Movie Fight Club: Star Trek vs. Wolverine

[Hand of Evil]

Okay, which was the better movie?

Star Trek:
DOMESTIC SUMMARY - Opening Weekend: $72,500,000
(#1 rank, 3,849 theaters, $18,836 average) % of Total Gross: 94.8% - running time: 2 hrs 6 mins

Wolervine:
DOMESTIC SUMMARY - Opening Weekend: $85,058,003
(#1 rank, 4,099 theaters, $20,751 average) % of Total Gross: 65.6% - running time: 1 hr 47 mins

 

[BrooklynKnight]

I'm really surprised Wolverine beat Star Trek, that just goes to show the fanbase for comics is larger then the Trekkie/Trekker fanbase.

I saw both movies at the same time. Star Trek first, then Wolverine, and while I was on the edge of my seat for Star Trek I was kind of dozing out for the first 45 minutes of Wolverine. Wolverine was good, but it wasn't awesome.

 

[RangerWickett]

Wolverine had Huge Ackman serving as an attraction for women. There wasn't beefcake in Star Trek. I do, however, think Star Trek will have more legs than Wolverine, as word of mouth gets more people to see it.

 

[Pbartender]

I'm really surprised Wolverine beat Star Trek, that just goes to show the fanbase for comics is larger then the Trekkie/Trekker fanbase.

You have to realize that the previous best opening weekend for a Trek film was First Contact at roughly 30 million... The Star Trek movie franchise was, in all honesty, never really that hot.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

The Star Trek franchise has been that hot, it just has 2 things going on that need to be accounted for. One is inflation, and the other is previous release patterns.

First Contact made 30 Million in 1996 which equals 40 Million today and ended up grossing domestically 90 million which equals 122 million today. That is probably just under what the new Star Trek made. Release patterns were different back then as the opening weekend only pulled in 1/3 of the total gross while today movies pull in about 1/2. That would translate into a 60 million opening.

For further comparison Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home opened with 16.8 million which translates to 32 million today and ended up with a total gross of 109.7 million which translates today to 212.9 million. There is no chance that the the new Star trek will get anywhere near that number, probably topping out at about 150 million. Given the 1/2 level that would indicate a 105 million opening in today's market for Star trek IV.

Star Trek has been hotter than it is today with the reboot.

 

[Pbartender]

The Star Trek franchise has been that hot, it just has 2 things going on that need to be accounted for. One is inflation, and the other is previous release patterns.

First Contact made 30 Million in 1996 which equals 40 Million today and ended up grossing domestically 90 million which equals 122 million today. That is probably just under what the new Star Trek made. Release patterns were different back then as the opening weekend only pulled in 1/3 of the total gross while today movies pull in about 1/2. That would translate into a 60 million opening.

For further comparison Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home opened with 16.8 million which translates to 32 million today and ended up with a total gross of 109.7 million which translates today to 212.9 million. There is no chance that the the new Star trek will get anywhere near that number, probably topping out at about 150 million. Given the 1/2 level that would indicate a 105 million opening in today's market for Star trek IV.

Star Trek has been hotter than it is today with the reboot.

You got some odd and arbitrary logic there, Jenkin...

Here's an interesting page... It's not adjusted for inflation, but it lists the gross and openeing weekend takes of all the Star Wars movies.

 

[Mark]

(. . .) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (. . .) total gross of 109.7 million which translates today to 212.9 million. There is no chance that the the new Star trek will get anywhere near that number, probably topping out at about 150 million.

I get the feeling that the International market is going to be very receptive to ST. I also suppose that the ability to market internationally and the reach of international marketing has much improved in the last ten and twenty year periods. I think it will gross well over 150m. While I do not expect ST to have the muscle of a Will Smith vehicle, I do also believe that Will Smith has tapped some new markets in the last decade that are subsequently more hungry for other US blockbuster fare. I wonder if Trace can give us some likely comparisons from more recent times of perhaps what to expect.

 

[Pbartender]

Here we go... A comparison of Trek movies, with Gross, Gross (adjusted for inflation), Opening Weekend, Opening Weekend (adjusted for inflation), and Yaer of Release:

MOVIE					GROSS		GROSS (INF)	OPENING		OPENING (INF)	YEAR
Star Trek: The Motion Picture		$82,258,456.00	$240,905,143.55	$11,926,421.00	$34,928,155.75	1979
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan		$78,912,963.00	$173,827,297.78	$14,347,221.00	$31,603,662.60	1982
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock	$73,471,046.00	$150,356,374.68	$16,673,295.00	$34,121,416.89	1984
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home		$109,713,132.00	$212,681,784.93	$16,881,888.00	$32,725,982.82	1986
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier		$52,210,049.00	$89,547,613.60	$17,375,648.00	$29,801,692.26	1989
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country	$74,888,996.00	$116,952,522.72	$18,162,837.00	$28,364,509.08	1991
Star Trek: Generations			$75,671,125.00	$108,567,532.26	$23,116,394.00	$33,165,753.14	1994
Star Trek: First Contact		$92,027,888.00	$125,062,798.03	$30,716,131.00	$41,742,186.76	1996
Star Trek: Insurrection			$70,187,658.00	$92,311,280.65	$22,052,836.00	$29,004,038.47	1998
Star Trek: Nemesis			$43,254,409.00	$51,491,999.97	$18,513,305.00	$22,039,073.53	2002
Star Trek				$86,706,315.00	$86,706,315.00	$75,204,289.00	$75,204,289.00	2009

You're right, Jenkin, especially adjusted for inflation, most Trek movies have done better than I thought.

Though, I don't agree on your analysis regarding the percentage that opening night plays into it, however. I think that largely varies by movie, rather than by what year the movie was released...

Going by the numbers most modern movies (those within the last 10 years) make between 20% and 40% of their gross during the opening weekend, depending. The ones like the Star Wars prequels, and the Lord of Rings Trilogy were in the 15%-20% range for opening weekend. While movies like Hulk or Spiderman 3 are in the 45%-50% range. Titanic made less than 5% of its gross during its opening night. Your 1/3 and 1/2 assertions for then and now are garbage.

Based on those trends alone, I'd expect to see Star Trek reach at least 175 million, if not 200 million gross... If they're luck and it has legs, it could push 300 million, but I don't know if that's likely.

 

[Thanee]

That's not even a contest. Wolverine was alright. Star Trek was great.

Bye
Thanee

 

[shilsen]

That's not even a contest.

Agreed.

Wolverine was alright. Star Trek was great.

Except I thought Wolverine was tripe and Star Trek was mediocre.