Star Trek flies past Pets to No. 1
LOS ANGELES — With Capt. Kirk and Spock leading the USS Enterprise, Paramount’s Star Trek Beyond took over the box office over the weekend, unseating Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets.
Star Trek Beyond, the third installment since director J. J. Abrams revived the franchise in 2009, pulled in about $ 59.3 million in U. S. and Canadian theaters. The film has pulled in an estimated $ 30 million internationally thus far.
Of the picture’s domestic total to date, $ 8.4 million came from Imax screens. Imax locations accounted for four of the film’s top five domestic engagements and 16 of the top 20.
Dropping to second place was The Secret Life of Pets, adding about $ 30 million in its third week. The animated picture has grossed $ 261 million domestically to date. Adding an international take now at $ 63 million, the film’s global gross sits at $ 324 million.
A new release from Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema, Lights Out, came in third with about $ 22 million in the United States and Canada, and had an international take of $ 8.3 million. The PG- 13 supernatural horror tale beat analyst expectations of $ 16 million.
Costing just $ 5 million, the film, about a brother and sister who are tormented by a supernatural entity when left home alone, stars Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman and Maria Bello. It’s directed by David Sandberg.
Moviegoers and critics alike have received the picture well. Audiences gave it a B CinemaScore, and 77 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics rated it positively.
At No. 4 was fellow new release Ice Age: Collision Course, from 20th Century Fox. The computer- animated picture pulled in about $ 21.4 million, falling below analyst projections of $ 25 million. But the film already has an international take nearing $ 180 million.
Audiences gave the film a B- plus CinemaScore, but only 13 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics rated it positively.
Columbia’s all- female- led Ghostbusters came in fifth in its second weekend with about $ 21 million. This brings the film’s domestic gross to date to $ 86.3 million.
Films of note in limited releases include Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, from Fox Searchlight. The R- rated comedy starring Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders took in nearly $ 1.9 million on a little over 300 screens, for a per- screen average of about $ 6,000.
Another new release, Don’t Think Twice from Film Arcade, released exclusively at New York’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema, took in $ 90,126, giving the film the highest per- screen average of the year. The movie by Mike Birbiglia follows the ups and downs of an improvisation comedy troupe as its members grapple with resentment and jealousy when only one of them is cast on a sketchcomedy TV show.
The picture — currently at 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — has a cast including Birbiglia, Keegan- Michael Key and Gillian Jacobs. It expands to Los Angeles and Chicago today and nationwide in August.