will pass the $1 billion mark worldwide this week, while J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek Into Darkness is expected to draw more than $100 million in its opening weekend, according to box office estimates.Box Office Mojo is calling for the film to have a $119 million four-day opening weekend which, combined with a $33 million weekend for Iron Man 3, will see both films cross notable milestones by the time the weekend is out.Star Trek Into Darkness‘s haul will make it the first time that any film in the franchise has made more than $100 million in its opening weekend, and even if today’s screenings are removed, the “$89 million projection for the rest of the weekend will still be more than the next-best weekend in the series, 2009’s Star Trek, which opened at $79.2 million.Iron Man 3 currently has made around $980 million worldwide and is the sixteenth-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. Just ahead of it is The Dark Knight, with a total haul of $1,004,558,444, which Iron Man 3 is expected to best by the end of the weekend. At that point, the only comic book movies to have made more money in their theatrical run will be Marvel’s The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Whether Iron Man 3 can catch up with either of those two will be largely up to the international audience, as it’s likely to drop precipitously as more blockbusters start attracting big attention in the U.S. over the next few weeks.
