In what was a surprise to absolutely no one, J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ topped the box office charts during it’s opening weekend. But if that’s the case, then what’s with the title of this article? Things seem a bit contradictory, don’t they? Not if you knew what was being expected of the Starfleet sequel.

According to Collider, the latest film in Paramount’s reboot film franchise of the classic sci-fi staple took in a total of $70.5 million over the weekend, adding up to $84.1 million in total. Though far from a flop, the film was expected to bring in $80 million from the weekend and a total of $100 million over the 4.5 days that it’s been in theaters. These numbers just barely beat the 2009 film’s numbers even though it had a whole extra day with the higher priced 3D and IMAX tickets. Currently, it’s uncertain if the sequel will match up to the quarter of a billion that ‘Star Trek’ collected.

Meanwhile, Marvel is still riding high on the ‘Iron Man 3’ wave. Occupying the number two spot on the charts, the Shane Black-helmed Phase Two film has earned $1.073 billion worldwide after bringing in $35.1 million this past weekend. After drawing numbers like that, Robert Downey Jr.’s latest outing as the Armored Avenger sits at the number nine spot of the highest grossing movies of all time list, which includes James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ and ‘Titanic’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, and more.

To see where the other films currently playing at your local cinema stack up on the charts after this weekend, here’s the final tally:

Title                                                                             Weekend                                 Total (million)

1.            ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’                         $70,555,500                                   $84.1

2.            ‘Iron Man 3’                                              $35,182,000                                   $337.1

3.            ‘The Great Gatsby’                                   $23,415,000                                   $90.2

4.            ‘Pain and Gain’                                         $3,100,000                                     $46.6

5.            ‘The Croods’                                             $2,750,000                                     $176.8

6.            ‘42’                                                            $2,730,000                                     $88.7

7.            ‘Oblivion’                                                   $2,222,000                                     $85.5

8.            ‘Mud’                                                         $2,160,000                                     $11.6

9.            ‘Peeples’                                                   $2,150,000                                     $7.9

10.          ‘The Big Wedding’                                    $1,100,000                                     $20.2

If you’re curious as to what we here at ScienceFiction.com thought of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’, check out our two reviews from our resident Trekkie and our overall film buff and share your thoughts on the film. If ‘Iron Man 3’ is what you’re after, then our very own pretentious film major/comic book reviewer handled reviewing duties for that one.