Wait, what major sci-fi movie opened this week? After all the Iron Man 3 talk, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness kind of got swept under the rug, right? Of course, I’m being sarcastic, as Into Darkness will undoubtedly be one of the year’s biggest films, and has had probably the busiest non-superhero ad campaign this year. So how was the immediate payoff?
It was on par with an adaptation of an American classic, if you want to put it nicely/ The Hollywood Reporter puts Into Darkness’ Wednesday night and midnight earnings at $3.3 million, with $1.3 million coming from IMAX theaters. This is the same amount that Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby earned on its Thursday night opening last week. But whereas that was pretty huge for a lavish update on a classic story, more than a few people expected Into Darkness to herd more viewers in. (THR called it a “tepid” $3.3 million. Aw snap!)
The sequel is still going to make Paramount, Skydance and Bad Robot at least $100 million by Monday morning, and it’s going to make more money than the original. It appears nothing is going to touch Marvel films for consistency to dominate opening weekends so powerfully. I think the only way Into Darkness could have scraped a little more cash out of people on a wild Wednesday night is if Benedict Cumberbatch had played two or three more roles and if Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man in it. Crowds are so fickle nowadays.
Do you need that last little bit of teasing just to drive you all the way over the edge and down the road to your local Cineplex? Here’s one of the film’s explosive trailers. Go spend some money.
