Star Trek, Reboot | featured news

This week's Ketchup includes news about the latest entries in the Alien, The Crow and Total Recall franchises, more news about what people associated with Lost and Star Trek have in the works, and new roles for Russell Brand, Tina Fey, Meryl Streep, Justin Timberlake, Denzel Washington and Sam Worthington.

Paramount Pictures had estimated that the movie would make about $50 million for the weekend, but figured that strong reviews helped carry it to the bigger opening.

This week at the movies, we've got a brand new Enterprise (Star Trek, starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto) and a failed delivery (Next Day Air, starring Donald Faison and Mike Epps). What do the critics have to say? It boldly goes where no Trek has gone before. This new Trek will live long and prosper. No matter what clichés they may use, there's no getting around the critics' main point: JJ Abrams' Star Trek is stirring mainstream entertainment, and breathes new life into the moribund franchise. It's an origin story, one that tells the tale of how Kirk (Chris...

The North American opening for Paramount's No. 1 Star Trek grosses Friday was $24 million from 3,849 theaters. So, adding in the $7M from Thursday 7 PM-Midnight screenings, the reimagined space odyssey has made $31 million so far. My studio insiders say the total weekend number now could easily reach $72M. "But it still has a shot at $75M if it gets any bump on Saturday," an exec explains. (Rival studios now think the Fri-Sat-Sun tally will only be $65M "because it's not expanding as the night goes on".) To put that in perspective, a domestic weekend total under $50M would have meant the pic didn't attract a new and younger audience and relied instead on the franchise's older but loyal fanbase of Trekkies. It was risky for Paramount to market the movie as "not your father's Star Trek". But the critical reviews for JJ Abrams' reboot are 96% positive.

n an interview posted to MTV Movies yesterday, “Star Trek” producer Damon Lindelof was quoted as saying he’s hopeful his and J.J. Abrams’ reboot will be successful enough to warrant a couple more movies. “Ideas have been thrown around that are very informal at this point,” he said of potential plots for the future.