Fast and Furious 6, Hangover 3 Knock Star Trek Into Darkness From Box Office Perch

As widely predicted, Fast & Furious 6 debuted atop the Memorial Day weekend box office followed by fellow newcomer The Hangover Part III. Furious 6 opened with $98.5 million (and is projected to earn $122 million by the Monday holiday), making it Universal's best domestic opening (not adjusted for inflation) since The Lost World.

Debuting well behind in second place, The Hangover Part III earned an estimated $42.4 for the weekend and a projected holiday total of $53 million. The Hangover Part II opened to twice that amount in 2011.

The weekend's other major new release, the animated Epic, bowed nicely with $34.2 million and a projected holiday haul of $44 million.

Last weekend's champ, Star Trek Into Darkness, slipped to third place with an estimated weekend haul of $38 million and a projected holiday tally of $48 million. The Trek sequel held nicely in its second weekend, dropping only 43%.

Meanwhile, Iron Man 3 has earned $1.14 billion worldwide to date. It now stands as the fifth highest-grossing release of all time.

Here are the May 24-26 weekend estimates via Rentrak:

1. Fast & Furious 6 $98.5 million
2. The Hangover 3 $42.4 million
3. Star Trek Into Darkness $38 million
4. Epic $34.2 million
5. Iron Man 3 $19.4 million
6. The Great Gatsby $13.7 million
7. Mud $1.9 million
8. 42 $1.2 million
9. The Croods $1.2 million
10. Oblivion $815,000

Listen to the latest Keepin' It Reel podcast to learn how our box office predictions fared.

Source : ign[dot]com