JJ’s ‘Star Trek’ beams up $76.5 million

Resistance proved futile: “Star Trek,” the Paramount Pictures prequel, sold an estimated $76.5 million in tickets at North American theaters in its first three and a half days of release, the top draw of the weekend. The opening was propelled by a megawatt marketing campaign and unexpectedly strong critical notices. Going into the weekend, though, Paramount was a bit nervous about how the film, which cost $140 million, would perform. Would the average moviegoer dismiss it as a geek flick? What about older women, an audience that has been tough for science fiction films to crack but is needed for a movie to reach blockbuster status? Historically “Star Trek” movies have performed poorly overseas. Would Paramount’s harder-than-usual sell in Europe pay off? Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice chairman, sounded giddy in an interview on Sunday morning. “A giant new audience came along for this ride,” he said. “It’s a great relaunch to this classic property.” – from NYTimes

Paramount’s “Star Trek” has successfully beamed up, debuting to $76.5 million at the domestic box office, including $4 million in Thursday night runs. Overseas — where the sci-fi franchise has never played well –”Star Trek” likewise posted solid numbers, grossing $35.5 million from 5,000 locations in 54 markets for a worldwide bow of $106 million.

- from Variety

Thursday evening previews contributed $4 million to the total and midnight Thursday performances $3 million as the well-reviewed film re-invigorated the studio’s storied franchise with an opening smack in the middle of an unusually broad range of prerelease forecasts. Paramount execs had said they’d be pleased if “Trek” traveled anywhere north of $50 million during its first session. “Trek” made good use of positive word-of-mouth during the weekend to build on a core franchise fan base and tap into more youthful demos. Weekend grosses, fattened by outsized receipts in 138 Imax giant-screen venues, peaked with particularly robust Saturday night business. – from THR

The revamped “Star Trek,” which had never seen significant international traction in its 10 previous incarnations, scored a respectable $7,100 per-location average. Top “Trek” takes came from the U.K. with $8.8 million, Germany with $4.6 million, Australia with $3.4 million, France with $2.8 million, Russia with $2.3 million, South Korea with $2.2 million and Spain with $1.6 million. Paramount noted Sunday the “Trek” results came in 3% ahead of the 2005 re-invention of the Batman franchise, “Batman Begins,” which finished with a $167 million foreign cume. Par also pointed out that the new “Star Trek” is already 47% ahead of the final international cume of the previous franchise entry, “Star Trek: Nemesis.” – from Variety