WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Fast & Furious' Rides Again, 'Now You See Me' Outplays 'After Earth'

After a record-setting Memorial Day weekend, all of the key holdovers fell over 50 percent over the weekend. Despite a hefty 64 percent drop, Fast & Furious 6 rode to the top spot once again for the second weekend in a row.

The real upset of the weekend was Now You See Me outperforming its new release competition After Earth. With household names like Will Smith and M. Night Shyamalan attached to the sci-fi survival flick, After Earth was a shoe-in for the runner-up spot. After a string of panned releases including The Happening and The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan certainly has his detractors, many of whom seemed to have abandoned the director.

Other May holdovers, Star Trek Into Darkness and Epic continued to battle it out for the final two spots of this weekend's Top 5. Comedy sequel The Hangover Part III quickly plummeted down the chart in its second week, sending the Wolfpack out with a whimper. 
  

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Fast & Furious 6' Fuels Record Memorial Day Weekend, 'Hangover' Ends Up Wasted

With tentpoles, Fast & Furious 6 and The Hangover Part III going head-to-head on the same weekend and two major blockbusters holding over, this Memorial Day weekend became the third largest weekend in box office history.

Vin Diesel action vehicle, Fast & Furious 6 topped the box office with ease with a franchise-record $98.5 million, while the third Wolfpack outing failed to live up to the hype despite switching gears after the 2011 rehash that simply swapped out Vegas for Bangkok disappointed fans of the 2009 breakout comedy.

Blue Sky's Epic attracted the family crowd, who weren't all that into fast rides or man-child antics. With no family films out in theaters since DreamWorks The Croods, Epic challenged last week's #1, Star Trek Into Darkness for the 3rd spot.

'Into Darkness' Blasts Rebooted Trek Franchise Beyond Greatness.

Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) interrogate their mysterious prisoner (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Remember when it wasn't the in-thing to be a Star Trek fan, proudly clad in a Starfleet uniform, pointed Vulcan ears and comprehensive understanding of Klingon. Well, with the 2009 Star Trek reboot, JJ Abrams did the unthinkable transforming the franchise's 40+ year-old reputation of being an exclusive club of diehard sci-fi fans to reaching a much broader audience, now more appreciative to go where no man has gone before.

Star Trek Into Darkness continues where the 2009 blockbuster left off with James Kirk (Chris Pine), the hot-headed captain of the Enterprise with more experience under his belt, but still under the pretense that he's above the rules. After recklessly risking the safety of his crew on a primitive planet, Kirk is temporarily stripped of his captaincy until he's personally assigned to hunt down a terrorist (BBC Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch) with deep ties to Starfleet out to the far reaches of the galaxy.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Star Trek' Warps to #1, Misses $100 Million 4-Day Target

The burning question coming out of this past weekend was what just happened to Star Trek Into Darkness? Banking on the success of the 2009 blockbuster and the new found coolness to be a Trekkie, Into Darkness had its sights a reasonable $100 million over its first four days in release.

Not only did Star Trek fail to meet that milestone, but the sequel opened a notch lower than the previous film with an extra day and IMAX sneak peek. Granted, the switch from releasing Star Trek Into Darkness from May 17th to May 16th may have confused some moviegoers, but this less-than-stellar start will require substantial word-of-mouth to strike lightning twice.

Whether or not, Star Trek Into Darkness manages to cross $250 million or even $200 million remains to be seen, but the summer competition continues to stay fierce.

Trek, Superman and Hunger Games Trailers Debut With Darker Flair

Three of 2013's most anticipated releases all debuted brand new trailers this past week.

There should be no doubt in anyone's minds that the marketing minds in Hollywood are certainly kicking things up into high gear as of late. After countless months of wondering when we'll witness a glimpse of 2013's tentpole release, we not only get one (no, no), but count them three major trailers in a 72-hour block.

First up to plate is the final trailer to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness, which no pun intended is still leaving Trekkies in the dark about this sequel to the 2009 reboot. All audiences can still gather is that Benedict Cumberbatch plays a charismatic terrorist who has it out for the Federation. And despite the warnings coming from all personal and professional directions, Chris Pine's hot-headed rendition of Captain Kirk takes matters into his own hands.

Top 10: Most Anticipated Movies of 2013

Hollywood has its work cut out in 2013. 2012. For starters, where do superhero movies go from here after competitors Marvel and DC exponentially raised the genre's bar with The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises? How about smaller films? Lincoln, Argo and Silver Linings Playbook all transformed into critical darlings overnight and that magic is only duplicated for the rare few.

Even with audience expectations set at a higher level than before, there are still ten movies that must be experienced in theaters as early as possible. Below are my choices for my most anticipated movies released in 2013.