Star Trek Sets Its Phasers on $76.5 Million

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

One of the big question marks this summer was whether J.J. Abrams' relaunch of Star Trek (Paramount) could successfully reboot the franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. With an eclectic cast headlined by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto and with only one returning actor from the previous movies and television shows, Star Trek went into the weekend with overwhelmingly positive reviews and brisk advance ticket sales. After grossing $4 million in Thursday previews (screenings after midnight counted towards Friday), Star Trek pulled in an additional $72.5 million (estimated) over the weekend, averaging roughly $18.8k in 3,849 venues, including over a hundred IMAX screens. Going by estimates, the $76.5 million grossed by Abrams' relaunch in 3 1/2 days is more than five of the previous "Star Trek" movies made in their entire theatrical runs. Internationally, Star Trek earned an estimated $35.5 million from more than 5,000 screens in 54 markets. A sequel to the movie has already been greenlit, so here's hoping there'll be an announcement soon about a release date.

The 20th Century Fox superhero prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, took a massive plunge in its second weekend, down 68% to second place with $27 million and a ten-day total of $129.6 million.

Matthew McConaughey's romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (New Line/WB) only dropped 32% in its second weekend, taking third place with $10.4 million and a running total of $30.2 million.

The Screen Gems thriller Obsessed crossed the $50 million mark with an additional $6.6 million, as it dropped to fourth place in its third weekend, while Zac Efron's age-switching comedy 17 Again (New Line/WB) held on well, dropping just one notch to fifth place with $4.4 million and a total of $54 million in four weeks.

Summit Entertainment's crime-comedy Next Day Air didn't bring in the urban audiences expected, opening with just $4 million in 1,138 theaters to take sixth place.

Seventh and eighth place were held by two DreamWorks films. The Robert Downey-Jamie Fox drama The Soloist and the animated Monsters vs. Aliens with $3.6 and $3.4 million, respectively. The Soloist has grossed $23.5 million in three weeks, while Monsters vs. Aliens continues to be the top grossing movie of 2008 with $187 million.

The Top 10 grossed roughly $136 million, up 18% from last year when the Fox comedy What Happens in Vegas and the Wachowski's Speed Racer failed to take down Marvel Studios' Iron Man in its second weekend.

Of the limited releases reporting estimates, Carlos Cuarón's soccer comedy Rudo y Cursi (Sony Pictures Classics), reteaming Y Tu Mama Tambien's Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, brought in $211 thousand in 70 theaters (average of $3k per site), while the Salvador Dali biopic Little Ashes (Regent Releasing), starring Twilight's Robert Pattinson, took in $77 thousand in 12 theaters in select cities.