'Star Trek Beyond' posts strong opening weekend movie ticket earnings. (Photo : Youtube/Paramount Pictures)
The latest film from the "Star Trek" movie franchise titled "Star Trek Beyond" has posted solid ticket sales during its opening weekend. However, the future of its planned sequels is still unclear given the dip in the movie's first weekend showing as compared to its previous film installments.
"Star Trek Beyond" recently opened in many North American movie theaters and had its first three-day showing during the weekend of July 22. The film has posted ticket sales of $59.6 million during its domestic debut. Although the movie's opening tickets sales are said to be more than $10 million lower than the 2013 film "Star Trek Into Darkness," according to The Washington Post.
The 2013 movie earned $70.17 million during its three-day opening weekend. However, when compared to filmmaker J.J. Abram's "Star Trek" reboot, "Star Trek Beyond" reportedly posted an even lower opening day ticket sales than the 2009 film. The said reboot debuted at $75.2 million, which is 20 percent higher than "Star Trek Beyond."
At this time, it is still unclear if the movie will be able to recover or exceed its production budget of $185 million. Critics are also speculating that the film will need to get a bigger share of ticket sales in other markets such as Asian and Latin American movie theaters, as indicated in the same report. The film is also expected to hit big in China.
Meanwhile, the 13th installment of the "Star Trek" franchise has been estimated to earn around $200 million in domestic ticket sales, Variety reported. Although, critics and industry experts are now eyeing the film's performance in international markets. However, the movie posted mix results in various European countries.
Exhibitor Relations Analyst Jeff Bock also commented that the excitement and momentum for "Star Trek Beyond" have slowed in some overseas markets. He even described the said movie franchise as "drifting." Despite some critics' speculations on the dim future of succeeding sequels, some industry experts remain positive that the upcoming "Star Trek" movie will still proceed as planned. Paul Dergarabedian, ComScore's senior media analyst shared that the franchise "is still a global phenomenon."
"Star Trek Beyond" is set to open in several markets in the coming weeks. It will be released in Chinese movie theaters on Sept. 2.
Watch a trailer for the film below:
