BOX OFFICE REPORT (MAY 17-19): 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Sets Phasers to No. 1, But Can't Match Last Film's Opening

Good news, bad news for Star Trek Into Darkness — the sequel to JJ Abrams' 2009's Star Trek reboot debuted to the second-best opening weekend for any film in the franchise. Unfortunately, it wound up trailing Star Trek itself, which opened to $75.2 million four years ago. Many analysts predicted that Star Trek Into Darkness would do better than its predecessor, possibly even cracking the $100 million opening weekend mark. So what held this sequel back? Was it a nice summer weekend? Did people want to go outside? Did the film's overwhelmingly positive reviews (87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) get drowned out by the very vocal few reviewers who disliked Star Trek Into Darkness?

As for the rest of the top five, Iron Man 3 has now not only outgrossed every other Iron Man movie but every other Marvel Cinematic Universe movie with the exception of The Avengers. Not bad for a film that's only just wrapped up its third weekend. Iron Man 3 is also already the 25th highest grossing film domestically.

1. Star Trek Into Darkness (N)
$70.56 million ($84.09 million)
Despite Abrams' name being on almost every other movie, he's only directed four of them: Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III, Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness. While it wasn't a hard feat, Star Trek Into Darkness is now Abrams' second-highest opening weekend. I'm guessing that a certain Star Wars sequel will completely change his career scorecard in 2015.

SUNDAY MORNING LIVE: 'SNL' and Ben Affleck Give Bill Hader, Stefon and Fred Armisen a Huge Farewell

Welcome to Edition No. 21 of Sunday Morning Live, Popculturology's look at the latest episode of Saturday Night Live. All of your questions about the Ben Affleck-hosted episode will be answered after the jump.

TRAILER: Relive the Wolfpack's Worst (Best?) Moments Before 'The Hangover Part III' Hits Theaters

With less than a week to go until The Hangover Part III closes out director Todd Phillips trilogy of destruction, a trailer tying the first two Hangover movies into the upcoming film debuted this past week. The trailer begins by highlighting Zach Galifianakis' Alan's wolfpack speech, which then segues into new footage from The Hangover Part III.

The Hangover Part III hits theaters on May 23, 2013, now a whole day earlier than originally planned. Warner Bros. wanted to get at least a day's jump on Fast and Furious 6. Check out this new trailer after the jump.

TRAILER: Giant Robots Fighting Monsters? 'Pacific Rim' Looks Insanely Awesome

When the first teaser trailer for Pacific Rim debuted, I made a joke or two about how the movie looked like a big-screen adaption of Power Rangers. It was an easy joke to make, and at that stage, we really didn't know much about the movie. With each additional trailer for director Guillermo del Toro's upcoming movie, though, it's becoming more and more impossible to make fun of Pacific Rim.

This movie looks insanely awesome.

A new trailer for Pacific Rim that debuted at the end of last week cranks up the robot-versus-monster action, featuring brawl after brawl between the two sides. I don't know how you can't be excited about this movie now. I still have a few questions — like why the dual Avatar mind meld thing? — but I'm sure Pacific Rim will answer those questions when the time comes.

Pacific Rim hits theaters on July 12, 2013, and stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Rob Kazinsky, Max Martini and Ron Perlman. Check out the latest trailer for the movie after the jump.

Your Guide to Ben Affleck Hosting 'Saturday Night Live' Tomorrow

Ben Affleck will host Saturday Night Live this Saturday with music guest Kanye West. Here's what you need to know about the upcoming episode.

Has Affleck hosted SNL before?

Yup. This is his fifth time.

What do we know Affleck from?

It seems like Affleck has been around forever, doesn't it? The actor burst onto the scene with a Best Original Screenplay Oscar win for Good Will Hunting that he shared with Matt Damon in 1997. Affleck's career got derailed after a strip of critical and box office flops, including Gigli, Daredevil and Pearl Harbor. He saw his career resurrected behind the camera, directing Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo to critical acclaim. During the past award season, Affleck took home every major award for best director despite not being nominated by the Academy, a snub that led to a groundswell movement resulting in Argo being named Best Picture at the Oscars.

Has Kanye West appeared on SNL before?

Yup. This will be the rapper's fifth SNL appearance. 

Anything we should expect from this episode?

Even though SNL fumbled political news the past two episodes, they should have plenty to work from this week. The Benghazi hearings, the AP wiretapping and the IRS scandal have created a perfect storm of trouble for President Barack Obama, meaning Jay Pharoah will probably get a sketch. 

When Justin Timberlake joined SNL's Five-Timers Club a few episodes ago, the show gave him a lavish opening monologue sketch, complete with Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and several other members of the Club showing up to celebrate Timberlake's achievement. Will SNL do the same thing twice in one season? My guess is that the show will use Affleck's Oscar snub to build a joke about getting snubbed for the Five-Timers Club. 

This will be the final episode for impressions genius Bill Hader. Interesting fact: Stefon's first sketch wasn't a Weekend Update segment. It was actually in a sketch were he was the brother of an Affleck character. (You can check this sketch out after the jump.) With Affleck back as host, this is the perfect time for Stefon to say goodbye. There's also the chance that this is Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen's last episode.

Your Day in Pop Culture (Friday, May 17, 2013)

This Day in Pop Culture History
1792: The New York Stock Exchange is formed. This is the one that Bane didn't hijack.

Famous People Have Birthdays Too
1934: Ronald Wayne, cofounder of Apple, Inc.
1936: Dennis Hopper, actor (Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, Speed)
1938: Pervis Jackson, singer (The Spinners)
1939: Gary Paulsen, author (Hatchet, The River)
1941: Grace Zabriskie, actress (Seinfeld, Twin Peaks, Big Love)
1955: Bill Paxton, actor (Twister, Apollo 13, Aliens)
1956: Bob Saget, comedian (Full House, America's Funniest Home Videos, How I Met Your Mother)
1962: Craig Ferguson, comedian (The Drew Carey Show, The Late Late Show)
1970: Jordan Knight, singer (New Kids On The Block)
1973: Sasha Alexander, actress (Dawson's Creek, Yes Man, NCIS)

Who's On What Tonight: Your Guide to Late-Night TV
CONAN: NO EPISODE
LETTERMAN: Arrested Development's Will Arnett, musician Kurt Vile
KIMMEL: The Voice's Adam Levine, Star Trek Into Darkness' Alice Eve, music group Bad Rabbits
LENO: Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the winner of American Idol
FALLON: Star Trek Into Darkness' Zoe Saldana, Family Tree's Chris O'Dowd, hip hop group De La Soul
FERGUSON: Priceline's William Shatner

In Theaters This Weekend
Star Trek Into Darkness: Can the sequel to JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot capture the magic that made the last one so successful? And who exactly is Benedict Cumberbatch playing?

Seth Meyers Will Return as 'SNL' 'Weekend Update' Host for First Half of Next Season

It looks like Bill Hader might be the only one leaving Saturday Night Live after this weekend's episode. With Seth Meyers taking over Late Night in February, it was assuming that the head writer and Weekend Update host would also call it an SNL career after this Saturday, but according to a Vulture report, Meyers will stick around for the first half of the season before departing to focus on Late Night.

"I'm nowhere near emotionally ready for Saturday to be my last show. I wouldn't be able to handle that."

Meyers staying on board for a few for months should help ease the transition over at SNL. In addition to Hader, Lorne Michaels could also lose Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen. To lose Meyers at the same time would have forced the show to find a new head writer and a Weekend Update anchor too.