LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The latest "Star Trek" movie put a Vulcan death grip on its rivals at the North American box office this weekend, beaming up 75.2 million dollars to take top spot, final figures showed Monday.
The critically acclaimed blockbuster's haul easily surpassed the best opening weekend of any of the sci-fi franchise's 10 other "Trek" movies, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.
The Star Trek reboot also nearly tripled the 26.4-million-dollar take of superhero spinoff "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which claimed the best debut of the year one weekend earlier with 87 million dollars.
Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock said the stellar opening for "Star Trek" would be a cause for celebration for fans of the franchise.
"An opening of that size almost guarantees that you're going to see one, maybe two sequels down the line," Bock told AFP. "I think if you're a 'Star Trek' fan at the moment you're going to be ecstatic."
Trailing a distant third was romantic comedy "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner, which earned 10.2 million dollars in its second week.
Superstar singer Beyonce's taut thriller "Obsessed" slipped one spot to fourth with 6.6 million dollars, for a total of 56.2 million dollars over three weeks.
Youthful fantasy "17 Again," starring US teen idol Zac Efron, also fell one spot, to fifth, taking in 4.2 million dollars for a 53.9-million-dollar total over four weeks.
Debuting at number six was comic caper "Next Day Air," about a bungled cocaine delivery and the efforts to retrieve it. As the only R-rated film in the top 12, it took in 4.1 million dollars.
In seventh spot was "The Soloist," an inspiring musical tale based on a true story and starring Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx, which scored 3.9 million dollars in ticket sales on its third weekend.
"Monsters vs Aliens," an animated tale of a rag-tag group of monsters who save the world from destruction, dropped three spots to eighth, earning 3.2 million dollars but basking in its seven-week haul of 186.7 million over seven weeks.
Disney's "Earth" documentary, in ninth place, culls extraordinary nature footage from the BBC's landmark series "Planet Earth." It brought in 2.7 million dollars on its third weekend.
Miley Cyrus vehicle "Hannah Montana: The Movie," slipped two places to 10th. The film version of the popular Disney TV series took in 2.2 million dollars for a total of 73.8 million in five weeks.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
