'Star Trek' back with a $76.5 million opening

By Sarah Sluis

With J.J. Abrams at the helm, Star Trek has officially relaunched. The prequel gave the franchise its biggest open ever. Including Thursday evening screenings, which tacked on $4 million to the total, Star Trek earned $76.5 million. IMAX screenings of the film added 11% to the film's bottom line, consistently selling out and counting for $8.3 million in ticket sales. The film also did better Saturday than Friday, which usually indicates positive reviews and the likelihood that the film will have legs at the box office.

While Wolverine dropped 68% from last week, down to $27 million, the film was number one overseas. Star Trek wasn't franchised internationally and thus tends to underperform globally, which dampens its profitability in an age where most films rely on international box office in order to make a film go into the black. Still, that doesn't seem to be changing any plans to go ahead with the next Trek film.

Next Day Air, a mix-up comedy that deals with the fallout when drugs are delivered to the wrong house, brought in a modest $4 million and grabbed the #6 spot.

Despite the presence of two tentpoles, the rest of the top ten dropped just 30-45%. Tellingly, most of the titles remaining in the top ten skewed towards females, kids, and families, apt films for those not in the mood, or old enough, for sci-fi or action. At #3, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past dropped just 32% to earn $10.4 million, and teen-themed titles 17 Again and Hannah Montana: The Movie both held on in the top ten, bringing in $4.4 million and $2.4 million. Monsters vs. Aliens, in its seventh week of release, brought in $3.3 million, and Earth, a documentary that focuses on the lives of animal families, reeled in $3.3 million.

Among specialty debuts, Rudo Y Cursi, which released in 70 theatres, brought in $3,000 per location. The per-screen average is light for a specialty title, and may indicate that the Spanish-language film could have benefited from more specific Hispanic marketing, most famously used in last year's Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Little Ashes, only at 11 locations, did better from a per-screen perspective with $6,400 per theatre, and Atom Egoyan's Adoration earned $4,000 across ten locations.

This Friday Angels & Demons releases, marking the third week in a row dominated by a tentpole. Because it's based on a mass-market paperback, there's a chance it will bring in a different, possibly older and more female audience than the previous two big-budget films. With both Star Trek and Wolverine out of the gate, everyone will be watching to see how they hold up in their second and third week of release.