Gosh… do you think people have been hungry for a change of pace to the Star Trek universe? I’ve been saying for years that Star Trek was a dead franchise. DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD. Its movies bomb, the interest in the TV shows tanked and the numbers of those who call themselves “Trekkies” or even “Trekkers” has been slowly but measurably shrinking year after year after year. The only way, I’ve argued, to revive the dead Star Trek carcass was to breath new and different life into it. And this Star Trek movie did that.
The results? An opening weekend of $72.5 million. To put that into harsh perspective, the previous best opening weekend for a Star Trek movie was “Star Trek: First Contact” which netted a total of $30 million opening weekend. Let’s look at it as a whole:
STAR TREK MOVIE OPENING WEEKENDS (flat numbers):
1) Star Trek (2009 edition) – $72 million
2) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – $30 million
3) Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $23 million
4) Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $22 million
5) Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $18.5 million
6) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) – $18.1 million
7) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) – $17 million
8) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – $16.8 million
9) Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock (1984) – $16.1 million
10) Star Trek 2 (The Wrath of Khan (1982) – $14 million
11) Star Trek (1979 edition) – $12 million
If you want to take inflation into account (thanks MadarinOrange) the list looks like this:
2) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) -$ 40.8 Million
3) Star Trek (1979 edition) – $34.1 Million
4) Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock (1984) – $33.0 Million
5) Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $33.0 Million
6) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – $32.6 Million
7) Star Trek 2 (The Wrath of Khan (1982) – $30.8 Million
8) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) – $29.2 Million
9) Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $28.9 Million
10) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) – $28.3 Million
11) Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $22.0 Million
So basically this Star Trek movie made as much opening weekend as the last 3 Star Trek movies did on their opening weekends put together.
