Star Trek Wins Big at Box Office

According to Variety, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek had taken an estimated $31 million by Friday, giving Paramount Pictures its’ second highest opening day ever at the box office for a live-action film.Playing at 3,849 theaters, Star Trek ranked behind the first day gross of Paramount’s Iron Man which made $38.7 million last May. Included in that figure was $4 million of Thursday evening and midnight runs. Previewing on a bulk of its entire theater count at 7 p.m., Star Trek accumulated $7 million on Thursday.

Star Trek also scored the biggest opening day for Abrams in his second outing as a feature director behind 2006’s Mission Impossible III ($16.6 million) and for the sci-fi picture franchise overall, beating the $12.9 million generated by 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact. The film, which headlined the 1980s Star Trek: The Next Generation cast previously touted the biggest opening weekend ever for the franchise with $30.7 million.Based on Gene Roddenberry’s ‘60s TV series, Star Trek has spawned 10 feature films prior to the current installment beginning in 1979. The highest grossing Star Trek film to date remains 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home with $109.7 million at the domestic box office.

Last weekend’s top film X-Men Origins: Wolverine slipped to second with $8.3 million on 4,102, registering a 76% drop and an eight-day cumulative of $110.9 million.