Turns out it wasn't even a contest. As far as the box office is concerned, Captain Kirk is nowhere near as popular Iron Man. Viacom's (NASDAQ: VIA) latest entry in the Star Trek franchise earned $70.56 million in its domestic debut weekend, less than half the $174 million U.S. debut for Iron Man 3.
Is this really a knock? Comic book franchises rule both the movies and TV right now. For Walt Disney's (DIS +0.12%) Marvel Studios, Iron Man 3 marks its second-consecutive billion-dollar film. Star Trek Into Darkness was always going to play to a niche sci-fi audience, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following video.
But for Viacom, this is a niche worth exploiting. Star Trek Into Darkness is tracking just $3 million behind its predecessor in terms of U.S. receipts. Meanwhile, overseas, Darkness is tracking $25 million ahead of Star Trek, according to Box Office Mojo. Still, Tim says if he had to choose between Star Trek and Star Wars -- i.e., Viacom or Disney -- in the years ahead, he'd opt for the vast Star Wars universe, which he believes will be responsible for the next $2 billion blockbuster when a new film in the series is released in 2015.
Do you agree? Please watch the video to get Tim's full take, and then let us know whether you're a trekkie or a Star Wars fan, and why.
Better Bet: Star Trek or Star Wars?
By Tim Beyers – May 22, 2013 at 6:36PM
NYSE: DIS
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New film underperforms expectations, but the franchise is alive and well.
About the Author
Tim Beyers is a Senior Investment Analyst and Lead Advisor at The Motley Fool. Tim leads the signature Rule Breakers investing service and co-leads Motley Fool Supernova’s Odyssey mission, a real-money portfolio designed to help individual investors build and manage a portfolio of Rule Breaker stocks. He also serves as a portfolio lead for Cloud Disruptors and is a contributing stock analyst for the Trends team. Tim has over 20 years of professional investing experience, including 17 years as an analyst for the market-beating Rule Breakers service and three years as its lead advisor.