For the first time in over a month, an animated movie didn't take the top weekend spot at the box office. Instead, Star Trek Beyond grabbed the No. 1 ranking.

The latest edition of the Star Trek franchise opened with $59.6 million in ticket sales, more than double box office receipts for the weekend's second most-popular movie, "The Secret Life of Pets."

Yet even as Star Trek Beyond won the weekend, the result was less-than-ideal for Viacom's (VIAB) - Get Report Paramount Studios, which has the thinnest film slate for this summer among Hollywood's largest six studios and was very much relying on the success of Beyond.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has turned to selling a 49% stake in the studio to help pay down company debt. In June, Dauman said talks for a sale were moving well along. Yet Viacom Chairman Emeritus Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari subsequently acted to block any sale of Paramount until courts in Massachusetts and Delaware rule on their efforts to remove Dauman from the company's board of directors.

Meanwhile, Lights Out showed the durability of the horror genre as the film from Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Bros. proves to be one of the big breakout surprises of the year. Lights Out generated 21.6 million at the box office tied with Ghostbusters from Sony (SNE) - Get Report Pictures. Ice Age: Collision Course from 21st Century Fox (FOXA) - Get Report opened to less than half of its predecessor though foreign grosses should make up for its domestic weakness.

In total, the top twelve films generated $183.4 million in box office sales over the weekend, an 18% increased from last weekend and up an impressive 29% from the same three-day period in 2015.

For Paramount, Beyond generated the weakest opening of any of the new Trek films, 15% lower than Into Darkness in 2013 and over 20% lower than the original remake, Star Trek in 2009. The fact that this series continues to see diminishing returns at the domestic box office has to be worrisome to Paramount, especially considering that the franchise runs an increasing risk of being overshadowed by Disney's Star Wars.

The good news for Paramount is that Star Trek Beyond was critically well received, garnering an A- CinemaScore and an 86% user-approval rating on Flixster. However, Beyond will face tough competition for male audiences in the coming weeks from Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad.

Domestically, the film will probably match its $185 million budget by the end of its run but because films typically need to make 2.5 times their budget to break even black (due to theater-studio profit splits and marketing spending), Beyond will have to perform especially well overseas to justify the already-announced fourth installment of the franchise.

Unfortunately, Star Trek Beyond is off to a less-than-stellar start outside the U.S. The film managed to score a #1 debut in only 16 out of the 37 territories when it opened over the weekend for a $30 million international total. That number is 14% less than what its predecessor managed in the same handful of territories, meaning that Beyond could feasibly fall short of the $238.6 million foreign gross of Into Darkness.

To be sure, this weekend's foreign opening represented only 45% of the new film's international footprint, and Paramount still has openings in France, Spain, China and Japan to look forward to. In other words: the jury's still out, but things are looking less-than-rosy for the latest Trek installment if this weekend is any indication.

Turning back to the domestic side, The Secret Life of Pets fell one spot to second place this weekend. The animated film had a strong 42% fall, as the opening of Ice Age: Collision Course seems to have barely affected it. Pets took in $29.3 million for a $260.7 million total through its first 17 days. With virtually no serious competition for family audiences over the next couple of weeks, Pets is in a good position to pass $350 million by the end of its run.

Interestingly, two movies tied for third place this weekend, with both Ghostbusters and Lights Out claiming a $21.6 million weekend. When weekend actuals are released, it's likely that Lights Out will have the edge, considering that Warner Bros. is estimating a more realistic Saturday-to-Sunday drop (-25%) than Sony (-21%). But even if Ghostbusters has to settle for fourth place, Sony has to be slightly relieved at the film's second weekend hold. The film fell 53% from its opening, instead of falling off of a 60%+ cliff. The horror comedy has grossed $86.9 million thus far, and is looking at a total around $130 million.

While Sony executives are merely relieved at the weekend gross of Ghostbusters, the people at Warner Bros. have to be ecstatic about the opening for Lights Out. The film was made for a thrifty $4.9 million, which means an opening weekend over $20 million is a terrific result. Lights Out earned a B CinemaScore from moviegoers, which is solid for films in the horror genre. The weekend turnout was undoubtedly helped by James Wan's executive producer credit on the film, as the Conjuring director's name has become a sign of high quality among horror aficionados. Lights Out should hold fairly well over the next few weeks for a domestic total around $55 to $60 million.

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Opening with a whimper was Fox's Ice Age: Collision Course. The animated film could only muster up a $21 million weekend, which is a far cry from the mid-$40 million openings that most of the Ice Age films have enjoyed. Franchise fatigue seems to have set in for the Ice Age movies, especially with two huge family films (Finding Dory and Pets) already saturating the marketplace. The critical panning of the film before its release proved to be the final nail in the coffin. Audiences were a little more kind, awarding the latest Ice Age a B+ CinemaScore, but that's still a tepid response from family audiences. The film should fall off quickly in the coming weeks, and may close below $60 million.

Luckily for Fox, Collision Course was never really a domestic play anyways. The Ice Age movies have always been bigger overseas than in the U.S., and this installment will prove to be no exception. The film has already made $178.9 million domestically, including $30.3 million this weekend. The film still has a China opening to look forward to at the end of August, and the last Ice Age movie grossed $67.9 million in the Middle Kingdom. Considering Collision Course only cost $105 million, and a $300 million+ foreign total already looks like a lock, Fox is in fine shape on this movie.

Next weekend, the widely-anticipated Jason Bourne will hit theaters, and is expected to come close to the $69.3 million opening weekend of The Bourne Ultimatum. STX Entertainment will release the raunchy comedy Bad Moms into theaters, and the film looks to have breakout potential. Finally, Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) will release the thriller Nerve on Wednesday, hoping to get a headstart on the competition. The movie looks like it will attract moderate interest at best. Check back on Thursday for official weekend predictions.