On Friday, Star Trek blasted off with an estimated $26.8 million on approximately 7,400 screens at 3,849 sites (which included 138 IMAX venues). Counting an estimated $4 million* from Thursday night previews, the tally is $30.8 million in effectively a day and a half, according to distributor Paramount Pictures. Unadjusted, that's more than any previous Star Trek movie grossed in an entire opening weekend, edging out Star Trek: First Contact's $30.7 million.
At its current trajectory, the new Star Trek is headed for an opening weekend north of $70 million, not including the Thursday previews (because the weekend is counted as Friday to Sunday). That would not only be the biggest-grossing opening weekend for a Star Trek movie, but also the most attended (albeit from far more theaters than any previous Trek). First Contact was the benchmark, which debuted to around $50 million adjusted for ticket price inflation at 2,812 theaters. While the previous movie in the franchise, Star Trek: Nemesis, was a dud, all of the other movies had the equivalent of $30-million-plus starts adjusted.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine bled 76 percent in its second Friday, in a drop that was comparable to the last movie in the franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand. The prequel made an estimated $8.3 million, lifting its total to an excellent $110.9 million in eight days. If the picture follows a similar path as its predecessors, that would lead to a weekend gross of around $27 million.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past dipped to third with an estimated $3.1 million for a $22.9 million tally in eight days. The fantastical romantic comedy was off 46 percent from last Friday, which was in the same range as Fool's Gold and Failure to Launch, and is en route to a $10 million weekend. However, it still significantly trails the past Matthew McConaughey romantic comedies.
Obsessed was cut in half from last Friday with an estimated $2.1 million, increasing its booty to $51.7 million in 15 days, while new release, Next Day Air, rounded out Friday's Top Five with an estimated $1.4 million at 1,138 sites.
* Update: The previously reported $7 million Thursday estimate apparently did include midnight grosses that were technically part of Friday. However, this did not change the total as of Friday.
