Star Trek vs. Wolverine

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Star Trek vs. Wolverine

Wolverine Illegally Downloaded 4 Million Times

Fox Fiasco

May 7. 2009

Star Trek premiere

The sleek new "Star Trek" movie reboot, giving the franchise visuals it's never had before, is set to battle a pompadour wearing “Wolverine” this week in theaters.

Wolverine

The latter is averaging about $5 million per day in ticket sales at the North American box office, still lagging behind its former film.

Reuters has acknowledged what I have been stating since last Saturday - Wolverine lost tens of millions of dollars during opening week, due to piracy.

Ok, I'm only going to ask one time, who did that to that little boy's eyebrows!

Either way you slice it, Trek is going to take a good bite out of Wolverine's box office, further deflating its sales tally. Industry speculators are waiting for weekend box office results to assess Wolverine's numbers, as the film has not broken even yet, due to its big budget and massive advertising costs. Not to mention theaters have to get their share, which equals almost half of revenues.

Studio ups download figure for pirated "Wolverine"

Thu May 7, 2009 6:55am BST - LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - An unfinished pirated version of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" that hit the Internet March 30, well before the film's No. 1 debut in theaters, has been downloaded some 4 million times, News Corp's. 20th Century Fox said Wednesday.

Whether such online attention hurt "Wolverine" at the box office is debatable, but Fox's assertion of 4 million is about four times greater than previous estimates.

At last year's average ticket price of $7.18, the piracy could conceivably -- though not likely -- have cost Fox $28.7 million.

http://uk.reuters.com

"Star Trek", "Wolverine" face off at box office

Thu May 7, 2009 4:39am BST - LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Like colliding asteroids, a major sci-fi release and a megahit action fantasy will clash at the box office this weekend.

Among the imponderables that the matchup poses for industry forecasters:

* Can a late surge in must-see interest lift Paramount's sci-fi prequel "Star Trek" to an opening on the order of last weekend's $85.1 million debut for Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine?"

* How badly will the "Trek" bow hurt "Wolverine" in its sophomore session?...

http://uk.reuters.com