'Star Trek' Movie Tops Box Office Earnings

‘Star Trek’ sales exceed expectations

Chris Pine plays Captain Kirk in "Star Trek."

The internet has been abuzz with Trekkies anticipating, reviewing and planning viewings of “Star Trek” the movie, which opened Friday. Paramount expected the movie to pull in about $50 million on opening weekend. However, “Star Trek” sold $76.5 million worth of movie tickets over the weekend.

Midnight at the IMAX

“Star Trek” made $4 million just from midnight showings Friday morning. It also made $8.2 million from IMAX showings.

That figure beats the previous record for IMAX sales, which belonged to “The Dark Knight.” Last year’s release, the latest in the “Batman” series, “The Dark Knight,” pulled in $6.3 million from IMAX tickets.

Turning a profit

“Star Trek” had a budget of $140 million, but Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore believes that the movie will make $200 million over the summer. So any short term loans taken out to produce this film should be repaid in short order.

Considering that ticket sales are more than halfway to paying back the cost of the film, I’m sure the filmmakers won’t be seeking debt relief any time soon.

Golden tomatoes

Much of the “Star Trek” movie’s opening-weekend success could be thanks to overall glowing reviews of the film. On popular movie review web site Rotten Tomatoes, “Star Trek” got 96 percent good reviews — amazingly high marks at a site known more for its criticism than its raves. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "'Star Trek' Movie Tops Box Office Earnings"