Star Trek Finishes 3rd Week with $290M Globally + Predictions For Weekend 4 May 29, 2009
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Paramount, Star Trek (2009 film) , trackback
On Thursday Star Trek brought in $1.87M in domestic sales, which ranked it close fourth behind Angels & Demons ($1.92M). This, combined with its international sales, brings Star Trek’s three week total up to $289.8M. More box office details below, including some predictions on what Star Trek can expect for its fourth weekend.
Star Trek’s total domestic gross is now $196.7M. It’s third week total was $35.1M, which puts it between the third weeks of Batman Begins ($26.4M) and Iron Man ($40.9). Here is an update of the domestic chart for Star Trek we did for our two week summary last Friday comparing the new Trek film with other recent ‘franchise reboots’ and big summer movies.
Star Trek also brought in $1.1M in overseas sales, bringing the total international take to to $93.1M. This brings Star Trek’s three week total global gross $289.8M
Should break $300M this weekend – eyes on Japan
Since it was released two weeks ago, Angels & Demons has been battling it out with Star Trek (with each winning 7 days), but box office prognosticators are predicting that Star Trek will beat A&D to come in 5th this weekend behind the four films released over the last two weekends (Terminator Salvation, Night at the Museum 2, Up and Drag Me To Hell). Star Trek’s fourth domestic weekend predictions range from $14M at boxofficeguru.com to $14.6 at boxoffice.com, and readers at BoxOfficeMojo are predicting $14.8. One thing showing confidence in Star Trek’s continued ‘legs’ is that its screen count is only dropping 13.5% for its fourth weekend, for a total of 3,507, which is actually a few more screens that Angels & Demons will have for its 3rd weekend (3,464).
There are no predictions for international sales, but one thing to keep a look at will be how Star Trek performs in Japan where it opens today. Expectations should not be too high as the Trek franchise has not been a big earner in Japan and there are no big international box office stars in the new film. The last Trek film (Nemesis) only made $565K in Japan.
Regardless, Star Trek should break $200M tonight or tomorrow domestically and $300M worldwide sometime this weekend.
But Here is a Star Trek commercial from Japan.
And here is video from the Tokyo premiere from earlier this month (with the giant Enterprise)
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Comments»
Good to see Star Trek doing so well.
plan on seeing it again this weekend
Has Rick Berman shared his thoughts on this yet?
3. Mike Stivic … as far as I know… nope.
So my question is, internally, is Paramount internally chuffed, pleased, happy or ecstatic with these figures ( on a very badly worded ‘happy scale’ ). I know it may well have been mentioned, but what were the internal predictions for revenue over the summer?
And for the bean counters, I’ve seen in twice in Canada and twice in the UK, plus I know of a number of friends who are waiting until the kids are off school to catch it … next film on the calendar is UP …..
Who cares what Berman thinks !!!
With budget and marketing taking the “cost” of the film to 200 million – doesn’t this film need to make 400 million to be considered “profitable”? I believe we have a way to go yet. And even though the writers have been tapped for a sequel – we don’t have an official statement from Paramount that the next movie is a go, isn’t that correct?
Man, I can’t wait for this to hit DVD so I can watch it again, frame-by-frame. I hope against hope that Paramount doesn’t try to milk it for five years, releasing one original and six different ‘enhanced’ versions piecemeal, loaded with unrelated types of extra content. Just put the whole shebang out, and give us all the cut footage, associated interviews, Easter eggs, and other minutiae lying about in someone’s office vault. I know the economy’s in the crapper, but I’d shell out $39.95 for a two-disc set in a custom case.
Let Mr. Berman enjoy his retirement or whatever he’s doing today. We should all thank him for his bringing Star Trek back from the brink in 1989, in the aftermath of the horrible Mr. Roddenberry-controlled first season of TNG, the strike-weakened second season of TNG, and the fiasco that was Star Trek V. Within a year, TNG, under Mr. Berman’s supervision, gave us Yesterday’s Enterprise and The Best of Both Worlds, propelling Star Trek to what was (until now, perhaps) its zenith in mainstream popularity.
Mr. Berman held control for too long and should have stepped aside long before Voyager and Enterprise sank into creative starvation, and the catastrophe that was Nemesis should never have been allowed to happen. But lets not lose sight of the great things Mr. Berman did in those mid-years of TNG and letting new talent take DS9 and run with it.
These are great numbers tho….hoping it can catch up to Iron Man….or come close anyways.
@ #9
I was under the impression that the late Michael Piller was responsible in large part for the success of TNG’s epic and great 3rd season.
This is great! I can’t wait to see what they do with the sequel after all this acclaim for this one!
#3: Stifle yaself, meathead.
:)
“10. Kingons – May 29, 2009
These are great numbers tho….hoping it can catch up to Iron Man….or come close anyways.”
ME: I’d say beating out Iron Man is a lock in10-14 days. Watch out for “Up”. Disney/Pixar will OWN the summer with that one. Could beat out their previous #1 (Nemo). Kids movies always do well, and that one looks a) funny b) cheerfully rendered, c) without the eco-preachiness of Wall-E and did I forget to mention d) funny. A home run. I am an expert. Four kids; three under age 5. They do $400 million falling out of bed.
Berman did well in TNG, and I even enjoyed Voyager. Toward the end, though I think he was trying to recapture the glory days. The last Enterprise ep says to me “Gee, we wish we were still doing TNG.” Thing is, you can’t keep looking to the past if you want things to keep moving forward.
With Berman at the helm, the Enterprise flew proudly for many a year. Unfortunately, near the end of the Berman era, it crashed (Quite litterally in Generations and Nemesis!)
I give respect to everyone who made TNG the special thing it was. May the current generation of Trek pilots have the wisdom to know when to give things a little rest.
Star Trek finally filled that void that was there for 4 years, how am I supposed to handle another 2 years!?!?
It didn’t cost $200 milliom
565,000 measly dollars in Japan??? They love SF. What’s wrong with those guys.
There are many Star Trek novels. Pick up a book, perhaps?
14….
Up does look like a fun movie…..I wan’t that talking dog Dug…..so awesome…I wish I had a talking dog like him…..so adorable….
to # 7
Best estimates are that it cost $150M to produce. Some claim another $150M to market/distribute worldwide (though others think that number is too high). By that method, $301M would be defined as a “profit”. Trek will easily pass that mark (it’s currently at $289M worldwide).
to #18
The film just opened in Japan TODAY, so those are at best first day estimates. Besides, they may love SciFi in Japan, but Star Trek, for whatever reason…..not so much.
#16 LOL!
I’ve discovered the older you get, the faster time goes. So 2011 will be here before you know it! Consider it an Alternate Reality, and get used to it! ;-)
#18
Nevermind! ;-)
Just re-read the thread, thought you had some information about early #’s from Japan for the new film. Totally missed your sarcastic intent @ NemeCyst. But the stuff about Trek in Japan still holds.
I want to know what Nick Meyer thinks.
#8: “Man, I can’t wait for this to hit DVD so I can watch it again, frame-by-frame.”
Has anyone found the R2D2 “Easter Egg” yet? Of course, please don’t tell where/when.
#9: Agreed.
Rick Berman & Brannon Braga, shortcomings aside, steered ST through the most successful period of its long history… and sadly, stayed longer than they should have.
There was a semi-official conformation of the sequel. The article on trekmovie with the viacom chairman said that the sequel was greenlit before the May 8th premire.
It frustrates me that Star Trek seems far from catching or surpassing Transformers. My hatred for Transformers is as passionate as my love for this movie. I feel irrationally competitive.
Regarding the upcoming and a fore-mentioned announcement from Paramount, see the following link:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001885.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1
Re: 5 & 7 –
5: Paramount is creaming over Star Trek right now. Viacom is creaming over ST right now.
7: No.
Star Trek has exceeded all studio (and other expert) expectations and predictions. Mind you, Iron Man made $318 million (domestically) on a budget of $140 million and was considered a huge hit. Star Trek will certainly bring in $250 million (domestically) before it ends its run. ST, by the way, is only 5 mil behind Iron Man on its weekly earnings to date (that is, at the same point in its release). While ST is not expected to get quite the full amount that IM did, Paramount was hoping for a break-even theatrically, which generally means huge profits on DVD (or whatever).
BTW, my GF works in Paramount Marketing — that’s where my numbers come from — I’m just a lowly effects guy.
So, the point is ST will make a profit domestically and though its not generating the numbers overseas that IM did, it’s doing better than expected.
One thing that nobody seems to get these days is that the real profits come when the movie goes to DVD (and new media). Historically, DVD sales triple the theatrical profits. And this is with a very small increase in marketing and DVD manufacturing costs. This is why films that break even or make less than their production budget in theatrical release (i.e. the Resident Evil movies) get sequels.
Pre-production has already begun for a sequel to Star Trek.
Cheers.
#30: “Historically, DVD sales triple the theatrical profits. And this is with a very small increase in marketing and DVD manufacturing costs.”
So with that thought in mind, anyone know how much “Nemesis” did in DVD sales?
#30 Great points
lets also not forget Fx gave paramount 24 million for the film, it will also have a huge amount of profits from pay per view and other tv venues. Also they have merchandising, (actions figures, Burger King). This is already a huge hit and will at least generate a 100 million profit for paramount and be a huge springboard for future sequels etc. I think paramount is looking for the next movie to have a whole new fan-base after people who haven’t seen the movie in theaters will have seen it on dvd and cable. The are looking at the batman model where the sequel does more $$$ then the original.
#28
Star Trek will finish with little more than half of the $708 global gross of Transformers. Trek will end with something like $345-360 million max.
As a fan of Star Trek, I am always a litle surprised at how it never seems to fare well internationally. My wife brought up something intersting that I forgot about that made me think about this.
There is a division between American Sci-fi writers and others in Europe (and even Japan). American sci-fi tends to be more militaristic, while Euro/Japanese sci-fi is not.
Now, of course, that’s not an absolute. I used to watch “Starblazers (Battleship Yamato)” as a kid. Anyone can tell you that’s no peace and love fest.
However, if the division is strong, then I can see a lot of sci-fi fans in euro/Japan dismissing Star Trek as just another example of American “shoot ‘em up” on a starship.
Just my thoughts.
Live long and prosper, and Boldy go.
Prediction:
The sequel will have a major star involved to pump up the international box office.
30:
Matias47:
Cheers. Thanks for the info. Trek Lives!
I’m not worried about “Terminator” or “Drag Me to Hell”. ST’s already shown to be a worthy contender for Terminator, and “Drag Me to Hell” is a blood and gore film that will only appeal to a few (kids and horror movie fans) thrill seekers. I believe Star Trek will beat DMTH with no problem.
One thing we can know for sure. These movies will never revisit Kahn.
The one thing we have learnt is that the stories are not been written to pander to geeky fanboys but to a mass audience. New fans can go see Kahn on dvd or blue ray.
#35 Something like Antonio Banderas as Khan, and Daniel Craig as the Romulan Commander? Sounds good.
Hey trekkers.I’m going to see it again tommorow.Here’s to another 40+ years for Trek.Here’s to Kirk/Spock/bBones/Pike.Bring us another adventure in a sequel.
On other webs,there is much chatter about how newtrek has abandoned the cannon.I’ve been watching since 1966, and I say to JJ. P!ss on cannon.Keep it going.You are doing great so far.Star Trek needs a rebirth.This is a vision of the future,and you are keeping it alive!Thank you!!!
9. Thorny
Rick Berman killed Star Trek thinking that he could do the same stories from the 24th century, and just say it was the 22nd century. That was Enterprise. Some of the stories were good stories, but they were not 22nd century Star Trek stories. They did not make sense in the history of Star Trek, for the most part.
i’m not sure that we can blame him completely for Nemesis. There is enough blame to go around, although he had the power to change it.
Gary
35… I think they should have two “guest” stars in the next movie, one as the villain and a ‘name’ actress to play Carol Marcus (Scarlett Johannson or Rachel McAdams, or even former Pine costar Anne Hathaway, perhaps). The villain could be Commander Kor. Make it about the discovery of protomatter on some remote planet (found while searching for a suitable Vulcan II) which could become the greatest power source ever (blah, blah, blah…). But the Klingons want it, too, and they send Kor to stop the Enterprise.
41… Yeah, that’s what I meant by “he stayed too long”. Stewart and Spiner’s story “contributions” made Nemesis a mess, and Baird’s disinterest in Trek clearly showed on screen, but let’s not forget what Berman did in that critical year of 1989-90, which could easily have killed Trek, had we suffered through another year of Season 1 or early 2 stories, which Roddenberry would certainly have inflicted on us.
Yeah # 43 that roddenberry inflicted a lot of crap on us- what was that show called “Star Track” or somethin?…
Ass.
As for trek in Japan- wasnt there some cafuffel about John Cho who isnt Japanise taking over from George Takie?
Perhaps Paramount should have invested in a Japanise superstar given him the part & the hollywood treatment to warm up the Japanise market- their version of a Johnus brother or something?
if the Sci-Fi story dramas are true- “enlist in Atar Fleet” probably wasnt a great line to go with in their previews- lol
How did they handle the marketing there?
“Enlist in Star Fleet” I ment…
Kind of strange to hear that music in the Japanese trailer…. Freedom Fighters and Down With the Enterprise were much better bits of music than anything Giacchino wrote for the actual score.
Sadly and annoyingly.
Anyway, me and my mate are adding another £27 to the IMAX box office this week – fourth viewing for me, first form him!
SUTARU TUREKO!!
#38: “These movies will never revisit Kahn.”
Because there’s no point doing it twice in a row.
# 38 & 48
I agree. This is a phenomenon I don’t understand at all. Why are people clamoring for remakes when we were complaining that rehashing old story plots was part of the reason that killed the TV series. We have a whole new universe to play in. For god’s sake, let them do something NEW.
wow, would love to get near the Japanese premiere Enterprise. It gave me goosebumps just looking at the film!
#35: “The sequel will have a major star involved to pump up the international box office.”
William Shatner is an international star?
uh…. just kidding folks.
I think they should remaster Generations, replacing the Shat with a CG Berman.
Oh my.
Adjusted for inflation, Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979) would have earned about $235 million domestic in 2009 so it seems that ST (2009) may match or surpass that. The total international gross for ST-TMP would have been about $398 million. So the new one has bit to go to match it. But it may!
#47
It’s SUTAA TOREKKU!!!!!!!
(スタートレック）
The Japanese commercial is AXN version, not ground-wave.
Four TV spots are uploaded on Japanese official site yesterday.
http://www.startrekmovie.com/intl/jp/
All the sequel talk will certainly have our collective head spinning, but the best thing would be to be a fly on the wall during Orci/Kurtzman/Lindelof brainstorming.
#53 Actually the numbers for Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979) adjusted for 2009 inflation is closer to $239.1 million domestic and worldwide $403.5 million.
I think yours numbers are for last year inflation. However their is strong possibility that Star Trek will break the Motion Picture domestic record but i am not sure about worldwide record..
Number 9 – Great post.
Anne Hathaway in a future star trek film will add to it’s credibility for pulling top notch actors. She really is great and though recognized as such still seems very underrated.
I just saw the film for the 6th time. Enjoyed it just as much.
I totally agree with post number 9.
#57 – and when you deduct the adjusted budget ($136M) from TMP worldwide gross, you see that it earned $271M gross after recouping the cost to make it (not including M&A, Dist., or other related costs).
By comparison, ST09 to date has earned $142M after deducting the budget from the worldwide gross. That’s still almost twice what it cost to make it, so it’s doing fine, especially considering it will cross the $300M threshold today and should be a strong earner until at least July 15th. So there’s a good chance it will match TMP gross and popularity, but less likely it will match earnings performance.
I fully expect this Star Trek to do much better than its predecessor. I would say ST will do about 2-3 mil in Japan this time around.
46. ucdom wrote:
Kind of strange to hear that music in the Japanese trailer…. Freedom Fighters and Down With the Enterprise [War Begins from Dune] were much better bits of music than anything Giacchino wrote for the actual score.
Agreed. I missed it in a few scenes when watching it in the theatre. One of the hazards of using temp music in trailers. But plenty of people love Giacchino’s music, so there you go.
#63
Well yes, I LOVE what he did for Ratatouille, but I just do not feel that strongly about his Trek score. There are some good bits, Enterprising Young Men for example, but for the most part it lacks a strong theme (except for that bloody Duel of the Fates motif), and insufficient connection with Trek’s tremendous musical heritage. The rendition of the Courage Fanfare is in keeping with the TV series, but lacks the powerful crescendo that I loved in Goldsmith’s version.
And is it just me, but when you read that he used a 107-piece orchestra and 40 person choir, then you listen to the CD, you think,, “really?” ‘cos it sounds pretty feeble. Some of the tracks, most notably the rendition of the TOS theme in the final cue, really seem to lack… power.
Box Office Estimates for FRIDAY.
1. Up $21,400,000
2. Night at the Museum II $7,550,000
3. Drag Me to Hell $6,420,000
4 TERMINATOR SALVATION $5,090,000
5 STAR TREK $3,650,000
6 ANGELS & DEMONS $3,400,000
Trek Crosses $200M domestic threshold. A&D still breathing down Trek’s neck in a close 6th place even in fewer theaters.
Do you guys have Viacom stock?? If you spent this much time analyzing profits and running flow charts you’d be wealthy men. Maybe we should start a stock tip subforum here.
What’s a Rick Berman anyway and what’s the next Gen it’s been erased from the timeline. May happen in the future or maybe it won’t.
#64. I meant people seem to love his Trek score. You actually nailed the criticism many professionals I have spoken to about the score have echoed. “Lack of power”. I felt there was a lot of tutti writing going on, simple lines played in unison by entire sections and groups. No interesting divisi or complex counter melodies that you would find in Williams, Goldsmith or even Horner. In fact the “theme” has been called a “good counter-melody” but not a strong melody. Oddly, it was so overused during the movie (another criticism) that I walked out humming it, but about an hour later I couldn’t remember past the first couple of notes.
You might enjoy this Film Score Monthly review of all of Star Trek’s music at iTunes (of which Trek Movie’s Jeff Bond takes part):
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=54001725&id=92147842
44. Trekboi…
Can’t have an honest discussion without resorting to name-calling, I see. The best you could do was whine that Mr. Roddenberry created Star Trek (someone alert the media to this news…)
Mr. Roddenberry created Star Trek. He was the show-runner for the first two seasons of TOS, which were fantastic, and then Mr. Freiberger took over for the third season, which stunk. But for the Next Generation, the quality index was reverse: Mr. Roddenberry was the show-runner for the first season, which was awful (I’m sorry, but with two or three exceptions, it stunk to high heavens.) The Next Generation’s rise in quality began in the second half of Season 2, where Mr. Roddenberry was grooming Mr. Berman to take over. And the show reached its creative and popular zenith in the third season, which was run by Mr. Berman with little to know influence by the then-ailing Mr. Roddenberry.
#67
Thanks RD, I’ll check out the link – and apologies for misunderstanding you.
I grew up on Trek scores, and I was so stoked for this one (I guess I overhyped it in my own head, though it didn’t help the trailer music was sooo good). Kinda disappointed really.
Anyhoo… would be nice to hear what David Arnold or even…. John Williams would do with Trek. Having adored all the LOTR scores, I guess a Howard Shore Trek would be interesting…
But I guess MG will have a second poke of the pig. Oink.
I wonder what cut Paramount gets for Burger King merchandise. The day after the Kirk glass was released all three of my local Burger Kings were out of it and most other glasses. I had to order a Kirk glass at Amazon.com for double the cost to complete my collection.
Past movie cups or glasses would be around for months but the new Trek stuff is flying out of the Burger King restaurants.
I returned from a friend’s birthday party an hour ago. There were no Trekkies there, but after a couple of beers the chat arrived at current movies and Star Trek. One guest actually had a small Burger King Chekov in his pocket. I was surprised to hear, that everybody who had seen it, hated it. The main reason: It’s waaaay too silly. So I guess this might be why the movie isn’t doing so well in Germany at least. I’ve seen the German version and the translation makes a lot of scenes really funny, which aren’t in the English version. I have seen it in English twice, but the cinema was always close to empty, so I didn’t get the same crowd reaction as in the German screening. I thought it was more serious, at least I didn’t have to chuckle as much. That may be, because I had already seen it, or because I am not a native speaker. But still.
Maybe one of you can answer me this. There are two scenes in the movie, which are really ridiculous in German. Are they ridiculous for an English speaker as well ?
scene 1) Pike answers Kirk’s question as to who he thinks Kirk is in the Shipyard bar.
Pike: You are your father’s son.
scene 2) Kirk makes the announcement, that Spock has resigned and advanced him to captain.
Just came back from 3rd viewing and this time in open-captioned. Story line made more sense to me since I could read better than hearing it. Everything fell into place.
I went to see this movie twice. Once with my little sister, and once after a long day of work (on a Friday). And I still loved it!
Cpt. Kirk and Bones cracked me, though, and I loved who they picked for Uhura, Chekov, Spock, Sulu, Scotty and of course Cpt. Pike. Great cast all around! I was totally impressed.
So here’s my congratulations. It’s a great movie, and I thought it was even better than ‘Terminator: Salvation,’ which was awesome but sadly predictable. Anyway, just wanted to chime in and sing ST’s praises. Great job JJ!