Paramount PicturesTom Hanks' movie got it done. Jennifer Aniston's didn't. And Star Trek made things very interesting.
Hanks' Angels & Demons managed to hold off a tenacious Trek for a No. 1 finish at the weekend box office, grossing $48 million to Captain Kirk and company's $43 million, per studio estimates today.
Aniston's new indie comedy Management, meanwhile, fizzled in limited release, averaging just $1,785 from each of its screens.
Drilling down into the numbers:
• Angels & Demons, the sequel to 2006's The Da Vinci Code, didn't have the showiest weekend—it was the year's sixth biggest—but it had an effective one, covering expectations and its reputed $125 million budget with a three-day worldwide gross of $152.3 million.
• If opening weekends were book sales—and they're not, but go with it for a second—then Angels & Demons, the movie, actually did better than Angels & Demons, the novel. The movie was 37 percent off from The Da Vinci Code's $77.1 million debut. The book, on the other hand, sold about 50 percent fewer copies than Da Vinci.
• As second weekends go, Star Trek had a great one, with business down only 43 percent from its bigger-than-expected opening. By comparison, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Watchmen, to name two other '09 fanboy flicks, each fell off by more than 65 percent.
• Overall domestically, Star Trek has nearly caught Wolverine: $147.6 million to $151.1 million.
• Technically, yes, Star Trek is now the highest-grossing Star Trek movie, surpassing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which was released back when children marched 20 miles through the snow to pony up $3.71 in video-game tokens for tickets.
• Aniston's last indie movie, 2006's Friends with Money, made more money at 28 theaters ($589,332) than Management made at 212 ($378,420).
• Management is Aniston's worst-performing movie of any kind since 2005's ill-fated Rumor Has It, which averaged $1,233 in its opening weekend. Still, Management distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films said audience exit polling for the new comedy was strong, and maintained that word of mouth would turn things around.
• As the only romantic comedy in wide release, Matthew McConaughey's Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ($6.9 million) continues to hang in there.
• Monsters vs Aliens ($3 million) passed the $190 million mark. It remains the year's top-grossing movie.
• Hannah Montana: The Movie ($1.6 million) fell out of the Top 10 after five weekends and a $75.9 million run.
• Pound for pound, the French movie Summer Hours ($47,000 from two theaters) and the Adrien Brody-Mark Ruffalo caper comedy The Brothers Bloom ($82,000 from four theaters) were the weekend's biggest hits, averaging $23,500 and $20,500 respectively.
Here's a complete look at the weekend's top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Angels & Demons, $48 million
- Star Trek, $43 million
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine, $14.8 million
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, $6.9 million
- Obsessed, $4.6 million
- 17 Again, $3.4 million
- Monsters vs Aliens, $3 million
- The Soloist, $2.4 million
- Next Day Air, $2.3 million
- Earth, $1.7 million