Box Office – ‘Star Trek’ Pulls In $76 Million Opening Weekend
May 11, 2009 by tcgames · Leave a Comment
It fell a few million dollars short of my personal projection, but Star Trek exceeded estimates from most other analysts, debuting with $76.5 million in its first three-plus days at the box office. It did, however, set a new mark for the second weekend in May, topping the old record held by Van Helsing by about $25 million.
The numbers from Box Office Mojo show a fairly sizable tumble on Sunday (down 33% from Saturday’s total), but otherwise, it’s all good news for Trek, which should have the kind of positive word of mouth that X-Men Origins: Wolverine has not enjoyed. The new J.J. Abrams reboot should become the second highest grossing Star Trek movie ever in another two or three days and it will be the top film in the series next weekend.
Star Trek benefits from having another week without a direct competitor; it’s hard to say that Angels & Demons is going for the same audience. That gives Trek a few extra days of attention in a very crowded May, which could help it significantly in the long run.
Box Office: Watchmen – $25.2M Friday, Possible $62.5M Weekend
“Who is watching the Watchmen?” Just about everyone…or so it seems.
The brand new film adaptation of the classic graphic comic Watchmen is a hit of monstrous proportions on its opening weekend, but not everyone loves it. In fact, not only is there a prominent character named Rorschach (played by Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley), the film itself is serving as a Rohrschach Test for critics, fanboys and the broader public.
First let’s look at the cold hard numbers. As I first reported Friday morning, the midnight preview screenings generated an estimated $4.5M. Contrary to some reports, that is a huge early sale. E! Online reported that the take was merely “decent,” and one analyst speculated that the picture would finish in the $46M-$50M range for the weekend. The article and analyst were off-the-mark.
There was no way for Watchmen to approach the $18.5M midnight start for last summer’s The Dark Knight. First off, it is March and not the middle of summer blockbuster season. Kids have school. People are working. These are not the lazy days of July when it is easier for many to see a movie at midnight on Thursday, and hit the office late on Friday. The other factor is the movie’s rating. This is an R-rated movie, not PG-13 like The Dark Knight.
The Thursday night start for Watchmen was 44% better than the $2.5M midnight shows for director Zack Snyder’s last epic 300 (also rated R). It was also virtually double the $2.3M midnight start for November’s Quantum of Solace (PG-13). Those are much better comparables than The Dark Knight or say last year’s PG-13 rated Twilight, which grabbed a reported $7M midnight preview gross.
