The Weekend Report

Star Trek: Into Darkness zapped the competition as it launched an estimated $68.2 million in its maiden theatrical voyage. The Enterprise was the sole new wide national release.

The only other bright spot among newcomer was Frances Ha, a daunting seriocomedy showcasing Greta Gerwig that grossed $134,000 on a mere four screens.

Meanwhile in the niches, Bollywood provided two new entries but neither Aurangzeb with $85,800 at 62 locations or Rangeelay grossing $64,500 at 19 sites drew a significant crowd. Spy thriller Erased echoed its title commercially along with other incoming entries.

Weekend revenues topped $150 million and dipped 6% from seven days earlier. However, it was, for a change, 6% improved from 2012 when the third weekend of The Avengers grossed $55.6 million followed by freshmen entries Battleship and The Dictator that opened, respectively, with $25.5 million and $17.4 million.

The successful movie re-boot of Star Trek in 2009 had fans old and new palpably hoping the new crew would live long and prosper. The studio folk rashly predicted the new chapter would debut to $100 million and the competition snickered when it posted $13.5 million on opening day Thursday and finished it four-day run 18% behind expectations.

Perception is cruel and naysayers could have been easily silenced with a more modest studio missive. Unsurprisingly, opening weekend studio exit demos revealed a heavily male tilt of 64% and a disappointing 73% of viewers aged 25-years and older. The most unsettling aspect of contemporary filmgoing for the industry is that the avids, the immediate and frequent film freak, of the past three decades were aged 18 to 25. Today, they’re taking a wait and see stance … or viewing films on alternative platforms.

Internationally, Into Darkness bowed last weekend to about $32 million and this weekend added 33 territories (40 in total) and an estimated $40 million. However, that was still a step behind The Great Gatsby that followed up its Cannes premiere with an estimated $42 million that included a $6.2 million tally in Russia, $6.1 million from the UK, $4.3 million in Korea and the French chiming in with $4.7 million. But The Fast and the Furious 6 won on a pound-for-pound basis with a $13.8 million box office from its single advance-of-domestic playdate in Great Britain.