Star Trek Rises, Wolverine Falls

Star Trek rises with $72.5 million ticket sales in North American theaters on its first weekend as X-Men Origins: Wolverine fell on the second rank with $27 million on its second weekend.


The new Star Trek flick surpassed the opening grosses of its 10 previous "Star Trek" films, (even when adjusted for inflation). Star Trek also ranks among the best reviewed movies of the year, and one of the most well-received by critics of all the "Star Trek" pictures.

Comparing Star Trek with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian says "Star Trek seems poised to hold fairly steady next weekend given that its ticket sales rose from Friday to Saturday, a sign of strong word-of-mouth buzz."

Despite Star Trek's beaming box-office domination, X-Men Origins: Wolverine still ranks as this year's biggest film opening, with $85 million in its first Friday-through-Sunday tally.

The question is, will word of mouth be enough for Star Trek to overthrow Wolverine?