Star Trek Into Darkness Leads The Weekend Box Office, Misses Estimates
The latest Star Trek film, which made its theatrical debut last Thursday, led the way in box office earnings over the weekend, beating out other films like The Great Gatsby and Iron Man 3. Into Darkness brought in $70.6 million over the weekend in the US, and grabbed a total of $84.1 million since its release late last week.
However, the sequel barely missed beating out the 2009 Star Trek film, which garnered just over $75 million over its opening weekend four years ago. The movie's co-production company, Paramount, seemed to think it would make a lot more over the three-day period, as Into Darkness's totals so far have missed the company's estimates. After all, Into Darkness was the weekend's only major release.
The new Star Trek film did push Iron Man 3 down to the second spot for the first time since its release. Iron Man 3 only brought in just over $35 million over the weekend, but that pushes the movie's total to $337 million in the US, and crossing the $1 billion mark on a global scale. Of course, that's far cry from Avatar's $2.7 billion total, but you know a movie is quite successful when it passes the $1 billion mark. For what it's worth, only 16 movies have ever made more than $1 billion globally.
While some believe that Into Darkness will make a comeback in the coming weeks to make up for the revenue it could've made over the weekend, it's not likely that the film will see a huge increase anytime soon. It faces some stiff competition from upcoming movies, like Fast and Furious 6 and the third iteration of The Hangover, both of which are expected to bring in big bucks.
The 2009 Star Trek film grossed a total of $385.7 million worldwide while it was in theaters. Of course, it's possible that Into Darkness could match this, but the chances are slim. After an OK opening weekend, and ongoing competition with Iron Man 3, as well as future road blocks with other summer movies, topping $400 million may be a difficult task for the new film.