Weekend Box Office: Consider 'Star Trek' Rebooted

Though I enjoyed Todd's post, I actually don't think much of the idea that J.J. Abrams needs to go around rebooting franchises, if only due to my vain hope that some Hollywood talent might ration out a little time for some original programming rather than endless prequels, sequels and remakes. But credit where credit is due. Seven years after Star Trek hit its box-office nadir with Nemesis, Abrams' reboot opened to $72.5 million ($76.5 million including Thursday night "sneaks") -- more than twice the gross of any previous franchise entry -- and, crucially, seems to be enjoying good word-of-mouth even among non-Trekkies.

That falls shy of last weekend's $85 million opening for Wolverine, but I expect Star Trek to hold up better than the generally disliked superhero flick. Wolverine dropped nearly 70% in its second week of release, and will struggle to get to $200 million domestic. (Its drop to $27 million is actually slightly bigger, percentage-wise, than Watchmen's much-discussed deflation back in March.) On the other hand, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past held up well, as the weekend didn't bring any new anti-action counterprogramming.

Summit's Next Day Air, the only other opener, managed $4 million on just over 1000 screens, which isn't too bad -- though I'm hoping Summit can do a bit better with the difficult-to-market Brothers Bloom, opening on just a few theaters next weekend and expanding on the 22nd and 29th.

The full top 10 after the jump.

1 - Star Trek (Paramount) - $72.50 ($18,836) - $76.50
2 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) - $27.00 ($6,582) - $129.62
3 - Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (WB) - $10.45 ($3,291) - $30.25
4 - Obsessed (Screen Gems) - $6.60 ($2,537) - $56.25
5 - 17 Again (New Line) - $4.41 ($1,517) - $54.17
6 - Next Day Air (Summit) - $4.00 ($3,515) - $4.00
7 - The Soloist (Dreamworks) - $3.61 ($1,725) - $23.50
8 - Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks Animation) - $3.38 ($1,546) - $186.89
9 - Earth (DisneyNature) - $2.49 ($1,387) - $26.09
10 - Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) - $2.41 ($1,049) - $74.08

Next weekend, Angels & Demons opens with no new competition. Its predecessor opened to nearly $80 million; I expect roughly the same for the sequel.