UPDATED: 'Trek' Selling Fast

THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: As of 6 a.m. PT, Star Trek is responsible for 91% of Fandango.com's sales. The film is still outpacing X-Men Origins: Wolverine at the same point in the sales cycle.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: As of 1 p.m. PT, MovieTickets.com is reporting that Star Trek is responsible for 83% of daily sales.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: As of 2 p.m. PT, MovieTickets.com is reporting that Star Trek is responsible for 75% of today's sales. In addition, the ticketing site has tallied 344 sold-out showings so far.

TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE : The summer movie season is now in full swing, and this weekend Star Trek will try to tap into the lucrative theatrical landscape.

While Star Trek is definitely one of the most successful commercial properties of all time, its popularity has tapered off considerably this decade. The last Trek film to hit theatres was 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, which failed to make a real dent at the box office with a mediocre domestic haul of $43.1 million ($52.6 million when adjusted for inflation).

Now, with director J.J. Abrams ( Mission: Impossible 3, Lost ) at the helm and a fresh, young cast, it's safe to say that 2009's Trek will make more money during its opening weekend than Nemesis did during its entire theatrical run. A new generation of Trekkies will be born this weekend.

"I think it's the right time," says Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Carmike Cinemas when asked about the prospects of a franchise reboot.

"We've had managers go in and kind of monitor crowd reactions after the Star Trek trailer ran and there is a lot of buzz," adds Hurst.

Early online sales for the film are certainly promising as die-hard fans are beginning to scoop up tickets in anticipation of long lines and sold-out shows. The film will begin playing for mainstream audiences this coming Thursday at 7 p.m., which means that Trekkies won't have to wait for the traditional midnight screenings.

As of 9 a.m. PT on Tuesday, Fandango.com is reporting over 100 sold-out showings and the film is currently responsible for 81% of the ticketing site's daily sales. Trek is also slightly outpacing both Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and 2007's Transformers at the same point in the sales cycle on Fandango. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that Star Trek will eclipse the $100.1 million opening weekend domestic gross of Crystal Skull or even the $70.5 million debut haul ($73.5 million when adjusted for inflation) of Transformers. Trek fans are a very loyal bunch, and their loyalty is likely to be the biggest factor pushing such strong early sales.

IMAX theatres in particular are experiencing a rush of interest since showings are selling out in such major cities as San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago and Seattle. While the most recent official number of sold out IMAX showings is 16, that will certainly increase as the week progresses. As of 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday, MovieTickets.com is reporting that 44% of Star Trek tickets they've sold are for IMAX screenings.

Check back here for more updates about Star Trek 's early sales.