Weekend Preview: Into Darkness

For the second time this month only one new film is being released nationwide for the weekend, because nobody is dumb enough to try to compete with the sequel to J.J. Abrams' wildly successful 2009 Star Trek reboot.

Star Trek Into Darkness beams into around 3,800 theaters, starting with tonight's limited engagement Fan Sneaks, and will have no trouble becoming the box office's flagship for the weekend. Three years ago Chris Pine led the crew of the Enterprise to the franchise's highest grossing opening weekend by earning $75 million domestically. Three years of anticipation and the intrigue surrounding Benidict Cumberbatch's villain should help propel Into Darkness above $100 million for its five day opening (Wednesday through Sunday), though the fanboy in me wants to make a prediction closer to $150 million for that time frame. Either way, I don't think the sequel should have any trouble reaching its predecessor's $257 million final domestic gross, and it may even end up closer to $300 million.

As for the old releases, Iron Man 3 should earn around $35 million this weekend if it continues to hold similarly to Iron Man 2. This would bring the domestic gross of Stark's third outing to around $340 million, while its worldwide gross will probably already have surpassed $1 billion, making it the sixteenth film to ever reach that milestone. Gatsby should hold onto its audience better than Iron Man since not as many of them will be flocking to see Into Darkness, but with very mixed audience and critical responses it could see more than a fifty percent drop from last weekend. But even if it only makes $20 million this weekend, its total domestic gross should still be close to double Luhrmann's previously highest grossing film. And as for poor old Peeples, well people was definitely something it had a hard time attracting. With less than $5 million as of May 13, I doubt it will even be able to reach $2.5 million for its second weekend.

So is anybody else seeing Star Trek Into Darkness tonight? I'm seeing it at 11 PM in IMAX 3D, so I'm sure some related posts should pop up on my tumblr blog and on my twitter account.

Tune in next week for a proper Memorial Day battle between established franchise films Fast & Furious 6 and The Hangover Part 3, as well as Blue Sky's newest animated adventure Epic.

May 2013 Preview!

Here is a quick look at the films I plan to see in May:

Iron Man 3 (5/3/13)
The first one was great. The second one was ok. I think Ben Kingsley's Mandarin should help the third outing be almost as good as the first.

The Great Gatsby (5/10/13)
Confession: I have not read F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel on which this film is based. However, I do know that director Baz Luhrmann knows how to make beautiful, complex films, and Gatsby looks to excel in both categories. What's yet to be seen is whether the adaptation can make a profit on its estimated production budget of $127 million.

Star Trek Into Darkness (5/17/13)
JJ's long awaited sequel to 2009's Star Trek. On my birthday. Now if only we knew the true identity of Benedict's villain...

Epic (5/24/13)
An interesting premise where a young girl gets pulled into a fantastical miniature forest world (possibly her backyard?) in order to help the leafmen defeat the forces of evil. I'll take this over this day's other releases any day.

After Earth (5/31/13)
Unlike most people, I still have some faith in Shyamalan, even after critical duds Lady in the Water, The Happening, and The Last Airbender. Maybe I'm just blinded by the post-apocalyptic science fiction plot, but I'm definitely interested in seeing this one.

Now You See Me (5/31/13)
Not-Michael Cera, The Hulk, Tallahassee/Haymitch, the captain from Prometheus, The Voice of God, and Alfred Pennyworth star in a magic show/bank robbery heist thriller. Count me in.

I'm sure you can tell which of these I'm looking forward to the most, so which of May's releases are you most excited about?