Star Trek tops US box office but fails to reach $100m
Star Trek Into Darkness has topped the US box office but failed to beat the opening weekend of the previous Star Trek film.
The film took $70.6m (£46.4m) over the weekend according to early estimates. The 2009 Star Trek film took $75.2m (£49.4m) for its opening weekend.
Into Darkness knocked Iron Man 3 into second place with $35.2m (£23.1). The Great Gatsby dropping to third.
JJ Abrams' second Star Trek film was expected to open with $100m (£66m).
The director rebooted the franchise, opening it up to a wider audience beyond traditional Star Trek fans.
Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com, said he believes Star Trek "remains a fan-boy movie".
"It doesn't seem to have the same kind of cross-over appeal as say an Iron Man or some of these others.
"It's a very specific brand, but I think the general public would love this movie, because it's such an action movie. But to get a hundred-million-plus opening weekend, unless you're Twilight, you really have to cross over to all audiences."
Film company Paramount said they were optimistic that good reviews and word of mouth would bring in a broader audience in coming weeks.
The film made $40m (£26.2m) internationally and Don Harris, Paramount's head of distribution, said they were satisfied with the film's performance worldwide.
He called it a solid start and believed they were "well along the road" to surpassing the worldwide total of $385m (£253m) of the last Star Trek film.
Internationally, The Great Gatsby came in ahead of both Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness with $42.1m (£27.7m) in weekend ticket sales.
Iron Man 3 added $40.2m (£26.4m) in overseas ticket sales and has now made $762.2m (£501.5m) internationally, bringing its worldwide tally to nearly $1.1bn (£723m).