Believe It Or Not, 'Star Trek' Still In Fifth Place

Talk about staying power: "Star Trek" finished in fifth place in the domestic box office ... again.

The film made another $8.4 million at the box office over the weekend despite the release of "Land of the Lost" and "The Hangover" as well as the very strong staying power of the Disney/Pixar film "Up" at the box office this weekend. That now brings the J.J. Abrams film to $222.8 million, and still the top movie (so far) of 2009.

But that standing could be in quicker jeopardy than many had realized. "Up" pulled in $44.2 million in its second week -- just a 35 percent drop from the previous week -- to bring its total to $137.3 million in just 10 days. It's building box office far faster than "Star Trek," and because it attracts a family audience and is getting some great word-of-mouth buzz, there is a very strong possibility that "Up" could eventually storm past "Star Trek."

The highest-grossing Pixar movie of all time is "Monsters Inc," which earned $255.9 million at the box office, a level "Star Trek is not expected to reach. Last year's Pixar release, "Wall-e," made $223.8 million, slightly more than "Star Trek" has right now (and what "Star Trek" is most likely to exceed), but "Up" right now is tracking to make possibly $260 million, while "Star Trek" is expected to end at about $245 million.

"Star Trek" finished behind "Up," "The Hangover" (at $43.3 million), "Land of the Lost" (at $19.5 million) and "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (at $14.7 million). It remains ahead of other genre films including "Terminator: Salvation," which picked up $8.2 million over the weekend, "Drag Me To Hell's" $7.3 million, and $6.5 million from "Angels & Demons."

While Terminator is struggling to find audiences in North America, it's not struggling much overseas. In its second week in foreign markets, "Salvation" picked up another $67.5 million in 70 countries to stay No. 1, running significantly ahead of its predecessors. It was let by the United Kingdom, which helped add $11.6 million to the "Salvation" total, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

That brings "Salvation" to $101.6 million from overseas ticket sales, bringing it closer to overtaking "Star Trek," which has never been a franchise to do well overseas. However, the latest movie is blowing away all of its predecessors easily, earning another $6 million overseas to pick up a total of $112 million. That's more than double of the second highest Trek film overseas, "Star Trek: First Contact" in 1996.

That brings "Star Trek's" overall total to $334.8 million, now exceeding the reported $300 million Paramount spent to produce and market the 11th film in the franchise.

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