Despite quite a few poor reviews, Angels & Demons, based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, opened at #1 to the tune of $46.2M, right on target with my $45M prediction. Compared to the robust opening of The Da Vinci Code ($77M) in 2006, Angels opening is viewed as a bit of a disappointment, but in my opinion, I think the opening take was pretty solid. Angels really had no chance of soaring as high as Code for quite a few reasons. First, there was a slew of controversy with the Catholic Church surrounding Da Vinci and this always helps propel the box office, just ask Mel Gibson. Angels enjoyed no such caveat. The novel, Angels & Demons wasn’t as successful and didn’t sell nearly as many copies as Code. Finally, despite being a box office hit, The Da Vinci Code was poorly received by critics and audiences alike and this never bodes well for a sequel. With Memorial Day falling this weekend, Angels should fall about 55% over the 3 day portion of the weekend, bringing its total to about $85M after 10 days.

The new U.S.S Enterprise continued to soar in its second weekend, dropping just 43% (great for a big blockbuster) and beaming up another $43M and bringing its total to $147.6M after only 10 days. This was right in line with my forecast of a 45% drop. Star Trek has enjoyed wonderful reviews and should continue to soar over the next couple of weeks. Even though Wolverine opened bigger and has a week head start at multiplexes, Star Trek is already within striking distance of the X-man’s total cume of $151M and should surpass it in a matter of days. 

X-Men Origins: Wolverine stabilized from last weekend’s 69% freefall, dropping a mere 44% and slicing another $14.8M out of the box office. I expected Wolverine to fare better this weekend, but the minimal 44% drop was even less than the 50% drop I had predicted. If it continues to hold at multiplexes, Wolverine should be able to claw its way to the $200M mark by the end of its run. To see how the rest of my predictions fared, check out the chart below.