Monday, May 11, 2009

'Star Trek' has galactic $72.5 million box office opening


"Star Trek" went where no Trekkie film has gone before, earning $72.5 million in its first weekend in theaters.

The new "Trek" easily topped the previous record opening weekend in the 11-movie series, which was $30.7 million for 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact."

The blockbuster debut is highly logical, as Mr. Spock might say, considering all the hype, buzz and overwhelmingly strong reviews the reboot of the 1960s television series has garnered.

The film, which explores the back stories of Spock, Capt. Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew, was also one of the most favorably reviewed movies of the year.

The fact that box-office sales grew over the weekend from $26.8 million on Friday to $27.4 million on Saturday also shows the movie "is going to have legs, a rare commodity in a world where every week there's a new blockbuster," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.

Last week's top film, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," came in at No. 2 with $27 million.

The prequel to the "X-Men" franchise, starring Hugh Jackman as the mutant who slices and dices his enemies with his metal claws, has made nearly $129.6 million in two weeks.

"We think we withstood the attack of 'Star Trek,' if you will, and will settle into a long, successful run," said Chris Aronson of 20th Century Fox.

Other strong holdovers included "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," which was No. 3 with $10.5 million.

"Obsessed" came in No. 4 with $6.6 million, and "17 Again" earned $4.4 million to land in fifth place.

The week's other new wide release, the stoner comedy "Next Day Air," came in at No. 6 with $4 million.

Rounding out the top 10 box-office winners were "The Soloist," which earned seventh place with $3.6 million, and the animated comedy "Monsters vs. Aliens," which scared up $3.4 million in ticket sales for eighth place.

"Earth" was No. 9 with $2.5 million, and "Hannah Montana: The Movie," came in at No. 10 with box-office sales reaching $2.4 million.

1 comment:

pusangkalye said...

Nice----maybe it's worth seeing it in Imax after all-----