Star Trek Into Darkness Passes 2009's Box Office Total

After this weekend, Star Trek Into Darkness passed a minor milestone by making more than its predecessor. 2009's Star Trek made a worldwide total of $385.7 million with $257.7M from US and $128M from overseas. STID's current total is $412.8M total with $211M from US and $201.7M from overseas. The end result is Paramount successfully campaigned the movie to international audiences (where Trek films usually do poorly) but the cost was the film doing poorly (relative to the first film) in the states. A lot of that probably has to do with the very stiff summer competition that started with Iron Man 3 and has not really let up. Considering things are not going to slow down anytime soon I will be surprised if the movie crosses the $450M mark or surpasses the previous film's $257.7M US total. I have no idea what Paramount's internal goals were but I suspect they were expecting to at least cross the half billion mark. I don't know what this means for the sequel but if Trek history is a guide, usually failing to meet expectations means a reduction in budget. Depending on who takes over for JJ Abrams at the helm, it is too soon to know if this matters or not.

Star Trek Into Darkness Drops to 3rd

In its second weekend of release, Star Trek Into Darkness fell out of the top spot to number three behind new releases Fast & Furious 6 and The Hangover Part 3. The drop isn't surprising and actually pretty small relatively speaking with only a 32.7% drop vs the more average drop of 50% or more. The result was a weekend US gross of $47.2 million for a US total of $156M. On the international side, the movie crossed the $100M putting it within striking distance of the first film's $127M international total. Its still to early to see where the final numbers will land but with a worldwide total of $258.1M after around 3 weeks of release, it looks like it might successfully pass the $385M total of the first film and possibly become the first Trek film to cross the $500 million threshold. That climb will be tough as the competition only gets harders with upcoming releases of Man of Steel, After Earth and Monsters University.

Star Trek Into Darkness Wins Weekend Box Office

Star Trek Into Darkness won the weekend with a $70.6 million weekend and $84.1 million for first five days in the United States. Its international gross is $80.5M for a total of $164.6M worldwide. The numbers are fantastic for a Star Trek film and average for a summer tent pole movie but oddly enough it is less then what the first movie took in for its first five days of release in the US at $86.7M. Usually summer sequels blow their previous numbers out of the water. As a result the media and Paramount are considering this opening "disappointing". The numbers holding steady really isn't a surprise considering the four year break between movies and May's tentpole heavy schedule. Iron Man 3 probably didn't help as it continues to do very well worldwide, having already passed the $1 billion mark. The smaller then expected opening for STID only means that Paramount will probably do whatever they can to avoid another four year break between movies so pretty much any chance of Abrams directing the next one is likely dead. The overall goal is to outpace the worldwide total of the first film which was $385.7M. I suspect anything close to $500 million will be considered a successful movie and marketing campaign by Paramount so it will be a few months before can pass final judgement.

Star Trek Into Darkness Opens Strong in Europe

The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Star Trek Into Darkness has opened strong in Europe with a $31.7 million weekend, breaking several franchise records (which really isn't saying much). While Star Trek does have a fervent fan following over its nearly 50 years, its penetration into other countries has been lukewarm at best. As a result the Into Darkness marketing campaign targeted international markets to try and boost the franchises popularity around the world. This included the world premiere in Australia with country premieres in each country before the US one. It seems the result paid off as the opening in UK, Australia and Germany is 56% ahead of the 2009 opening and in Mexico, New Zealand, and Switzerland it is 250% ahead. While $31.7M doesn't seem like much compared to most US weekend openings, this first weekend grosses is higher then the entire international total of Star Trek: Nemesis. Paramount's goal is for Star Trek Into Darkness to exceed the $128 million international take of 2009's Star Trek and of course destroy the $385.6 million worldwide take of the last film.

The unspoken goal is to achieve that around 30% US/70% international box office ratio that seems to mark a true world wide blockbuster. By this I mean if a movie takes $1 billion (for easy math) in worldwide grosses, generally speaking $700M came from international sales, $300M came from US sales. Even reaching a 50-50 ratio would be considered an achievement for Star Trek considering the franchise's overall movie history. As for those asking "why do we care about box office dollars?" those numbers dictate not only will there be a sequel but how much of a budget the next movie will get, the marketing support it will get and may inform any decision to create a new television series since most TV shows are now regularly sold overseas.

Star Trek Into Darkness opens in the US on May 16th and continues to roll out internationally for the new few weeks.

Star Trek Most Pirated Film of the Year

According to TorrentFreak, Star Trek was the most pirated movie of 2010 followed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The chart below, the number of downloads is first, the worldwide gross is second.

1 Star Trek 10,960,000 $385,459,120
2 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 10,600,000 $834,969,807
3 RocknRolla 9,430,000 $25,728,089
4 The Hangover 9,180,000 $459,422,869
5 Twilight 8,720,000 $384,997,808
6 District 9 8,280,000 $204,570,836
7 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 7,930,000 $929,359,401
8 State of Play 7,440,000 $87,784,194
9 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 7,200,000 $373,062,569
10 Knowing 6,930,000 $183,260,464

Obviously the studios are not pleased, despite breaking new records in box office grosses with a $10 billion in one year for the first time ever in just the US and Canada (totals for worldwide not released). Paramount especially has been displeased citing Star Trek multiple times in a lobby attempts to the FCC to try and get internet providers to become enforcers of copyright standards. Most of these numbers do not include the DVD rips that probably have replaced camcorder copies available over the summer. It should also be noted that these numbers are worldwide, not limited to just the United States.

Part of the outrage is the studio assumes a 1:1 ratio in illegal copies. In other words, they feel that for every copy downloaded is one copy they would have sold. Which isn't true. Which they can't even prove, but then no one has really asked them too, just accepting their nonsensical billions in lost sales as gospel. I would love for someone to explain to me how sales can increase while apparently pirating is increasing yet somehow it is affecting sales negatively.

As far as I can tell, it seems pirating has become a form of sampling for many people, used to make a decision before committing to a purchase. It’s just something they assume as part of their calculations and outrage. If someone finds a crappy camcorder quality recording of a movie, especially a FX heavy movie, acceptable then they never had any intention of going to the theatre to begin with.

I am not agreeing with pirating, I am such saying that available data and sales seems to contradict the Hollywood line. Rather than spend millions and millions fighting pirates, attacking customers and more, it seems there are better ways. When Hollywood tries to find them (iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, etc), they benefit. When they essentially manufacture numbers, turn their customers into villains, attempt to get ISPs into our daily lives to monitor internet use at a granular level, then I don't see how anybody wins.

Paramount Nearly Tops Summer Box Office

Paramount pictures nearly took the domestic box office top spot from Warner Brothers this summer thanks to the strength of its tent pole movies of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek according to Variety. Paramount earned $884 million in the US, much of that from Transformers 2 $400 million and Star Trek's $257.2 million domestic take. Warner Bros took the top spot with $1 billion due to Harry Potter 6 ($297.6M) and The Hangover ($272.2). 20th Century Fox is third ($610M), Disney ($620M) was fourth and Sony ($550M) was fifth.

Star Trek Passes $375 Million Worldwide

Good news, bad news for Star Trek at the box office after this weekend. The good news is the movie earned another $1.7 million (domestic total $249.8) so on the cusp of passing the $250 million mark, something few thought it would achieve. Once include an international total of $125.1 the movie has made a worldwide total of $375 million. The bad news is the movie has dropped out of the top 10 by placing at 11th and unlikely to return so its run in theatres is coming to a close. Overall, not bad for a franchise most believed was dead.

Abrams' Star Trek Biggest Trek Ever

According to AICN, as of Monday, Star Trek (2009) is officially the top grossing film ever for the franchise passing previous king Star Trek: The Motion Picture by $100,000, and yep that is accounting for inflation. This is after only 46 days in theatres, by contract TMP was in theatres over a year which is unheard of now since at the time there wasn't a home video industry or the sheer volume of releases there is now.

Domestic Box Office (adjusted for inflation, in millions)
$51.4 Nemesis (2002)
$89.5 The Final Frontier (1989)
$92.2 Insurrection (1998)
$108.4 Generations (1994)
$116.8 The Undiscovered Country (1991)
$149.4 First Contact (1996)
$156.4 The Search for Spock (1984)
$176.0 The Wrath of Khan (1982)
$212.7 The Voyage Home (1986)
$240.7 The Motion Picture (1979)
$240.8 Star Trek (2009)

These number do not include overseas gross, but Star Trek is already the most successful film overseas too based on available data so top grossing of all time is not a reach.

Another Weekend, Another Box Office Summary

Star Trek continues its slow decline down the box office ladder showing remarkable resiliency despite stiff competition. By now most movies have dropped off the top 10 entirely but Star Trek took the 7th spot for the weekend.

US Box Office results:
1) The Proposal - $34.1M in its debut
2) The Hangover - $26.8M, 18.1% drop
3) Up - $21.3M, 30.6% drop
4) Year One - $20.2M in its debut
5) Taking of Pelham 123 - $11.3, 51.7% drop
6) Night at the Museum 2 - $7.3M, 24.1% drop
7) Star Trek - $4.7M, 13.8% drop

This brings the domestic total of Star Trek to $239.4M in 45 days of release. I wasn't able to find the foreign box office results but more than likely that total was probably a couple of million as the movie performed well compared to its predecessors but compared to other movie releases this year, it was not a strong showing. As it stands, the worldwide total for Star Trek is at $358,046,263.

On a related note, the film has now taken the top spot as the most attended Trek film in franchise history according TrekMovie.com. The calculation is based on a buying power calculation that accounts for inflation to estimate the audience of each film. Check out the graph for the calculated numbers.

Star Trek Weekend Box Report

Another weekend has ended and time to check in on how Star Trek is doing in box office results. The Hangover had another outstanding week taking the top spot ($32.8M, 27.1% drop) do to excellent audience word of mouth, Up took second ($30.7M, 30.3% drop), Taking of Pelham 123 debuted at third ($23.3M) and will likely drop like a rock considering the poor showing and subpar reviews. After the top three you have Night at the Museum 2 ($9.6M, 34.3% drop), Land of the Lost ($9M, 52.3% drop) and Imagine That ($5.5) for spots 4-6.

This brings us to 7th place Star Trek which did took in $5.4M for a 34.4% drop as it starts showing its 38 days in theatres. Its number remain outstanding overall but with Sandra Bullock's The Proposal and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on the horizon there is only one direction the movie will go in.

As far as overseas sales, Star Trek continues to lag behind the competition with 8th place overall with another $3.4M in sales. Overall, overseas sales are $118,519,512, US sales at $231,882,965 bringing its total worldwide gross to $350,402,477. Star Trek is supposedly a worldwide phenomena but it still has much ground to cover to get its audience back.

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.

Weekend Box Office Estimates

The weekend estimates are in and to no surprise Pixar's Up took the top spot with $68.2 million to become the 10th consecutive hit for the studio. Second place to Night at the Museum 2 ($25.5M, down 53%), third to Drag Me to Hell ($16.6M), fourth to Terminator Salvation ($16.1M, down 62%, probably no sequel in the works), and Star Trek was fifth with $12.8M (down 44%) bringing its 24 days domestic total to$209.5M.

This total allows Star Trek to easily enter the top 100 All Time Domestic Box Office list (not account for inflation) at the 81 spot, just behind Back to the Future. At the current rate of drop per weekend (about 45%), it appears that Star Trek will probably top out around $225M, so around 65th place with Wall-E ($223.8M). The foreign take will hopefully be in tomorrow.

Star Trek #1 US Grossing Film of the Year

With a Wednesday take of $1.8 million, Star Trek has officially surpassed Monsters vs. Aliens as the highest domestic (US only) grossing film of 2009 bringing its total to $194.8 million. Once you include its foreign gross, the movie is number 4 movie for worldwide gross with a total of $286.8M. How long this will last is unknown but more than likely Transformers 2 and Harry Potter 6 will be fighting for the top spot before the summer is out.

Top Five Domestic for 2009
5) Paul Blart: Mall Cop - $146.3M
4) Fast and furious - $153.7M
3) X-Men Origins: Wolverine - $166.3M
2) Monsters vs. Aliens - $194.0M
1) Star Trek - $194.8

Top Five Worldwide for 2009
5) Taken - $221.0M
4) Star Trek - $286.8M
3) X-Men Origins: Wolverine - $311.4M
2) Fast and Furious - $336.0M
1) Monsters vs. Aliens - $346.0M

Weekend Box Office Report

Week three for Star Trek and it finishes the week in the third spot ($22M) behind Night at the Museum 2 ($53.5) and Terminator Salvation ($43M). Rounding out the top spots is Angels and Demons ($22.4M) and Dance Flick ($22.4M). Wolverine dropped to 6th ($7.8M). These numbers do not include Memorial Day in the states. As of now Star Trek easily hold the spot as most successful movie of the summer with a domestic take of $183.6M to Wolverine's $163M. Currently it resides just behind Monsters and Aliens for highest domestic grossing film of the year which is $193M. Suffice it to say that if Trek doesn't exceed that by tomorrow, it will by the end of the week.

International numbers puts Star Trek in fourth place ($11.5M in 58 markets) for total of $87.5M. Angels & Demons was first ($60.4M in 99 markets), Museum 2 was second ($50.1M in 93 markets). As you can see Star Trek is not finished premiering in many markets so its overseas total is likely to grow much higher.

Grand total, Star Trek's worldwide sales is $271M, easily making it the most successful Star Trek movie to date. As for next week, Up is getting released so keeping with the pattern, Trek is likely to take 4th place on its 4th week of release.

Final Box Office Numbers

As reported, Star Trek took second place after Angels & Demons. Turns out the race was even close then expected as the final numbers come in. A&D took in $46.2M vs. $43M for Star Trek. Also Star Trek was barely number one both Saturday and Sunday so really the only reason it took the top spot was the midnight showings. Once you include overseas, Trek is now sitting at $215.4M globally.

In addition Star Trek broke the 2nd weekend record, beating The Dark Knight with a $5.3M to $4.7M take. Since the movie had only a two week run (Friday IMAX theatres switch to Night at the Museum 2) there was a greater sense of urgency the Dark Knight probably helping increase sales. Anyway, all in all, the future is bright for the franchise.

Weekend Box Office Estimates

Week two for Star Trek and the box office prospects are looking very good. As expected Angels & Demons took the top spot with $48 million but Star Trek nearly took the top spot with a take of $43 million. The result was only a 43% drop in sales, remarkable considering the summer movie competition. Wolverine, in its third week of release took a 44% drop to $14.8 million for the weekend putting it at $151.1 million total.

With a current US box office total of $147.6, the new Star Trek is now the highest grossing picture in franchise history and currently resides at 6th for attendance but that will change pretty quickly. Foriegn estimates add another $21 million from 57 markets bringing the global total to $216.

Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, the long term prospects remain solid as it appears that Angels & Demons and Wolverine are going to non-factors in the race to summer box office king. A&D has a critic rating of 38% (66% community rating), Wolverine has rating of 37% (65% community) and Star Trek remains high with 95% (88% community) so word of mouth will remain a factor and indicates repeat viewers. Suffice it to say Star Trek is going to have an excellent run at the box office proving that Paramount's gamble to move the film from Christmas to Summer release was a good one.

Next week Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum 2 is out so Star Trek will probably drop a few places, but it looks like it has excellent chance to landing at third. At this point I have wonder if the movie will not top out at around $225 domestically. It is too early to tell but generally a hugely successful film has a total that is 50% US, 50% rest of the world so if that pattern holds, Trek has the potentially of crossing the $400million threshold in a few weeks.

Final Box Office Numbers

Yesterday I reported the estimated numbers for the weekend box office but now Box Office Mojo has posted the final numbers including the foreign take.

The finalized take increased Star Trek's totals from $76.5 to $79.2 million which exceeds internal Paramount expectations of $50-$60 million. The first weekend breakdown:

Thursday: $4.0M
Friday: $26.89M
Saturday: $27.25M
Sunday: $21.06M
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Total: $79.20M for US
Foreign: $35.5M
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Grand Total: $114.7M

The several million discrepancies indicate that sales on Saturday and Sunday were higher than expected. One problem that may impact the films long term vitality at the box office in face of new competition is the audience make is 60% male, 40% female and 65% was 25 years and older. Personally that sounds like a solid sweet spot for this type of movie but Hollywood still thinks that 25 and under are repeat viewers that create the mega blockbusters. I just think a good popcorn flick combined with excellent word of mouth will do the work regardless of demographics.

Including in those numbers is a new record for IMAX viewings with a weekend take of $8.5 million on 138 screens, surpassing The Dark Knight's $6.5M take. The diagram above is a comparison of the previous Star Trek films opening weekends accounting for inflation from TrekMovie.com. Keep in mind that first weekend totals were not really important until the mid nineties. Before then, longetivity at the box office was what drove a marketing campaign rather than one huge weekend.

One number that isn't that good is the international number which sits at $35.5M but that doesn't include a few key markets such as Japan. For the film to even hope to reach $500 million plus that all studios want for their films, the foreign box office needs to be equal or greater than the domestic totals. However, for foreign markets longetivity is about as important as one huge weekend so it is too early to draw any conclusions about the film's success overseas.

The key factor will be how it holds against the competition with Angels and Demons, Terminator: Salivation and Up. Star Trek will not remain number one but if it can stay in the top five for the next few weeks, its final tally will be even more impressive. Regardless of the final numbers, Paramount has to be pleased as the relaunch of the Star Trek franchise is a complete success.

Star Trek #1 Weekend Movie

If you’re the cast, crew or executives at Paramount, you probably have a very satisfied grin on your face as the preliminary numbers are out and Star Trek is #1 at the box office in the states and expected to do the same internationally once those numbers are out. According to Box Office Mojo, the weekend take is $72.5 million, the most successful launch for any Star Trek film to date. Previous record holder Star Trek: First Contact took in $30.7 million or around $52 million once account for inflation. It was also the second most successful weekend so far this year only behind Wolverine's $85M weekend (which experienced a massive 68.3% drop). Once you include Thursday ticket sales the total reaches $76.5 million.

US Estimated Sales breakdown:
Thursday: $4 million
Friday: $24 million
Saturday: $26 million
Sunday: $22.5 million
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Total: $76.5 million

Next weekend the sequel to the Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, comes out so Star Trek is expected to take a box office hit from the new competition much like Wolverine from Trek. However, Star Trek is one of the highest rated movies of the year by both critics and viewers (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) so it will have something going for it that Wolverine didn't (only 37%) - excellent word of mouth. Anything below 50% will indicate that Star Trek will have a very profitable box office ride that could land it in the top three for the summer in revenue. As it is, it wouldn't surprise me if the sequel gets fast tracked with a larger budget.