Star Trek Into Darkness is poised for a pretty strong weekend.
The long-awaited sequel to director J.J. Abrams’ acclaimed reboot seems to have fared extremely well with moviegoers. The film earned around $22 million on Friday alone. Analysts predict the film could go on to make approximately $83 million over the weekend.
While the estimated weekend total might seem impressive, it’s actually not much higher than Abrams’ 2009 effort. Star Trek would make $79.2 million during its first three days in theaters. According to Cinema Blend , the sci-fi flick ultimately made $257 million during its theatrical run in North America.
In addition to earning quite a bit of cash in the US, Star Trek Into Darkness is expected to generate even more business overseas. The Hollywood Reporter estimates that the sequel will likely bring home around $35 million this weekend from overseas markets. Russia is expected to lead the pack for around $9 million.
Despite the strong opening, the film probably won’t match the opening weekend total of director and co-writer Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 . The flick, which recently crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide , made a huge splash at the box office with $175 million.
Black’s sequel continued to do strong business on Friday. The film landed in second place with around $9.5 million. This brings its domestic total to $311.4 million. The third installment of Marvel’s acclaimed franchise shattered the numbers generated by its predecessor; Iron Man 2 would eventually stall out at $623 million worldwide .
As the summer movie season heats up, it will be interesting to see which titles manage to rise to the top as one big-budget flick after another is rolled into theaters. Although Star Trek Into Darkness will likely emerge victorious this weekend, it will have to contend with the hotly-anticipated Fast and Furious 6 next weekend.
Did you catch Star Trek Into Darkness in theaters on Friday? Do you think it claim the top spot at the box office this weekend?
