The rejuvenated “Star Trek” from director J.J. Abrams blasted off to No. 1 on the international circuit during the weekend, grossing an estimated $35.5 million from more than 5,000 screens in 54 territories.
The film’s decent but hardly spectacular foreign opening indicates that the latest feature version of the classic TV series has a good chance of becoming the biggest “Trek” boxoffice success to date overseas.
“Trek” theatrical titles usually have performed far better domestically than abroad. The foreign weekend boxoffice for the latest edition, for example, is less than half the film’s No. 1 opening domestic gross ($76.5 million).
Warm to ecstatic reviews for a back-to-basics approach, plus a younger generation of actors in the familiar roles — notably Chris Pine as Capt. James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, as well as a spiffy new USS Enterprise — might promise atypically large international boxoffice for the franchise’s newest edition.
“Trek’s” weekend take alone represents 11.5% of the combined total ($312.9 million) grossed offshore by all 10 of its theatrical predecessors, according to distributor Paramount.
Combined with the proceeds of its No. 1 domestic debut, “Trek’s” early global boxoffice total stands at $112 million. Openings to come include debuts in Egypt (Wednesday), Japan (May 29), Hong Kong (June 4), Indonesia (June 10) and India (June 12).
No. 2 during the weekend and playing almost strictly holdover engagements was last week’s No. 1 title and summer season opener, Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which dropped nearly 60% from its opening-weekend take ($73.1 million) with an estimated $29.7 million from 9,000 screens in 102 markets. The international cume stands at $123.7 million. Its worldwide total is $253.3 million.
According to Fox, “Wolverine” is poised to best “Trek” in as many as 24 territories. The title remained strong in France, China, Hong Kong and South America. The top market for the title was the U.K., where weekend action was $3.3 million from 488 screens, enough for a No. 2 market rank. The U.K. cume is $17.9 million.
No. 3 on the weekend was Disney’s “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” which opened strong in Spain and Denmark and scored a melodic $7.8 million on the weekend from 1,500 screens in 16 territories. Its international cume is $19.7 million.
