'Star Trek' Eyes $75M Weekend At The Box Office

Last weekend, moviegoers proved that neither swine flu scares nor rough-cut leaks nor tight budgets would keep fans from getting their fix at the multiplex, as "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" kicked off the summer movie season with an impressive $87M opening. Likewise, for a vast number of summer film fans, seeing how much a potential blockbuster makes on its opening weekend is almost as fun and exciting as actually watching them -- and J.J. Abrams' ridiculously-anticipated "Star Trek" reboot looks to be no exception.

That being said, now that "Star Trek" has opened wide after last night's showings, let the prediction game begin! According to a post over at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, early estimates show the film pulling in upwards of $9M last night, thus setting a course for a possible $75M weekend gross. But with a staggering number of good reviews for the film, coupled with an equally incredible number of showtimes around the globe, will "Trek" surprise the odds-makers?

According to sources close to Finke, a $9M estimate for the Thursday midnight showings are indeed "aggressive," and before yesterday, studio reps were hoping for a $50M weekend at best. Likewise, despite the stellar reviews for the film, guessing how well a reboot will do financially is a crapshoot -- pointing towards the arguably lackluster box office pulls of "Batman Begins" and "Casino Royale" ($48M and $40.8M respectively) as examples.

However, with the hype surrounding "Star Trek" currently at a fever pitch, it'll definitely be interesting to see just how well this revitalized take on Kirk and the crew will do over the weekend, so be sure to keep it locked to MTV Movies Blog as we keep you updated on the latest developments.

Do you think "Star Trek" will manage a $75M weekend? Do you think it will surpass that figure, or clock in under that amount? Let's hear YOUR predictions in the comments below.

Tags jj abrams, star trek