Well, The Voyage Home has been a long one, but the weekend's First Contact with the JJ Abrams-directed
Star Trek reboot showed much promise for the new (old?) franchise. The film pulled in a not-to-be-scorned haul of $31 million on Friday. This does, admittedly, put it behind last May's
Iron Man, which pulled in $7 million more.
This is undoubtedly good news for Paramount as the film is the first
Trek in years to play beyond its Final Frontier of core Trekkies to new Generations. The previous biggest opening
weekend for a
Trek movie was
First Contact in 1996 with $30 million, while this film represents Abrams' biggest Friday opening as a director (
Mission: Impossible III scored $16 million.)
It seems that The Search For Storyline (ooh, that one was weak) has paid off, as
Trek looks to be the biggest opening for any franchise reboot ever.
Casino Royale and
Batman Begins pulled in $14 and $15 million respectively. However, will the film be able to beat
Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country? 1986's blockbuster raked in $107 million - without the appearance of the original cast's Nemesis, we just don't know.
Second place at the box office went to
Wolverine with $8 million - a drop of 76%. Third went to
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, earning $3 million, fourth to
Obsessed ($2 million) and finally fifth was
Next Day Air with a measly $1 million. Must try harder.
Source:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003417.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
September 21, 2008, 07:10:21 PM
