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So we’re clear: Star Trek Into Darkness is a great film (86% fresh at RottenTomatoes), and got the coveted A Cinemascore, so the legs on this one could correct the errors made by the studio brass prior to release. They have had a strong marketing campaign, but it may run into a problem over the Memorial Day Weekend, as three other very big films open, all of which will nibble away at demographic seeking out Into Darkness. These films will take up almost 11,000 venues across North America, so the pie for Star Trek is going to get a lot smaller in only a couple of days.

Finishing second is Iron Man 3, as it drops out of the top spot after two extremely strong weekends at number one. This weekend, Iron Man 3 grossed another $35.2 million, and while a decent number against Star Trek Into Darkness, it fell 51% versus last weekend’s $72.5 million take, which was a drop of 58% from its $174.1 million debut. Iron Man 3 has already outgrossed the entire runs of the original Iron Man ($318 million) and Iron Man 2 ($312 million) as of this weekend, because the Marvel movie crossed the $300 million mark on Thursday, its 14th day of release. That puts Iron Man 3 in a tie with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the fourth fastest film to earn $300 million. The only films faster to $300 million were The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Avengers (it’s a comic book world we live in these days). Iron Man 3 also joined the billion dollar club this week, joining the 15 other films that have reached that mark at the box office. Its domestic take has reached $337.1 million, and the overseas gross has touched an amazing $736.2 million.

The only other film with a pulse in the top ten (which makes the opening for Star Trek Into Darkness even sadder) is The Great Gatsby, as the Baz Luhrmann spectacle looked to build on the momentum it created last weekend, with its $50 million opening. However, with its B Cinemascore, and 50% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes, The Great Gatsby was going to have to pull a rabbit out of its hat to keep the drop better than 50%. The second weekend gross for the $105 million Warner Bros. release came in at $23.4 million, giving the colorful flick a weekend-to-weekend drop of 54%. Considering what Gatsby was up against, this isn’t a particularly bad score, especially when the opening weekend preview amount ($3.3 million) is removed from last weekend’s take. The Great Gatsby has barely started overseas, and when it does, it should be as big as or bigger than the domestic take, as Leonardo DiCaprio is no slouch at selling tickets internationally. The Great Gatsby would be profitable without an overseas release, as it has a cume of $90.2 million so far.

The rest of the top ten is a sad bunch of mostly older titles that barely registered at the box office – the three newcomers opening next week will flush some of these weak sisters out. Fourth is Pain & Gain, the Michael Bay "effort." It earned $3.1 million, fell 38% and has a gross so far of $46.6 million against its $26 million budget. Fifth this weekend goes to The Croods from Fox and DreamWorks Animation. It is enjoying its ninth weekend in the top ten, and pulled in another $2.8 million, dropping 24%. It has a domestic cume of $176.8 million.

Sixth went to 42, the Jackie Robinson biopic that has been out for six weekends. It earned another $2.7 million and declined 41%. It has earned $88.7 million so far against a $40 million budget. Seventh goes to Mud, the Matthew McConaughey arthouse release. Mud earned another $2.3 million this weekend and fell 6%. The small $10 million film has now earned $11.7 million.

Tom Cruise's Oblivion is our eighth place finisher. A domestic loser, Oblivion earned only $2.2 million in its fifth weekend, declining 42%. It has earned $85.5 million stateside, and about twice that overseas. Eighth goes to Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, last weekend’s loser than opened to only $4.6 million. This weekend, the Craig Robinson flick dropped 56% and pulled in just $2.1 million. Peeples has a gross so far of only $7.9 million. Finally in tenth is The Big Wedding, a film that had no right being in the top ten for four weekends. It earned $1.1 million this weekend and has a gross so far of $20.2 million.

Overall this weekend, the top three films brought in $129.2 million, and the top 12 brought in $146.7 million, which means the remaining nine films brought in only $20.5 million (yowch). Last year, the top 122 earned $135.7 million as The Avengers repeated for a third weekend, and three other films were floppish. Next weekend could be huge, as we have The Hangover Part III, Epic, and Fast & Furious 6, so let’s hope the Star Trek Into Darkness opening was just a blip.

Top Weekend Box Office for 5/17/13-5/19/13 (Estimates)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Star Trek: Into Darkness	PARAMOUNT	$70,555,000	New	$84,091,000
2	Iron Man 3		$35,182,000	- 51%	$337,073,000
3	The Great Gatsby	WARNER BROS.	$23,415,000	- 53%	$90,159,000
4	Pain & Gain	PARAMOUNT	$3,100,000	- 38%	$46,574,000
5	The Croods	DreamWorks	$2,750,000	- 24%	$176,750,200
6	42	WARNER BROS.	$2,730,000	- 40%	$88,735,000
7	Mud	Roadside Attractions	$2,250,000	- 11%	$11,650,000
8	Oblivion	UNIVERSAL	$2,222,390	- 46%	$85,473,350
9	Peeples	Lionsgate	$2,150,000	- 53%	$7,857,777
10	The Big Wedding	Lions Gate	$1,100,000	- 56%	$20,197,984
11	Oz: the Great And Powerful	DISNEY	$758,000	- 30%	$231,238,000
12	G.i. Joe: Retaliation	PARAMOUNT	$525,000	- 14%	$120,467,000
	Also Opening/Notables
	Frances Ha	IFC Films	$135,000	New	$135,000
	Pieta	Drafthouse Films	$6,228	New	$6,228
	Becoming Traviata	Distrib Films	$5,040	New	$6,282
	Stories We Tell	Roadside Attractions	$125,000	+ 362%	$170,000
	The Iceman	Millennium	$452,426	+ 304%	$751,164
	Love Is All You Need	Sony Classics	$72,724	+ 96%	$175,956
	What Maise Knew	Millennium	$34,121	+ 39%	$104,026
	Kon-tiki	Weinstein Co.	$153,000	+ 81%	$415,624
	The Place Beyond the Pines	Focus Features	$284,584	- 60%	$20,613,416
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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