Star Trek Into Darkness opens to average $13.5 million; Iron Man 3 reaches $1 billion mark

It was a poor response than expected for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness as it opened to an average $13.5 million at the North American box office. Though, expectations are still there for Paramount that the sequel will earn between $90 million and $100 million in the next four days.

The 3D sequel starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Karl Urban managed to garner positive reviews from movie critics. At the international as well as domestic box-office, Star Trek Into Darkness has been put against tough competitors like Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby. In the seven worldwide markets, the sequel took in $37 million through Wednesday. On the other hand, after 22 days of its release Iron Man 3 is still going strong at the box-office records.

With the $1 billion mark reached in worldwide ticket sales, the film has been listed as No. 16 in the all-time highest-grossing films’ directory. Globally Iron Man 3 has now excelled over the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($963 million), Jurassic Park ($967 million) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ($975 million). Iron Man 3 has been also named as No. 2 superhero feature film of all time at the international box office, lagging behind The Avengers, which grossed $1.5 billion last summer.