Sunday, June 7, 2009

Another Weekend, More Bucks for Star Trek

Another weekend has ended as the estimate takes flow in. Up ($44.2M, 35% drop) retained the top spot, The Hangover ($43.3M) took second thanks to excellent word of mouth, Land of the Lost ($19.5) tanked badly as people start to realize that Will Ferrell is just not that funny. Fourth went to Night at the Museum 2 ($14.7M, 40% drop), and fifth to Star Trek ($8.4M).

With a still weak economy, theaters goers are relying on word of mouth more than ever which Star Trek proves. Terminator 3 ($8.2M, 50% drop), Drag Me to Hell ($7.3M, 54% drop), Angels & Demons ($6.5M, 43% drop), and others are all performing worse and the one thing they all have in common is nowhere near the same word of mouth and critical score that Star Trek has. Basically for a movie to succeed in the crowded summer schedule, they just can't have flashy effects, they must actually be entertaining with a good story.

Foreign box office is estimated to be $6 million bringing its overseas sales to $112M for a worldwide take of $334.8M. This is actually a pretty weak showing as the movie needed to split its sales nearly 50/50 with US sales to achieve blockbuster status. As it stands, it probably will fall short of $400 million, something that Angels & Demons sailed past due to the strength of its oversea sales. Having said that, this film is out-performing its franchise precedessors with ease indicating a bright future for the sequel in the global box office.

Now out for 31 days, Star Treks US take is a total of $222.8 million, passing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to become the second highest domestic grossing film (adjusting for inflation) for the franchise. All that remains for the 2009 film to take the top spot is to pass its 1979 counterpart.

1 comment:

  1. Dont try to tell me that Drag Me to Hell isn't entertaining and doesn't have a good story.

    ReplyDelete