
4. Obsessed $6.6 million
5. 17 Again $4.4 million
6. Next Day Air $4 million
7. The Soloist $3.6 million
8. Monsters vs. Aliens $3.4 million
9. Earth $2.5 million
10. Hannah Montana: The Movie $2.4 million