Reviewed and received as a major success, JJ Abrams’ 2009 “Star Trek” reboot paved the way for a blockbuster new franchise.
“Star Trek Into Darkness,” the second film in the series, seemed poised to easily break $100 million for its bow this weekend. Facing no new competition and two weeks removed from the “Iron Man 3” opening–often the best buffer zone a film like this could get in the summer–“Into Darkness” was clearly ready to achieve such lofty success.
It did not. While “Into Darkness” easily won the weekend box office, it fell short of expectations, delivering just $70.6 million in its three-day debut weekend and $84.1 million since its opening on Thursday. Such figures clearly position “Into Darkness” as a major film, but they do not help classify the movie as a smash.
Given the genre, reception to the first one and buzz for this release, “Star Trek Into Darkness” should have greatly outperformed “Star Trek.” Instead, it fell short of that film’s three-day opening ($79.2 million) and even missed out on that film’s four-day tally ($86.7 million), despite having the benefit of Thursday, not a Monday, in the calculation.
Because the entertainment industry tends to focus on raw numbers versus context, some may write about “Star Trek Into Darkness” like it was some huge blockbuster. But when one actually considers that context, he sees that “Star Trek Into Darkness” should have done far better. And that is the real story here.
“Iron Man 3” dipped to second place with $35.2 million. With a cumulative gross of $337.1 million, it has already moved past “Iron Man 2” on the all-time list.
Films of the sort are usually immune to a huge second week drop, but “The Great Gatsby” could not avoid it. It lost 53% of its opening weekend gross for a $23.4 million, third place finish. “Pain and Gain” ($3.1 million) and “The Croods” ($2.8 million) completed the top five.