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JJ Abrams's rebooted Star Trek joins Transformers and Iron Man to give Paramount an enviable track record in franchise summer blockbuster successIt didn't quite have the oomph of X-Men Origins: Wolverine's opening haul last weekend, but debut takings for Star Trek will have put plenty of smiles on faces at the London HQ of backers Paramount. The critically lauded franchise reboot debuted with £5.95m, including Thursday previews of £872,000, a not too shabby performance compared with Wolverine's £6.66m. The last four Star Trek movies - Nemesis (January 2003), Insurrection (January 1999), First Contact (December 1996) and Generations (February 1994) - respectively opened with £1.96m, £2.71m, £2.35m and £2.04m, ie less than half the opening figure achieved by JJ Abrams's new one. Star Trek's haul includes a nifty £342,000 from just seven Imax cinemas which, following success this spring with Watchmen, suggests the large-scale format is the preferred venue for pictures with, ahem, passio

Despite two exceptionally compelling seasons and strong season finales, both The Amazing Race 14 and The Celebrity Apprentice 2 had fewer viewers for their finales than they did in previous seasons. Victor and Tammy's race win was watched by 10.43 million people, which made it the number-one show at 8 p.m. CBS said in a press release that it was 'was first for the sixth consecutive broadcast in households (5.9/10), viewers (10.43m), adults 25-54 (3.7/10) and adults 18-49 (3.0/09).' That's down just slightly from the 10.57 million people who watched the 13th season's finale last December, which is tragic considering how much better this season was. Over on NBC, last March, 12.1 million viewers watched Piers Morgan win The Celebrity Apprentice. That finale aired on a Thursday and set records for NBC. But the Joan Rivers versus Annie Duke finale--you know, when Annie Duke was robbed--averaged just 8.727 over its three hours, according to TV By the Numbers, which notes that among view

Weekend: $10.3 M, Total Domestic Gross: $30.1 M

Kevin Costner is bringing a Western to the small screen. The 'Dances with Wolves' actor-director will executive produce the post-Civil War film about a major conflict in the settlement of the West, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The still untitled four-hour movie will air on A&E and Costner is reportedly also interested in acting in the film. A&E executives were quoted as saying they are pleased to have Costner onboard since he understands the Western genre so well.

Weekend: $26.4 M, Total Domestic Gross: $129.0 M

Weekend: $75.2 M, Total Domestic Gross: $79.2 M

"Star Trek" keeps getting hotter at the North American box office....

By most accounts, several thousand visitors came out to check out Toronto Comics Arts Festival 2009 this past weekend, and delivered a fun-filled celebration of comics and creativity. I was...