‘Star Trek Beyond’ boldly goes to No. 1
‘Pets’ stays strong; new ‘Ice Age’ faces the deep freeze
Star Trek Beyond scored a direct photon torpedo hit with audiences, taking $59.6 million in its opening weekend to easily win the box office.
Beyond rode critical success, scoring an 84% positive rating on review site RottenTomatoes.com while introducing Trekkies to the villainous Krall (Idris Elba) and dramatically destroying the USS Enterprise. Audiences gave it an A-minus at CinemaScore.
The third film in the film fran- chise landed amid the celebration of the TV series’ 50th anniversary. “This opening is a solid debut for a film and a franchise, showing
Star Trek still stands the test of time,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.
The total did reflect a trend of opening weekend drops from the first two rebooted films: Star Trek scored $75.2 million in 2009, and Star Trek Into Darkness took $70.2 million in 2013. Animated monster The Secret
Life of Pets scored a strong second with $29.3 million for a three-week total of $260.7 million. Third was a tie at $21.6 million between the rebooted
Ghostbusters and the debut of microbudget horror film Lights Out.
Ghostbusters opened last weekend with a disappointing $46 million behind Pets. The Paul Feigdirected film starring all-female Ghostbusters saw a 53% drop this weekend for a domestic total of $86.9 million.
“Sony is pitching this as a comedy, but it didn’t hold like a comedy at the box office, which all Paul Feig films have done before,” says Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “Ghostbusters is playing more like a blockbuster that wasn’t a blockbuster.”
The overperforming Lights Out already qualifies as a hit, given its thrifty production budget of $5 million. The film scored a 77% approval rating on RottenTomatoes and a B from audiences.
Ice Age: Collision Course landed with a thud in fifth place in its opening weekend. The fifth film in the once-dominant Ice Age animated franchise scored an acorn-sized $21 million against a budget of $105 million.
Final numbers are out Monday.