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Saturday
09May2009

Box Office - 'Trek' Beams Up $24 Million on Friday

DateSaturday, May 9, 2009 at 11:20AM
If you've read our box office updates this week, you know that I believe today is the day that matters most for Star Trek. Normally, a blockbuster will increase its audience from Friday to Saturday by a good 25% or so. If it does more than that, you can read into the numbers that itsn't just core audience members showing up on opening weekend. Usually, if it is just the core audience, Saturday doesn't look impressive compared to Friday, and you can tell kind of tell what the rest of the movie's future holds.

So today's the big day for Star Trek, not that Friday wasn't already a big day. According to Box Office Mojo, the J.J. Abrams reboot added $24 million to its Thursday night sneak preview returns of $7 million. You can add that up - $31 million with two more days to consider. Most projections had Trek opening between $60 - $70 million over the four days, but I went well above that, thinking that the buzz for a great summer movie would really drive attendance.

How it would stop short of $70 million now is hard to compute. If Trek increases 25% today and drops that 25% tomorrow, we're looking at $85 million for the four-day opening. So in order for it to not exceed those early projections, it has to slump on Saturday.

Well, I've had more Facebook messages and text messages from people who went to see Star Trek on Friday than any movie since Dark Knight. That's hardly scientific, but it's also not coincidental. There will be strong business all weekend long. Bet on it.

We'll give you the complete results tomorrow, but I'm going to be very surprised if Star Trek doesn't hit $75 million.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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