Star Trek Wins, But Not at Warp Speed

Star Trek Into Darkness opened atop the U.S. box office, though its debut didn’t quite make the jump to warp speed that Paramount Pictures executives expected. Into Darkness, the second J.J. Abrams-directed installment of the sci-fi franchise, took in $70.1 million last weekend.

Zachary Quinto plays Commander Spock and Chris Pine is Captain Kirk in Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount)

However, the second installment of the re-launched series opened significantly below wide-spread expectations, including those of the studio. Star Trek Into Darkness also failed to match the $75.2 million opening weekend take of 2009’s Star Trek. While that’s not a big gap, the current installment had the advantage of higher priced 3D admissions.

Through four days of screenings, Star Trek Into Darkness is running 3.5 percent behind the $86.71 million take of Star Trek. Holding up well going forward will be no easy task for the film given the upcoming competition it will soon be facing from Universal’s Fast & Furious 6, Warner’s The Hangover Part III and Sony’s After Earth.

Iron Man 3 fell 51 percent to place to second last weekend with $35.8 million. Warner’s The Great Gatsby hung on. The film starring Leonardo DiCaprio fell 52 percent to place in third with $23.9 million. Interestingly, The Croods, which was in seventh place last week, rebounded to fifth taking in $3.0 million, maybe because it is the only kids’ movie in wide distribution right now.