Whether one looks at the $80 million conservative expectations or the lofty $120 million expectations, the industry had high hopes for “Star Trek Into Darkness.”<\/p>\n
And that was when its release was only scheduled for the three days between May 17 and May 19.<\/p>\n
The sequel to JJ Abrams’ “Star Trek” reboot ultimately opened Thursday, May 16, but its four-day debut total might barely make the bottom portion of that range. \u00a0And its three-day weekend tally will almost definitely not make it.<\/p>\n
After two days of release, “Into Darkness,” despite an A CinemaScore, has grossed just $35.5 million. \u00a0$22 million of that came on Friday, which marks a decline from the $26.9 million opening haul for “Star Trek.”<\/p>\n
And even if one argues that “Into Darkness” would have outperformed its predecessor yesterday had Friday been the actual debut date, that argument is a fairly futile one. \u00a0Due to the first film’s rave reviews and positive fan reception, excitement for “Into Darkness” should have pushed its opening day total dramatically higher.<\/p>\n
In this case, staying on pace is a bad thing.<\/p>\n
With $35.5 million in the bag, estimates suggest “Into Darkness” will earn just over $80 million across its first four days. \u00a0The traditional Friday-Sunday total will be less than $70 million.<\/p>\n
2009’s “Star Trek” earned $79.2 million in its three day weekend and $86.7 million in its first four days. \u00a0And that fourth day was a Monday, which is considerably less attractive to moviegoers than Thursday.<\/p>\n
“Iron Man 3” trailed with $9.5 million Friday, while “The Great Gatsby” delivered $7.7 million. \u00a0Nothing else even cracked $1 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[36,3],"tags":[137,295],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n