Angels & Demons, director Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code sequel starring Tom Hanks, ruled from on high at the box office this weekend, earning approximately $48 million in its first three days of release.
That was good enough to edge out Star Trek, which remained a strong draw in its second weekend of release and pulled in about $43 million. That puts the J.J. Abrams revamp of the classic science fiction series up to $147 million at the domestic box office through the end of Sunday.
Coming in third was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which again took a stiff drop off of about 44 percent, bringing in $14.8 million in its third weekend of release. The Marvel/Fox superhero prequel has grossed some $151 million to date.
Holdovers fell in place for the rest of the current releases, with Ghosts of Girlfriends Past earning $6.7 million for fourth place, Obsessed getting $4.6 million for fifth place and 17 Again coming in sixth with $3.4 million.
DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens continues to show decent legs, coming in seventh place with $3 million, bringing its domestic total gross to $190 million.
Next weekend will see things heat up just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, which is the traditional start of the summer movie season, with Terminator Salvation opening on Thursday and family comedy movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian on Friday.
