Star Trek Into Darkness has boldly gone where the previous Star Trek movie also went, to the top of the UK box office. An £8.4m opening, including £1.6m from previews, isn’t quite a warp speed start but it’s still significantly higher than the last Star Trek’s £6m three day start. The £6.8m Friday to Sunday weekend is the highest for any Star Trek film and the third highest of the year so far, behind Iron Man 3 and Les Misérables. The majority (59.5%) of Star Trek Into Darkness’ gross was from 3D presentations, which is higher than Iron Man 3 (53.3%).

After two weeks of dominance, Iron Man 3 dropped to second spot, easing 50% to £3.2m and an imposing cume of £31.1m. It has smashed through the target set by the previous two Iron Man films (Iron Man 2 finished on £21.2m) and is setting a benchmark that other live action films this summer will struggle to beat. 21 & Over had an excellent hold, falling just 25% to £581k and a cume of £1.9m. By this time next week, it will have comfortably overtaken Project X’s final total of £2.2m.

Family dance flick, All Stars, experienced an even better hold in fourth place, falling a paltry 12% to £498k but The Croods once again proved a winner, falling a miniscule 3% to £381k and the all-star animation now has a cume of £25.6m.

There was another notable new entry in seventh place, with Matthew McConaughey continuing his career renaissance, as Mud managed £239k from just 70 locations. That gave Mud the third highest location average of the weekend (£3.4k), behind Star Trek Into Darkness and Iron Man 3. Overall the box office was up 36% from last weekend and up 25% from the same weekend last year.

In the US, on its second weekend, Iron Man 3 achieved the fourth highest second week ever, easing 58% to $72.5m. After just 10 days on release, it has grossed a huge $284.9m. Lavish literary adaptation, The Great Gatsby, opened with $51.1m, which is the third-highest second place opening ever. The audience was 59% female and 69% were over 25.

Pain and Gain fell one spot to third with $5m, which is a solid hold (33%), and to date has grossed $41.6m. Tyler Perry experienced a rare failure in fourth spot as Tyler Perry Presents Peeples opened with just $4.9m. 42 completed the top five with $4.7m for a cume of $84.7m.

Once again, the leviathan that is Iron Man 3 dominated the weekend’s box office, amassing a further £6.3m from Friday to Sunday. Including Bank Holiday Monday, the Marvel blockbuster has a sensational cume of £26.2m. This performance is more akin to Avengers Assemble than any previous Iron Man film, which on its second weekend in May 2012 grossed £8.1m.

With strong competition from Star Trek Into Darkness from this Thursday onwards, an Avengers sized final total of £50m looks out of reach for Iron Man 3 but £40m is achievable and would be a fantastic result.

Second spot was taken by raucous comedy 21 & Over, which opened with £772k from Friday to Sunday and including Monday, stands on £945k. The best comparison is probably February 2012’s Project X, which opened with £562k and finished on £2.2m.

Olympus Has Fallen continued its impressive performance in third place with £673k from Friday to Sunday and including Monday, the brutal Gerard Butler thriller now has a cume of £5.3m.

New British family film, All Stars, opened in fourth place, taking £564k over the weekend and £797k including Monday. This is a solid performance for independent distributor Vertigo and their second success story in just over a month after Spring Breakers.

The Croods rounded out the top five with £395k over the weekend. The extra £157k it added on Monday pushed it over the £25m mark and it now stands on £25.1m.

There were a couple of other notable new entries, with Pedro Almodovar comedy I’m So Excited disappointing slightly, taking £311k from Friday to Monday (including £58k from previews) and Colin Farrell thriller Dead Man Down managing just £294k. Overall the box office was down 40% from last weekend and down 45% from the same weekend last year, when American Reunion had two full days of previews. With Star Trek Into Darkness arriving in cinemas this Thursday, expect that to turn around.

In the US, Iron Man 3 opened with $174.1m, the second highest opening weekend of all time. It’s also a big improvement on Iron Man 2‘s $128.1m. The audience was 55% over 25 and 61% male.  All other films played second fiddle to Iron Man 3 this weekend and Pain and Gain had a tough time of it, falling 63% to $7.5m for a cume of $33.8m.  Baseball drama 42 fell 43% to $6.1m for a cume of $78.2m.

Oblivion was the biggest Iron Man 3 casualty, falling a whopping 68% to $5.6m and a cume of $75.8m. The Croods completed the top five with $4.2m and a total of $168.7m.

This week, DCM’S resident film specialist, Tom Linay, takes a look ahead at the release schedule and guides us through some of the upcoming romantic movies. Luxury brands, along with Cosmetics and Fashion may consider these films to reach their target market out of home.

There’s  a distinctly romantic feel to May and June with an all-star romantic comedy releasing and three top-drawer art-house titles that promise to make a notable splash with an upmarket female audience.

On 29 May, The Big Wedding unleashes its all-star ensemble on an affluent, female audience. The cast has all bases covered with veteran stars Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon and younger talents such as Amanda Seyfried and Katherine Heigl.

31 May sees the release of charming French comedy Populaire. Starring the annoyingly good looking and charismatic Romain Duris, it’s been referred to as “Mad Men meets The Artist”.

Going head to head with Man Of Steel on 14 June is Joss Whedon’s (Avengers Assemble) take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Reportedly shot in 12 days at Whedon’s California house, Shakespeare’s prose and Whedon’s playful style look to be a match made in heaven.

Finally on 21 June my most anticipated film of the year is released. No, not just of June but THE ENTIRE YEAR. It’s Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight. If you’ve not seen Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, stop what you’re doing and order the DVDs online now, you won’t regret it as they’re practically perfect. This third part of the series reunites Jesse and Celine and promises to be just as charming and insightful as the previous two.

Olympus Has Fallen has risen to the top of the Box Office with a decent £2.2m opening (including £651k from previews). The first of the year’s White House set action films has set a solid benchmark which September’s White House Down will be looking to beat. It was the best opening for a live-action Gerard Butler film since 300 in 2007 (£4.7m).

Oblivion dropped to second spot with a further £1.7m, a total which would have been enough to hold on to the top spot had it not been for Olympus Has Fallen’s previews. The stylish Sci-Fi epic has now grossed £8.1m and should have no trouble overhauling the final total of Tom Cruise’s last star vehicle, Jack Reacher (£9.5m). Evil Dead possessed third spot with £1.4m (including £288k from previews). In terms of recent horror remakes, that’s above Texas Chainsaw 3D (£1.2m), The Thing (£486k) and Fright Night (£682k).

Now the Easter holidays are a distant memory The Croods is starting to slow down but another £676k takes its cume to £23.7m and it has now overtaken Wreck-It Ralph (£23.4m) to become the biggest animated film of the year so far. We may have to wait until Monsters University in July to see it surpassed. The Place Beyond the Pines completed the Top 5 and had the strongest hold of the weekend, easing just 13% to £581k. The Gosling-Cooper drama now has a cume of £1.6m.

Overall, the clement weather meant that the Box Office was down 31% from last weekend and 9% from the same weekend last year when Battleship topped the box office and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen made a strong start. Expect the Box Office to receive an Iron Man 3 3D sized boost next weekend.

Across the Atlantic, Oblivion opened with $38.2m which is Tom Cruise’s fifth best opening ever. The audience was 57% male and 74% were 25 years of age and older. Baseball drama, 42 fell 34% to $18.2m and after 10 days has grossed $54m. The Croods had a decent hold easing just 28% to $9.5m this weekend and has grossed a strong $154.9m. Scary Movie 5 fell to fourth with $6.3m and has now earned $22.9m and will struggle to match Scary Movie 4’s $40.2m opening weekend during its entire run. G.I. Joe: Retaliation completed the Top 5 with $5.8m and has a cume of $111.2m.

Tom Cruise is back on top as Oblivion flew to an impressive £5m five day opening, with £1.6m coming from Wednesday and Thursday previews. This is further confirmation that audiences still love to see Tom Cruise headlining major films.

The Croods had yet another strong hold, falling just a measly 15% to £2m and a spectacular cume of £22.7m. By this time next week it should have overtaken Wreck-It Ralph to become the highest grossing animated film of the year so far. In third spot, is the fifth installment in the Scary Movie franchise. An opening of £1.1m is the lowest in the series and a long way off from Scary Movie 3’s series best £3.5m debut.

Fourth place was taken by hugely ambitious Ryan Gosling drama, The Place Beyond the Pines. Although £671k (with £11k from previews) may not seem that impressive, the crime thriller had the second highest location average in the Top 15 (£5.9k), beaten only by Oblivion (£9.5k). With more screens promised next weekend, this title should have legs.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D rounded out the Top 5 with another £525k taking its cume to £6.9m and surpassing the original G.I. Joe (£6.5m) in the process.

A couple of other notable performers were Danny Boyle’s brain-teaser Trance crossing the £4m mark and teen sci-fi The Host crossing the £3m mark. Overall the box office was up 34% from last weekend but down 11% from the same weekend last year when Battleship and The Cabin in the Woods opened. This week, both Evil Dead and Olympus Has Fallen will be hoping to replicate their US performance.

Across the Atlantic, Oblivion is not out until next Friday so it was left to baseball drama 42 to take the honours, with a strong $27.3m debut. That’s a good deal better than Moneyball’s $19.5m start in 2011. As in the UK, Scary Movie 5 could not repeat the performance of its predecessors, opening with $15.2m, which is miles away from Scary Movie 4’s $40.2m bow.

Another $13.2m for The Croods in third place took it to $142.5m and now making it the second biggest film of the year to date. G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D crossed the $100m mark with a further $10.8m and last week’s number one Evil Dead experienced a sharp drop off with $9.5m and a cume of $41.5m.

Yes, we have a spectacular selection of summer blockbusters on the horizon but this summer is also a dream for comedy fans. Fans of 2005 hit The Wedding Crashers will be particularly interested in The Internship (4 July). Reuniting Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as two salesmen who  take an internship (hence the title) at Google. It also features a cracking support cast including Rose Byrne and John Goodman, so expect box office to rival Vaughn and Wilson’s previous outing.

A buddy comedy with a more female slant hits right at the end of July as Bridesmaids director Paul Feig re-teams with comedy star of the moment, Melissa McCarthy for The Heat. McCarthy plays an uncouth detective who has to team up with FBI agent Sandra Bullock. The two couldn’t be more different and many laughs ensue, you know the drill. However, with that line-up and a big screen return for Tom Wilson aka Biff Tannen, it can’t fail to be funny.

UK comedy gets in on the act in August with two potentially HUGE titles. First up on 7 August  is the big screen debut of one of the all-time great comedy characters, Alan Partridge. Details on the plot are sketchy but all the best people from the TV show are involved and the title alone is enough to generate mirth, Alan Partridge:  Alpha Papa. A week later sees the release of the final part in the unofficial cornetto trilogy (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz), Edgar Wright’s The World’s End. Once again, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost take the leads but this time they’re joined by Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike and Paddy Considine. With that pedigree, the film could fly. On 23 August, it’s back to the US as Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston join forces for Dodgeball director Rawson Marshall Thurber in We’re The Millers. With a supporting cast including Ed Helms, Nick Offerman and Emma Roberts, hopes are deservedly high for this one.

Older comedy fans are catered for too with the all-star The Big Wedding (29 May), featuring a cast that includes Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton and Robin Williams. Shakespeare makes a comeback too in the unlikely hands of Avengers Assemble director, Joss Whedon with Much Ado About Nothing (14 June). It’s been a hit at every festival it’s played at and features a cast of Whedon regulars. Finally, Bridesmaids star Kristen Wiig returns with black comedy Girl Most Likely (26 July). With such a strong line-up, we’re going to spend the summer alternating between awe at the blockbusters and clutching our aching sides.

For the third weekend in succession, animated hit The Croods proved to be cinema’s biggest draw. A further £2.4m takes its cume to £17.7m and it now sits behind Les Misérables and Wreck-It Ralph 3D as the third highest grossing film released so far this year. With another week of the Easter holidays left, £20m-plus is a certainty.

GI Joe: Retaliation 3D held on to the second spot with £1.1m and has a cume of £5.6m. It’s now less than £1m behind the first G.I. Joe’s final total of £6.5m, which it should have overtaken by this time next week.

Dark Skies was this week’s highest new entry in third spot, taking £1m (including £323k from previews).

In fourth spot, Trance fell 38% (once previews are removed) to £722k and a cume of £3.3m and Jack The Giant Slayer rounded out the top five with £705k and a cume just shy of £6m.

There were two notable new entries at the lower end of the top ten, with Spring Breakers debuting at £345k (including £9k from previews) in ninth place and The Odd Life Of Timothy Green starting with £269k in tenth.

Overall, the box office was down 32% from last weekend and down 39% from the same weekend last year when both Titanic 3D and Mirror Mirror were released both titles had help from preview figures.

In the US, Evil Dead took first place with an estimated $26m, which is the 10th highest opening of all time for a horror remake. The audience was 56% male and 56% were 25 years of age and older. Estimates suggest that both The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D grossed $21.1m this weekend. That gives G.I. Joe a cume of $86.7m and The Croods a cume of $125.8m.

In fourth place and bucking the recent trend of disappointing 3D re-releases, Jurassic Park 3D opened with $18.2m. Completing the top five was Olympus Has Fallen with $10m and the Gerard Butler thriller has now grossed $71.1m.

The Croods was the big Easter winner, easing just 6% (when previews are removed) to £3.3m and a very healthy ten day total of £10.6m. This is ahead of the animation benchmark set by Brave 3D last year.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D was the best performing newcomer, easily outstripping the first GI Joe film with £2.8m (including £890k from previews).

Current King of Britain, Danny Boyle, will be mildly satisfied with the performance of his new film, as Trance debuted with £1.6m (including £433k from previews). That’s Boyle’s fourth best opening.

Jack The Giant Slayer 3D continued to perform well, taking £1.2m, falling only 22% from last weekend.

Other new entries to the top 10 included, The Host, an adaption of the novel of the same name by Twilight author Stephanie Meyer (£991k) and Finding Nemo 3D, a 3D re-release of the original film from 2003 (£265k). Overall, the box office was up 12% from last weekend and a healthy 25% from the same weekend last year.

In the US, G.I. Joe Retaliation 3D was the big attraction, taking $40.5m. For its three major stars, this is a potent opening, third-highest for Channing Tatum, second-highest for The Rock, and remarkably, it’s the top debut ever for a Bruce Willis movie.

The Croods fell 38.8% from the previous weekend, banking $26.7m and Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor added $26.1m to Mr. Perry’s coffers, proving how strong the niche for his releases is in the US market.

Although May to July is traditionally known as Summer blockbuster season, this year sees an unusually high number of upmarket arthouse releases.  Coming out on the same weekend as Iron Man 3 (April 26) are two all-star features with a strong comedic slant. Bernie earned a Golden Globe nomination for Jack Black’s performance and is a black comedy about a mortician who strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow. The Look Of Love reunites Steve Coogan with director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, The Trip) and tells the story of Paul Raymond who was once the richest man in the UK and known as the King of Soho.

A week later sees the return of one of Europe’s most distinctive auteurs, Pedro Almodovar, with comedy set aboard an airliner, I’m So Excited. Mud was a hit at Cannes last year and with Matthew McConaughey experiencing a career renaissance, expect a strong performance from May 10.

The end of May sees the release of two distinctive releases looking to woo the arthouse crowd. Byzantium comes from director Neil Jordan (The End Of The Affair, The Crying Game) and stars Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan as vampires in a small coastal town. Also out on the same day is charming French comedy Populaire, that has already been a huge hit across the channel.

June kicks off with The Iceman. One of America’s most underrated actors Michael Shannon stars in the true-life story of a notorious mafia hitman and is joined by James Franco, Chris Evans and Winona Ryder. June 14 and June 21 are big weekends for lovers of romance. First up is Joss Whedon’s striking black and white imagining of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and a week later one of the most anticipated arthouse films of the year is released. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy charmed audiences in the 90s and 00s with Before Sunrise and Before Sunset and Before Midnight sees them return as Jesse and Celine for the third (and final?) time.

July’s arthouse slate is still to be filled but two striking titles are already in place. Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation, Somewhere) joins forces with Emma Watson in The Bling Ring and the undisputed queen of arthouse cinema Greta Gerwig stars in Noah Baumbach’s (The Squid And The Whale) Paris-set Frances Ha. Summer 2013 promises to be a treat for lovers of films of all sizes.

The Croods 3D proved a prehistoric sized hit this weekend opening with a sizeable £5.4m (including £1.9m from previews). The Friday to Sunday total of £3.5m puts it just behind Oz: The Great And Powerful in fourth place in the biggest opening weekends of the year. 44.9% of The Croods’ gross came from 3D presentations.

Another big family film opened in second spot as fantasy epic, Jack The Giant Slayer 3D debuted with £1.6m. Although that’s a disappointing start, the upcoming Easter holidays should provide a boost. Oz: The Great And Powerful 3D made it a trio of family films in the top three as a further £1.3m took its cume to £10.1m.

Offering an alternative to the big family films, US hit Identity Thief came in fourth with £1.3m. That seems to be the average for comedy films so far in 2013, with This Is 40 opening with £1.2m and I Give It A Year opening with £1.4m. Side Effects completed the top 5 with another strong hold, easing just 20% to £609k and a cume of £3.4m.

The only other new entry in the top 10 was Nicolas Cage thriller Stolen, which continued the star’s recent poor run of form, opening with £202k (including £46k from previews). One other notable performer was blockbuster musical Les Misérables crossing the £40m mark and becoming only the 35^th film in UK history to do so. A spectacular achievement.

Overall, despite the chilly weather the box office was up 79% from last weekend and up 20% from the same weekend last year, perhaps surprising as that was when The Hunger Games went on nationwide release.

In the US, The Croods also topped the box office, grossing a strong $43.6m. The audience was 57% female, 55% were 25 years of age and up. In second place, Olympus Has Fallen surprised everyone with a healthy $30.4m debut, which is a greater opening than A Good Day to Die Hard ($24.8m). Falling from the top spot, Oz The Great and Powerful still grossed a decent $21.6m and after 17 days has earned $177.1m.  In fourth, The Call fell 48% to $8.9m and now has a cume of $31.1m.  Tina Fey and Paul Rudd comedy, Admission rounded out the Top Five with $6.2m.