'Star Trek Into Darkness' nearly matches 2009 opening of original

When Star Trek opened to $75 million in 2009, the performance was considered stellar for the franchise reboot. Sequels usually do even better, so Star Trek Into Darkness' $70.5 million opening (and $84 million over the four-day period) now seems lackluster, especially with many predicting that Spock & Kirk would help bring the feature over $100 million its first weekend. Abroad, however, the movie should have stronger prospects. The original earned two-thirds of its worldwide gross from domestic markets, since foreign awareness of the U.S. television show was not high. The sequel opened to $80 million overseas, so at least for now, domestic and international totals are nearly split. Besides the overseas bright spot, the movie was also a hit in IMAX, which accounted for $13.5 million of totals.

The performance of Iron Man 3 was untouched by Star Trek. The Robert Downey Jr.-led feature dipped 51% to $35 million. That's actually less of a drop than last week, when it fell 58% from opening weekend. The Great Gatsby also dropped by half, placing third with $23.4 million. The Leonardo DiCaprio-led feature is on track to cross $100 million soon, but with a budget of $105 million, this feature will need a strong box office to compensate for its high budget.

Holding on to eighth place for the second weekend in a row, Mud earned $2.1 million, just 15% less than last week. The Mississippi River-set thriller stars Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon. In one month, it's racked up $11.5 million, making it one of the more successful indies of the year.

Releasing in four theatres, Frances Ha averaged $33,500 a screen for a total of $134,000. That's about on target with writer/director Noah Baumbach's previous release, Greenberg, which had a slightly higher per-screen average but only released in three locations. That film starred Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig, while this one has just Gerwig, a lesser-known name, so that alone is enough for me to declare Frances Ha's opening more auspicious.

On Thursday, the Wolf Pack returns to Las Vegas to wrap up the comedy trilogy in The Hangover Part III. On Friday, Memorial Day weekend kicks off with Fast & Furious 6, which will release opposite Epic, the first fresh animated content in ten weeks.