Angels & Demons topples Star Trek on opening weekend

NEW YORK (AP) — Angels & Demons took the box office from Star Trek by earning $48-M in its first weekend of release.

The haul was far less than the earlier Dan Brown adaptation The Da Vinci Code — which earned $77.1-M when it opened in 2006 — but still enough to topple the popular Star Trek.

In its second weekend, Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek took in $43-M, a strong number after its $75.2-M opening last weekend, excluding its midnight screenings. The cumulative total for J.J. Abram’s reboot of the sci-fi franchise is $147.6-M.

Sony’s Angels & Demons reunites Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard for the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. It opened without the benefit of the buzz and controversy that propelled The Da Vinci Code to a $753-M worldwide total.

Overseas business was again strong for Angels & Demons, which earned $104.3-M internationally. Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony, said the studio expects the film will eventually take in half a billion altogether in theatrical release.

“That chemistry (of Hanks and Howard) worked incredibly well with Da Vinci and it looks like it’s absolutely headed in that same vein, certainly on a lesser scale,” said Bruer. “We never expected anything to the phenomenon of Da Vinci.”

Like The Da Vinci Code, reviews were not illustrious for Angels & Demons, but they were mostly better. Bruer called Brown’s action-packed best-seller “a far more cinematic story” than Da Vinci. Hanks again plays Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon who’s trying to prevent a series of murders at the Vatican.

Angels & Demons was the only new wide-release film of the weekend. Coming in third was X-Men Originals: Wolverine, which earned $14.8-M in its third week, bringing its total to $151.1-M. On the whole, it was another robust weekend of business at movie theaters, which have been drawing large crowds throughout the recession. Dergarabedian pegs the year-to-date box office at a 16 percent increase over last year.

“We’re headed toward a record breaking summer,” said Dergarabedian. “If you’ve got a blockbuster in the pipeline, you’re very happy about all the strength of the box-office right now.

Momentum is key in this business.”