Star Trek #1 At Box Office Again + New Interviews + Pine’s Paparazzi May 18, 2009
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Great Links, Star Trek (2009 film) , trackback
Star Trek was the number one movie until Angels & Demons opened on Friday, but it turns out, since then it has gone back to being number one. We have details on the latest box office plus some interviews with Trek’s creature designer along with JJ Abrams and the crew. Plus it looks like Chris Pine has moved into the realm of being a paparazzi-hounded celebrity.
Box Office Weekend Update: Star Trek wins Sunday
Yesterday we reported that domestic box office estimates had Star Trek coming in a close second to Angels & Demons for the weekend and now the actual numbers show it was closer than expected (with Angels & Demons numbers being revised down to $46.2M vs. $43M for Star Trek). Even more interesting is that Star Trek was the number one movie on Sunday with $13.0M vs. A&D’s $12.1M. This is the second #1 spot in a row, and Star Trek has won nine out of the last ten days (domestically). As of yesterday Star Trek had brought in $215.4M globally.
Trek breaks another IMAX record – but run ends this week
Also after breaking the biggest 1st weekend IMAX record the previous weekend, Star Trek broke the 2nd weekend record. But remember that Star Trek has a limited two-week run at IMAX, so you only a a few more days to catch it on the big big screen. Box Office Mojo has the details:
Slowing 43 percent, Star Trek effectively had the best second weekend hold for a Star Trek movie since Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and it had a smaller decline than Iron Man last year. The IMAX portion of its gross was down 27 percent to $5.3 million at 138 sites, which was a record second weekend for the format, beating The Dark Knight’s $4.7 million. The IMAX tally is $17.6 million, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the overall total. Starting May 22, Star Trek is scheduled to relinquish its IMAX screens to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
Creature Designer Talks ‘Big Red’
In an interview in the latest VFX World, Star Trek creature designer Neville Page goes into great detail about the Polarilla and the ‘Big Red’ monsters from Delta Vega, including showing off some design sketches. Page specifically commented about some of the objections to the creature:
BD: What about some of the objections to Big Red?
NP: Yeah, there were some online complaints that it’s such a vulnerable animal: it has no hair, it makes no sense that it would be on an ice planet. And it’s red, which doesn’t make sense in the snow. I think the vocal people tend to be pessimistic to begin with about these things. My attitude is that, having spent a lot of time looking at nature, I’m reminded of the age old adage, “The more you know, the less you know.” And the more you know about nature, the crazier stuff gets that you never thought would work, like the angler fish. When it mates, it mates for life and the male gets stuck in the female body and just dangles off her side for the rest of his life. And I guess there are some parallels to the human marriage. But the idea that there is a physical union in that way is just crazy. And there are certain seals that will invert the nasal passage on the outside of their head and then inflate it like a balloon and then wag it about while moaning to create a unique sound as a call, whether it’s a threat display or sexual dimorphism, is absolutely nuts. If I had done that to a creature, without seeing the real video footage, people would’ve thought that was the stupidest… idea. But nature continually does things that make sense for whatever the purpose is. So you could almost do anything and get away with it from a biological standpoint. But the most important thing is, regardless of whether it’s real or not, that the audience at least feels that it’s real. So that was the intent. Combined with ILM’s skill of animation and digital rendering, I think we have something that’s pretty successful.
One of Page’s sketches for the Delta Vega ‘big red’ lobster monster
Chris Pine is officially a ‘Celebrity’
Back before the Star Trek movie came out, Chris Pine, the new Captain Kirk, was named a star of tomorrow. Well tomorrow is today if you judge by the celebirty news sites. In the last few days Pine has been all over the sites, the guy literally can’t go out for coffee. Firstly it was news for Extra & Perez Hilton that Pine was spotted with Hills Star Aurdina Partridge. And then Pine went out for a jog over the weekend shirtless and paparazzi took photos with coverage at: PerezHilton, Celebrity-Gossip, JustJared,
Elites.TV, & LimelightPics. To prove that Pine has ‘made it’ in the world of celebrity Gossip, PerezHilton.com even has a Chris Pine Category.
Pine is latest obsession of the paparazzi
Video Interviews
We are trying to catch up on some video interviews…so here goes
Pine, Quinto, Abrams, Cho, Yelchin, Bana w/ MTV
Pine & Quinto w/ Actors Lounge
Urban & Saldana with Actors lounge
JJ Abrams w/ Little White Lies
JJ Abrams Exclusive Star Trek Interview
More from Abrams at LittleWhiteLies.
John Cho w/ MTV Iggy
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Comments»
I knew Angels and Demons wouldn’t be up to the task of putting Trek down for long!
Trek’s Number one, baby!
2 weeks in a row woooooooooooo!
Evolution can make some strange things…. why not Big Red too?
Hold on Cho-You THINK it’s the eleventh movie?????
How in the hell can you THINK that….
IT BLOODY WELL IS!!!!
Thank You.
BTW, I did my math after checking inflation figures at BoxOfficeMojo.com and ST09 needs to do over $219mm to break the tickets sales record of ST:TMP. It’s starting to look like that will be a breeze!
Captain Kirk reads the New York Times? I always pegged him as Wall Street Journal kind of guy. Stupid reboot.
Don’t you mean “Tomorrow is Yesterday” :)
One more real challenger to go.
A&D was not going to survive ahead Star Trek long term. The real test will be Terminator Salvation. Although I could care less about A&D other than the fact that Hanks is in it. Terminator however I will be seeing opening weekend. But only once.
IMDB ratings
Star Trek 8.5
A&D 7.0
Wolverine 6.8
NEVILLE PAGE SAID: “I think the vocal people tend to be pessimistic to begin with about these things. My attitude is that, having spent a lot of time looking at nature, I’m reminded of the age old adage, “The more you know, the less you know.”
I love how he dismisses anybody who criticizes him is simply an inherently unhappy person, rather than to actually answer the question. He simply goes into a lot a vagary about how nature does all of these wacky things you’d never expect, BUT NEVER GIVES AN EXAMPLE of what he based the creature on.
All he and anyone has to say to justify any of their designs is, “because we thought it looked cool”. Seriously. This is FICTION. Films take dramatic license all the time and that’s all that was done here. But to insult those who question his choices as somehow unworthy of response, is really unacceptable.
He’s not insulting anybody. What he’s saying is that many of the most outspoken critics have started out with an already negative slant.
After reading the posts at this site over the past several months, that’s not an entirely unjustified assessment. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to say so.
Looks like Trek has Phasered Angels and Demons to the Neitherworld. Trek number one for 2 weeks. Khannnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with #10 RD…
This is fiction and the fact that he never gives a direct example is damaging…
However…as a professional biologist, I have to say that “Big Red” is in fact a natural plausibility even on a very white, snow covered planet. The Polarilla had white fur and apparently lived on the surface…. Big Red on the other hand has no fur and is obviously red…however, from what I can tell and I have seen the movie 3 times is that, Big Red erupted out of the liquid water beneath the surface, through an ice sheet, and then was on the surface. Now, let me think….even before I got my Ph.D. I knew of a place where the fact that some sea creatures are red was well known….now what was that….oh, I know… it is Red Lobster.
Lobsters live under the water, they have red carapaces with no fur, and, oh yeah, they can survive out of the water…
So, when I saw the film the very first time…no wait…scratch that….when I saw Big Red in the previews erupting though an ice sheet to eat the big white gorilla-bear-thing, I instantly thought…. “Red Lobster now has an army…”
I think that the Fx on the Monsters was fantastic and as a hard core fan i can find no fault in everything that he did on the monsters. it looked very real and very threatning to one James T Kirk and the acting that Pine did made it even more convincing and real.
10. RD
I don’t think he was insulting anyone. I think he was, merely, stating the truth. Its true that most of the people who become unhappy about little things are pessimistic. Sure, there are those who are just pointing out a criticism, but they amount to some, not the majority.
However, yeah, it does come off a bit as though “the critics are wrong because they’re critics” sort of deal. Although I don’t think this was the intent. I suggest you not get too bent out of shape over little comments.
JJ Abrams w/ Little White Lies video:
Ummm, I may be a huge perve for saying this, but if you look at the beginning of that video, where there is the blue screen and all of the sillouettes of Star Trek ships, did you also notice there are sillouettes for a variety of sexual pleasure devices as well? Hmmmm, not what I would expect to see in a Star Trek interview. I had to do a double take. I was like “Hey, I got my girlfriend one of those once!”
#15, Let me put it another way. I’m in 5th grade art class. I’ve learned my primary colors. The teacher shows me an impressionist painting in which the sun is blue. I ask, “why isn’t the sun yellow like it’s supposed to be”? And the teacher responds with: “you are so pessimistic for asking that question, why are you so negative?”.
Here’s a guy who has studied advanced biology – and let’s face it, every high school student does not graduate with an understanding of the diversity of biology that would allow such a creature – who responds, not with his insight about what he’s learned but by instantly calling his critics pessimistic.
And com’on Gov, you’ve been one of the harshest critics of my “little comments”. ;-)
#13, I’m unfamiliar with the “Arctic Lobster” ;-)
@ 10 – Eeeerm, well what he is actually saying is A) people who are vocal tend to be pessimitic to begin with, ie the initially fear change and complain before rational thought takes over…which is a pretty valid assessment based on most of the posts on this site. B) he actually gave several examples of ‘craziness’ in the wild which he used to justify the ‘craziness’ of big red, he gives no examples of the design basis for big red because he doesn’t have to, thats not his arguement, he is counter arguing! C) I realllly don’t think he has insulted anyone actually, that seems to me like you’re a little tetchy and D) he actually did make a response…hence this discussion, so that pretty effectively negates ur arguement that he views people as unworth of a response!
I really wish someone else would jump in and be the voice of reason around here too! Everyone seems so pent up and tetchy about everything!
Big Red probably ate red matter for breakfast…and that’s why he doesn’t have any fur. That accounts for his anger management problems, fur sure. Needs to hang out with Mugato.
Chris Pine’s life as an anonymous Hollywood journeyman is o-v-e-r.
#18, is that what he’s actually saying, or is that what you are actually inferring? So you think I am wrong about him being insulting and your method to correct that perspective is to insult me? ;-)
11.
Agreed. From what I’ve seen, the only people complaining about the ice planet creature are those who have a problem with just about EVERYTHING in the movie. lol
Personally I thought it was a bit of an outrageous design, but from a alien biology standpoint it seemed plausible enough.
#12. “Looks like Trek has Phasered Angels and Demons to the Neitherworld. Trek number one for 2 weeks. Khannnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
HERE WE GO AGAIN. Just a little perspective please. Trek is doing extremely well and yes it’s exciting that it did so well against A&D domestically. But there’s more to the world than just the USA and the studio is concerned about it as well. In worldwide box-office, A&D did in one weekend what it took Trek two weekends to do. A&D did significantly better than Trek worldwide and it will likely continue to do moderate box office for an extended run, whether you personally like the movie or not. If it follows the A&D pattern it may earn over half a billion dollars worldwide, which is a more questionable proposition for Trek, though not impossible. But, Trek has already proven its worth, at least domestically and that’s enough to keep it going. What more could a fan ask for from a moribund franchise?
#22.. you want to talk outrageous, impossible design (oops, we said design, can’t do that or someone might infer a Designer and that’s taboo), let’s talk the Platypus. You couldn’t make stuff like that up and have anyone believe it.
#12
“Khannnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
LMAO – I love it when posters shout that
#22, since when does “critical” = “pessimistic”?
Filmakers sure love critics when they praise their movies, but are quick to dismiss them when they don’t.
Some of the silhouettes from the Little White Lies video are ships from the FASA RPG. Nice touch!
I think the Delta Vega “polarilla” and “Big Red” were fantastic. How many times in Trekdom has such an exciting scene been portrayed in Trek? We’ve had the Mugatu v. Kirk, Sehlat v. Archer & T’Pol, and Tribbles v. Klingons. IMHO, none of these have been quite as adrenaline pumping as what we’ve seen in the new movie. The creature designs were great. We need to be glad we were treated to this, and I hope we see more strange new life-forms in future movies.
LL&P
Wow, I have to agree that people are way too touchy. On the “Ask Orci a question” thread, people are demanding answers and saying things like “You can’t do that!”
All of the people that created this particular movie are artists. They made their choices – for better or worse in the eyes of their critics. They don’t OWE anyone an answer. We can like their choices or not like them, but lighten up. Art doesn’t always need an explanation. Use your imagination and interpret it yourself.
To me, the most glaring example is the “Where is Delta Vega – Vulcan has no moons – How could Spock see the destruction of Vulcan and not be destroyed himself?” argument. When I saw this scene in, I immediately interpreted it to be Kirk’s attempt to visually interpret what Spock Prime was feeling. That worked for me. Because I was engaged in the adventure, anything else I couldn’t immediately understand allowed me to use my imagination to fill in the blanks. It’s art and it’s fiction; why do I need every bit of data spelled out for me?
I have only seen one perfect movie in my lifetime (The Godfather). This Star Trek movie isn’t perfect. It IS a great adventure and great fun and I can’t wait to see the next one.
I’m just constantly amazed at the lack of civility on this website, the weird sense of entitlement some people have and how thin-skinned some people are.
Oh well, I’m off my soapbox. Bring on the sequel.
Whatsit they call such freaks of nature? “Black swans”? I.e., something no one predicted (or could even conceive of predicting) until it was discovered — and shattered the paradigm.
Seems to me that’s at the heart of Trekdom.
DVD REALESE!?!?!
As a 14 yr old girl with anti-trek friends, and a mom that will not let her go alone to star trek more than 3 times, I really want to know. No doubt it will be in time for holiday shoppers.
SEQUEL
Any info leaked yet?
Trek seems to be all lined up for this, even the leaders are already in.
16. Brad – May 18, 2009
JJ Abrams w/ Little White Lies video:
“Ummm, I may be a huge perve for saying this…”
I looked at that… and it seems you are. You read a lot into those ship silhouettes. Whew.
RD…. I can’t admit to reading the posts as much as I used to… but dam, bud… if the attitude of the alien lobster creator p*sses you off so much why you bothering to be here? I saw a couple other RD posts…. what DOES make you happy in this nuTrek?
31. CTG, You give me hope for the future. If Star Trek appeals to 14-year-old girls, then we’re in good shape.
HEY STANKY…
What did you think?
a quick point for the european end of the international take, Terminator doesn’t open here till the 6th of June so Treks pretty much got a free reign of around a month as the only blockbuster (well bar Angels and Demons but whose counting that?) released in that time…
I’m not complaining about the BIG RED monster. In fact, my soda bloated bladder THANKS big red for giving me the perfect bathroom break opprotunity. ;-) Sorry, but I think that sequence is the weakest part of the whole movie. IMHO, of course. :-D
#But to insult those who question his choices as somehow unworthy of response, is really unacceptable.
I feel like he just put those types of people in their place, as well he should. So many people like to spout off and arm chair quarterback about things they have little knowledge of. His point about the weirdness of nature and how uninformed opinions would look at such things as ridiculous or silly is right on target.
#36
Agreed. I have no beef with the creatures (evolutionary or design wise), but that scene did nothing for me as an audience.
I remember back in 1979 I had just graduated from High Scool the year before. I was still addicted to computers from school (all they had was printed paper Teletypes and 1200 baud modems, and CompuServe was becoming big with the then huge 250,000 users.
They had Topics Forums areas, The big word in the SCi-Fi forum was Star Trek (TMP the first movie) lloked good in the big screen but the witters eyes were so out of focus they could not see what weak stuff they were witting.
Could you imagine what the world would be like today if JJ had made the first movie, and how big Star Trek would be in the world today. and back then if a 14 year old young lady even glanced at the topic of SCI-FI her parents would have been shipping her off to at least summer camps if not girls private schools to only think how to become the perfect wife, or at least how to make beautiful dinners.
How times and Entertainment has changed. And it is a good thing that young ladies can think freely for her self and not need to become a addict to making her man’s life better. One day she will become an Adult with a free open mind that can change the World. Who knows possible as much as James Tiberius Kirk has been able to in the the Sci-Fi future.
31. I’m certain that it will happen. I do not remember where I read it or heard it (it may have been from this site) but rumors has it that the writers are already working on the screenplay for the next one.
#32 so, if the attitude of the President of the USA whom I did not vote for upsets me I should move to another country?
What makes me exceptionally happy about this movie is that for all practical purposes it is a complete REBOOT, which eradicates all of the canon that was killing the franchise. As a side benefit, it most likely means TNG, DS9 & VOY never happen in this universe. Oh and it was a lot of fun.
#37 so, if someone else has less education that you do, your advice is to attack them simply because you are more informed?
#13: “….even before I got my Ph.D. I knew of a place where the fact that some sea creatures are red was well known….now what was that….oh, I know… it is Red Lobster.”
Plus they have butter sauce. But are you suggesting that “Big Red” was actually cooked to the boiling point prior to chasing Kirk?
It would make sense for Spock to hang out with lobster monsters, though; they both have copper-based blood :)
I really enjoyed the design of the creature. Another reason why BIG RED looked so good was because of Pine’s great reaction to it, plus Giacchino’s excellent music gave the whole scene a “1950’s sci-fi” feeling. I think it was exactly what TOS would have done if they’d had the money, or if Star Trek was made into a movie back in the 60’s(complete with Ray Harryhausen animating of course)
: )
You know, if nature can produce the duck-billed platypus, it can produce Big Red.
End of story.
I honestly think a lot of the complainers are unhappy that Star Trek has been a success, because it isn’t what they would have done. That’s a very selfish and short-sided way of looking at things.
I’ve updated my poster of all the Star Trek ships, if anybody is interested. I’ve put in the ships from the new movie, with the new Enterprise front and center. Here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jibbyimages/3524838284/
#44 that’s a nice bit of specious reasoning. But it does wrap up nature nicely for scientists. Hopefully someone is cutting all funding for evolutionary biology as I type this …
#41 “#37 so, if someone else has less education that you do, your advice is to attack them simply because you are more informed?”
IF that’s the only way to get them to face the reality that they really don’t know everything, then yes. Often people don’t realize that they are wrong until they are proven wrong. It’s not so much an attack as it is setting the record straight. Misinformation shouldn’t be allowed to perpetuate, no matter how educated the messenger is.
@ 42:
True…Spock and Lobsters would make good friends…. Spock could even lead an army of large lobster monsters into war and if they were hit, he could give them a transfusion (provided they were also T-negative with some human components).
@ 17:
RD,
First off…let me use your answer of THIS IS FICTION to address the lack of an Arctic Lobster…however, unless Earth has now turned into Delta Vega, different conditions could apply. Also, the size of Big Red should be taken into consideration. Lobsters don’t grow to larger than man size on Earth, but on this supposed frozen moon of Vulcan, they might…
Very satisfying indeed to see Trek doing so well.
Congratulations again to all involved in the production of this fine movie.
crazy trek girl-I have only seen the movie 3 times as well but being 53 no one cares what i do so i plan on seeing it again this time with my 83 yr ole mom and 90 yr old dad! Where do you live u could go with us we could provide security in case yer parents are afraid nerd monsters might get ya heheh
I’m hungry… where’s Kirk?
Yeeeeessss!!! Star Trek forever!!!! :-))
So… I hate to be the pessimist of the bunch (don’t jump on me, I loved the movie, I’ve seen it four times!) but I’m pretty sure Trek was the #2 movie this weekend. A&D ended up grossing like 3 or 4 more million total for the weekend, and while Trek still came out on top 2 of the 3 days, it still ended up being number two at the box office. For the weekend. Still number one in badassness though. And amazingness. And in my heart.
Question: Why does everyone assume that Spock Prime SAW the destruction of Vulcan from Delta Vega and not saw it before his inner eye as an echo of what those saw that managed to escape from the planet in time? I saw complaints here at TrekMovie that the writers messed up canon when they didn’t acknowledge Spock’s reaction to the destruction of the all Vulcan ship in Immunity Syndrome. Maybe, albeit, in another form, that is exactly what they were aiming at – Spock getting and feeling it all first hand through the connection every Vulcan seems to share. What sense would it make for Nero to maroon Spock on Delta Vega without that knowledge? He left Spock as far as he could away from Vulcan to maximize his helplessness. I think that knowledge was a very important ingredient to the cruelty he wanted to inflict on Spock Prime.
Hmmm…. saw it again today in a nearly empty theater at 4pm. Hope that’s not a bad sign.
I don’t think it held up as well upon 2nd viewing, either. Quinto was the weakest actor. Looks perfect, but says most lines with an suppressed angry antagonism that is most un-Vulcan. Nimoy was either cool, bemused, or vulnerable – none of that modern snapping-confrontational style that Quinto seems to have picked up from working in TV.
The parallel universe theory was NOT clear enough. I got it, but I have been reading this site for a while. Also omitted was even a throwaway line explaining how Nero has spent those 25 years waiting for Spock.
I found the idea of Spock ejecting Kirk from the ship preposterous, but THEN to find out that he manageed to maroon him on the same planet, several hundred feet from where Nero had just marooned Spock… well, that’s quite ridiculous, don’t you think?
The music was OK, but missed the opportunity to play some familiar strains at critical points. Remember the music that used to play over the “Captain’s Log” opening credits? That would have sounded good in a couple of spots.
A couple of scenes were groan-worthy wastes of time – the stupid-looking swollen hands symptom. The pointless “Scotty in the pipes” segment. Just juvenile.
Lastly, Nero’s motivation was perfunctory and explained entirely through exposition. No drama at all. You never felt his pain because you never saw him experience any.
Anyway, hope they get to work on the sequel soon and get more time to work the script without a Writer’s Strike locking it down like last time.
48-
Yes.
And there are plenty of crustaceans that have bright red shells while they’re still very much alive (Sally Lightfoot crabs for example). Who knows what might’ve evolved on Delta Vega.
The Delta Vega meeting — a) Kirk had been knocked out for awhile (hours?), Spock was on his way to the station, perhaps walking for hours or days, when he saw Kirk’s pod come down and walked to investigate. And just maybe, the Enterprise couldn’t go to warp until they escaped the gravity/distortions/omega3 fatty acids of the singularity… so they actually weren’t far away when the transwarp beaming happened, thus meaning a) could have been possible. And lets be charitable and say effects of the singularity magically threw off the course of the pod… and Spock had intended to send him down a little closer to help. That’s what I would write. Although, explain TOO much and more plot holes appear and 32 pages of further explanations are needed.
Wow, I’m really defensive of this movie. :)
And the irony is all that time travel and alternate reality nonsense was put into the movie in order to appease hardcore Trekkies. If this were a genuine reboot, then we wouldn’t need any of that extra baggage.
My thoughts on the old continuity?
Voyager, Enterprise, and especially the Pocket Books novels have screwed up “canon” so royally that it doesn’t really matter anymore. Half the stuff already contradicts the other half. The novels are worse offenders when it comes to contradicting each other. But the shows themselves weren’t terribly consistent. Voyager changed the rules on everything from warp drive to the nature of the Borg. Enterprise pretty much met every species we weren’t supposed to meet until the 23rd and 24th centuries. It was like they went out of their way to screw up the timeline. And I haven’t even gotten to that horrific Temporal Cold War stuff.
It really is time to turn the page on this mess. Not only am I in favor of a reboot, I think they should’ve gone even further.
Anyone complaining about the colour or hairyness of big red can choke on a nacelle.
Why the hell is a tiger ORANGE in a GREEN jungle??? How come they don’t starve to death? Oh that’s right! Its because their prey animals are colour blind so it does not matter what colour they are.
How can certain fish survive in the below freezing waters of the pole, oh that’s right, their blood has elements in that that creates a natural anti-freeze.
There are a million reasons big red could thrive on such a planet. It could be much faster than its natural prey animal, its prey animal could be colour blind, it might only spend brief periods on the surface etc etc etc.
Hell there is a fish at ultra low depth that has a red bio luminescent light on it. Because almost no other fish can see that colour of light, it gives them an incredible predator advantage.
The character designer does this for a living. He understands anything in nature can be explained. And you can BS an explanation for anything you draw off of that fact, so he just draw what looks awesome and biologically correct.
18- Very well said! (and good to see another UK poster)… Man alive, now it’s the red monster people want to bitch about… these folks need to grow up, or at least learn how to enjoy a great bit of fiction, without the need to pull it to bits! Grow up people. I really don;t get how these folks enjoy “anything”, if their mind set is to pull to bits and look at, and dis-prove things to such depth… isn’t the “FI” in Sci-Fi, “fiction”, and doesn’t fiction, sometimes require the engagement of “enjoyment and wonder”, not of logic, and nit picking…. constantly!
#60: My complaint about the big red monster is that the sequence was dumb, dull, gratuitious, and felt cut-and-pasted from the first Star Wars prequel.
So, cheer up. Some of us don’t care at all about the “science,” even if it’s fun to banter about.
#58: “Voyager, Enterprise, and especially the Pocket Books novels have screwed up “canon” so royally that it doesn’t really matter anymore”
In fairness, it’s impossible for the Pocket Books novels to screw up canon, since they have no effect on it.
So what do we know about big red?
Carnivorous
blind
hairless
clumsy
afraid of a little fire
he bounces
able to break through solid ice
orange
lives in freezing water but does ok out of water
has a face like a killer plant
anyone else? what did I miss?
.ok how many legs does he have, and out of all of you mathemeticians out there, has anyone yet determined his exact size?
we have all seen the movie multiple times, so describing him down to every last detail should be easy : )
61… erm I never said that… lol
Looks like they caught PIne on the toilet reading a newspaper….. uhhh……
I think that the biggest reason Star Trek has been loved for so long is because it is a world of honor, hope, cooperation and an overall positive outlook. If we want MORE movies and just more Star Trek then you would think that the fan base would display a focus on those attributes.
Nitpicking is fun, I love to figure out what the artists were thinking as with Big Red, but we can control our attitude and should when speaking with the talent! The typical Star Trek fan ideally would set an example to show how to look for the ” ok tell me what works and we’ll start from there” attitude, the up side ya know? be positive : )
58# and you still watch Trek….. why..
I knew we could do it!….2 weeks in a row…I wonder if Tom Hanks caused this himself…he is a big Trek fan!
200 mil is just around the corner…This weekend will be tough against T4 and Museum, but I know we can take a bite out of ‘em!
Make it so!! \V/
Perhaps the monster was made red to make up for the fact they didn’t put a red sky on Vulcan…
Uh, I hate paparazzi. Poor Chris Pine.
And poor Zach Quinto, who’s been followed too. I just hope they don’t pigeonhole those guys as “random heart throb of the week”, they deserve more. The movie was strong because of the acting, not because of good looks.
Anytime Chris Pine spots a photog or paparazzi, he should shout “Get a life” in his best/worst Shatner impression every time.
=A=
55. Odkin – May 19, 2009
Hmmm…. saw it again today in a nearly empty theater at 4pm. Hope that’s not a bad sign.
Um… 4pm? on a Monday?
I don’t know about you, but most people work till about that time, and like to go home, spend some time with their children, eat dinner, and THEN maybe go out to a movie if it is convenient… 4pm is not really a prime time for movies. At my local theater that is still Matinee price…
I thought lobsters didn’t turn red until they got boiled. That creature must be “steaming mad” at Kirk!
About the red in Big Red. Maybe it changes color when it’s on the attack? Looks to me that it lay in the surface ice and was camoflaged gray/white, ready to pounce on whatever happened by.
Things we don’t know:
1)Biology of the creature (or any life on Delta Vega)
2)Natural habitat of the creature-was it land based? aquatic in nature?
3)Food supply of the creature. Maybe the polarilla was too large for it to eat, even with the big mouth. Consider the whales that are plankton-eaters. Yes, it wrapped it’s tongue around Kirk…maybe SHE liked him.
4)Was it out to eat Kirk? Or, was it defending a nest?
5)Fear of fire: Hmm… heat source and bright light in the cave– Big Red wouldn’t know how to respond to these alien concepts. Fight or flight.
The unknowns here preclude any judgement as to whether or not Big Red could be real on an alien planet. Actually, to say it is impossible is the peak of ignorant, arrogant and Terra-centric assumption.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it is a make believe monster, from a film, based around make believe… I don’t wanna go into the ins and outs of it… just enjoy the bloody film!
38.
Agreed–the creatures are fine. I didn’t even pay attention to them since they are just filler to get kirk into the cave. The scene was a little ho-hum, mostly because i’ve seen that, I don’t know, a hundred times? Oh there’s a cave! I’m saved! Just when I was going to be gobbled up!
BUT
The scene worked great to get them together so I would pretty much have accepted anything that got me to the point where young kirk met old spock. I could’ve been just as happy with him wandering in there, or passing out and being found by Spock. Still a great scene. Saw it the second time last night–might see it again.
-P
Pine isn’t going to be able to pass a satisfying gas without some reporter recording it and posting the sound file as an excusive. Such is the price of fame and riches. I feel so sorry for him! :P
Also, it’s nice to have some creature diversity as opposed to a dog with a unicorn horn, even if they were a little boring in a action film retread scene. In a movie that I really liked.
After over 20 years of putting up with aliens who were little more than humans with rubber forehead appliances and “action sequences” on sets that were scarely bigger than my back yard, it was a breath of fresh air to see something with the scope of Kirk being chased by Big Red over such an expansive world. As to whether those monsters were scientifically plausible or not properly adapted to their environment, I couldn’t care less. It was a visually interesting and exciting scene, nicely rendered and with alien creatures that really looked alien. It was fun to look at, it advanced the plot, it got Kirk into the cave so he could meet Spock. It’s just a movie. It’s supposed to be entertainment, not Xenobiology 101.
Wow. Kirk can service my plasma conduit, warp shaft and ample nacelle (just one, like the Kelvin) for sure. But his stomach is NOT cannon. He needs to work on his pot belly to truly be kirk. LOL
I hope the paparazzi remembered to add lens flares!
I jest. Sorry, saw the movie again last night and had to turn away a couple of times due to overly bright and confusing (where is that light coming from! get that flashlight out of the lens sir!) lens flares.
Again, I jest.
Enjoyed it again, for the second time.
-P
I don’t know why you keep reporting that IMAX showings are limited to two weeks. I just bought tickets for a showing on May 30th at the Airbus IMAX Theater in Chantilly, VA.
#72—-”I thought lobsters didn’t turn red until they got boiled. That creature must be “steaming mad” at Kirk!”
Lol.
IMAX usually extend runs – when TDK came out it was for a limited time in IMAX yet it went on for longer than a limited time – Trek has made more in IMAX than even that movie so i doubt they’ll end it’s run entirely for Night at the Museum.
80. Yo, early Shatkirk was very fit. So the flat tummy IS canon.
84. Sorry, that was a response to 79, not 80. Sleep deprivation.
Not only was the creature inappropriate for an ice planet, the whole sequence was a digression from the plot of the film. But that’s entirely in keeping with the cliffhanger serial format of the previous Star Wars movies.
Except this is supposed to be a Star TREK film.
sorry if this has been asked before, but was it just me or did i see Kal Penn (John Cho’s buddy from harold & kumar movies) flash by one the screen for a 1 second cameo?
i could of sworn it was him, i think right after kirk and sulu get back from the drill
can you imagine how much more money this movie would’ve made if it was awesome?
#88 – We already have our answer as per this weekends gross. :)
#88—-”can you imagine how much more money this movie would’ve made if it was awesome?”
Critical success, financial success, record-setting IMAX ticket sales, bankable star-making, etc….
In what “alternate reality” does it not qualify as such???
Give me a break.
#86.”Not only was the creature inappropriate for an ice planet, ”
Not to be confrontational about a sci-fi movie based on a hypothetical future that goes to fantasy worlds, etc…
How many alien worlds have you studied xenobiology on? While on that topic, please tell me of the creatures that exist 5 miles deep in our oceans that shoot (literal) photon torpedoes at enemies to douse them with bioluminescent dye so that they become the prey… Don’t those fit into your knowledge of lifeforms? How about copper-based blooded hominids interbreeding with iron-based blooded hominids? Sure, that’s completely plausible, along with space amoeba, and flying parasite creatures and tribbles and green slave women…
Just curious.
(as it is known, I love Star Trek, and am fully aware that it is make-believe)
59. GIGGIDY WROTE: “The character designer does this for a living. He understands anything in nature can be explained. And you can BS an explanation for anything you draw off of that fact, so he just draw what looks awesome and biologically correct.”
Yes. And that is the point. This guy does this for a living. He is indirectly hired by the audiences who see his work by paying their hard earned dollars for films he has been hired to do in expectation of seeing the best. These people are NO DIFFERENT than actors or writers or directors. They are just as accountable. While I think Bob Orci is some kind of sadist subjecting himself to the ire and onslaught of the truly ridiculous questions posed by some on this forum, Page can choose to be insulated from this. However his response is right up there with Shatner’s “it’s just a show, get a life”. You can sure bet if Page showed his design to the executive producer who reacted similarly to the “uneducated” fans, he would have not spoken to him in the same manner. There is a middle ground here.
So when fans express their “ignorance” or even skepticism, perhaps even after having thought it through, that nature on any world would create such a beast, Page basically said “bugger-off”, not only are you people kiljoys, but you’re stupid too. Given how fortunate he is to have his job at all, his response should have been more appreciative and honest. Could the fans have asked a more polite question rather than criticizing him? Of course. But seriously Page makes some general sweeping assumptions in his answers that are unfair and unwarranted.
When Abrams’ stated goal in this movie is to make the movie more real, more immediate and more grounded to Earth, to suddenly throw a giant red creature into a snow world, is one of those “take-you-out-of-the-movie” moments. Does it bother everyone? No. But then, neither did Kirk’s meteoric rise to Captain. Does that mean that all those people criticizing the the writer’s for this major breach of military doctrine, are pessimistic too?
It’s dangerous to start down the road assuming that anybody who criticizes your work is a “loud-mouthed”, pessimistic, moron, who did not stop and think before they opened their mouth. The same behavior in political systems can eventually lead to dictatorial leaders who then have the means to silence the undeserving masses who don’t “appreciate” their contributions.
Frankly, I could care less what color the creature is. It vaguely occurred to me when I saw the scene that it didn’t seem to biologically fit, and so took me out of the movie for a bit, but then I thought it looked cool within the visual composition and all was well. What does bother me is I can see how a smart, quiet, optimistic person might wonder how such a creature came to be and what Page was thinking when he designed it.
I don’t know why TrekMovie didn’t post the link to the VFX article so I won’t do it here (you can Google it). However, Page DOES ANSWER the questions in the article. And even Page himself had a problem with some of the things Abrams asked him to do with the monster, admitting the color red was an aesthetic choice and that he really had to struggle with Abrams request for so many eyes. Why he would then attack his critical fans who expressed the same concerns is beyond me. The quote above almost seems chosen because it CAN be interpreted as inflammatory.
Box Office Mojo says “Star Trek” is going north of $250 million in the United States.
Went to see it (for the 4th time) Sunday and had a feeling when the first two showings sold out early that it was having a good day. Third showing sold out too. W00t!
Quick thanks for Trekmovie.com for keeping up with their awesome reporting! This site has become my daily “fix.”
…and now the 64K question- I think $250M is in the realm of imagination as a domestic gross, given it should stay top 5 until at least the 7/4 weekend.
Is $300,000,000 a posibility after that? I don’t know how much Paramount has thrown down the rathole in ad costs, but $280,000,000 would seem to be the domestic ‘break even’ point [2xbudget] without ad costs….
one of this really matters, there will be another; and thank you sir, may I have another?
Shatner’s Kirk was very very confident.
Pine’s Kirk is cocky and arrogant.
Shatner’s Kirk was in his 30’s.
Pine’s Kirk was 25.
If he doesn’t get himself killed, he’ll be just fine.
#95. I definitely think it is in the realm of imagination, but it is a long shot (and yes that’s a fair number for recouping Domestic costs).
Read the Domestic daily’s for yourself to calculate it out:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=startrek11.htm
Trek dropped by roughly 1/2 to 1/3 each Weekend day. It will definitely drop by more than that against Terminator. I would expect this weekday’s numbers to drop significantly over last week as well, though I could be surprised. Either way, it would have to do on average $5 mil/day for the next three weeks to hit $250 and once Terminator hits, that’s seems a bit of a stretch when compared to Wolverine’s performance against Trek, unless Terminator is an unqualified failure with no legs. So far Rotten Tomatoes has it at 20%, though Variety is as positive on this as it was Trek, so go figure. But by the end of Trek’s run, even if it’s daily average draws down to under $2 mil/day like Wolverine, hell yeah, by the end of Summer it’ll hit $250 mil thanks to its HUGE open. $300 mil? Only if nothing else worth seeing comes out this Summer. But who knows.
International still needs to hit about $140 mil and that might be doable too, though it’s slowing at a much faster rate. However, it won’t open until next weekend in many parts of Asia and then Mexico the week after. So again, who knows.
showbizdata.com reports that A&D did 4.77 and Trek did 4.60 Yesterday…. Thats a great hold for trek.
Big Red doesn’t have to worry about being big and red on a snowbound planet because (1) nature probably didn’t give it enough smarts to worry about such things (I’ll point to the instinctual fear of fire), (2) it buries itself under the snow for camouflage OR comes up from underwater (3) we have examples on Earth of creatures that thrive in hostile conditions, and (4) Neville’s point about the strange things nature can come up with should be enough reason and justification to keep anybody from sniffing at his response.
Plus, it’s a kind of scene we’ve never quite seen in STAR TREK before, and I’m somewhat ashamed that TREK hasn’t given us anything like this until now.
Oh, and the fact that it’s a sci-fi movie.
ST is now $152M domestically. So it has officially outdone First Contact, which also means that it made more money so far than any of the TNG movies adjusted. It still has the four original ST movies to beat though. Next will be TSFS, which it should surpass in some point this weekend ($163M adjusted). I still think the movie will end its run at around $250M. It should outdo TWOK ($192M adjusted) in week 4, then TVH ($212M adjusted) by week 5 and finally beat TMP ($240M adjusted) by week 7 or 8.
About breaking even, remember that Batman Begins costed $150M and made $372M worldwide. And from a franchise reboot point-of-view, it was considered a success, wasn’t it?
@101
The issue will be to what extent Paramount is going to, internally, spread the extraordinary advertising costs over any second (third?) films. IOW, “okay. We’re accepting a ‘loss’ attributable to advertising our renewed product:the franchise as a whole”, rather than this film having to recoup 100% of the ad costs, too.
$4,530,194 is what Box Office Mojo is saying…but that is a LOT better than Iron Man did on it’s 2nd Monday (11th day). Trek has legs, and mighty fine ones, at that!
Dudes, surely the new Trek film will have a global take in excess of $300 million? this will then cover promotion and cost of making the film. Plus a small profit.
But then you have the DVD’s, Blu-Rays, special editions, new formats and of course merchandise. Even Nemesis will make Paramount a shed load more cash than a lot of films that took more at the box office (cough…Maid in Manhatten).
I think I read that FX paid $25million for the TV rights!
I really enjoyed the film by the way.
This surely is the re-birth, Star Trek will be popular again!
That is the best interview I have seen with JJ regarding Star Trek. He shows respect to the fans. WOW.
I like it!!
#104. Sadly no. Principle and ad expenditures alone is over $300. The money is borrowed so there is interest which must be recouped as well and other intangibles such as studio overhead, before anybody begins skimming pure profit off the top. In addition Paramount must split all of its revenue with CBS as the merchandising and license holder and exclusive distributor of TV rights.
Just got the word from a friend who saw it that Terminator Salvation SUCKS.
If so, we have nothing to fear at the box office.
107. Dr. Image
Yeah, Terminator’s rotten tomatoes score is at something like 27%. That’s pretty bad. Sure, the movie hasn’t even come out yet, but early critic’s reviews are usually a good indication as to future scores.
#106
Just curious, where do you get your information and numbers from? And that the money is borrowed? And that intangibles aren’t included in any budget? Paramount owns the films and holds all the rights as far as merchandising, dvd sales, promotional tie-ins, etc. CBS/Paramount holds the rights to all the tv series’ as far as merchandising, etc., etc. Besides, Paramount and CBS/Paramount are all under the same umbrella. They eat from the same pie. “Paramount” is making money from this film. One thing that hasn’t been brought up is the revenue from product placement and tie-ins from Burger King, e-surance, etc. I’m sure it adds up to multiple millions………
Any way you slice the pie, profit is being made……..
Sorry, forgot to add Verizon as a company that paid money (I’m assuming millions) to jump on the gravy train.
BTW, sorry, but I think Terminator and Museum will rule the box office this weekend. Just a fact of life, not a judgement since I haven’t seen either and probably won’t. I look for Trek to have some legs though, much more than Wolverine or A&D. $25 – 30M?? Maybe. Hopefully Trek still shows some life by mid June, staying in the top 5, top ten at least.
#109 – the basic numbers quoted above come out of an LA Times article. Which information referring to? I work in the entertainment business, so a lot of it is exposure to the business model. No business spends its own money to produce a product, just like few people, even if they can afford it pay cash for a house. That’s what a stock market is all about. Studios are no different every film has a group of investors who must be paid back with interest (a built-in profit) before the studio takes any. Overhead has to do with things like paying the power bill for the studio that distributes the movie and is NOT built-into the budget. It also accounts for things like storing the sets, props and wardrobe which the studio owns after the movie is produced.
Which “umbrella” do you think CBS and Paramount?Viacom are under? They are two separately traded companies with a common majority stock holder. I never said Paramount wouldn’t get DVD. Where did you get the idea that Paramount got Merchandising? CBS holds the exclusive rights to licensing and merchandising because the own the underlying property (the TV series). Product placement IS merchandising. Either way, all of these things are complicated deals which is rarely a flat outlay of cash since everyone is reaping some reward from the product placement and cross-promotional merchandising. They do not eat from the same pie, they are competing companies to the extent that CBS is now making $50 million feature films staring Harrison Ford, so profit is not profit, it is divided up among many people, not all of which is the studio.
Besides the question I answered was will $300 million be enough to recoup the production budget and marketing and advertising and make a small profit and from what I’ve read and my understanding, it won’t. But I have no doubt that Trek will eventually recoup enough from all of the ancillary markets to make a profit, despite the fact Art Buchwald is still waiting for the incredibly popular “Coming to America” to earn a profit so he can finally get paid. ;-)
I would like to see that Variety article. Can you still find it and provide a link? That would be helpful for me to understand your position.
So you’re saying that Star Trek (the new movie) must pay the entire electric bill for Paramount Studios for one year, two years? What of their other films? Investors invest in the company (or the studio), not the film itself. So star Trek (the film) has to solely pay them back as well? Again, what of the other films Paramount has released? And I would guess that storage is handled under a general company (or studio) budget and is not based on a specific film. As of last year, Paramount owns the films and licensing/merchandising thereof. CBS owns the TV shows, and licensing/merchandise thereof. As I understand it, the split was intended to establish the films as a seperate entity within themselves, unattached to any of the TV series.
Is it just me or does Anton Yelchin sound a whole lot like Walter Koenig WITHOUT the accent?
#112 It was LA Times NOT Variety, don’t know how you confused that. I Googled it.
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/la-fi-ct-boxoffice11-2009may11,3,3372044.story
Not sure you how made the leap to take everything I wrote literally, or specifically to Trek. Of course Trek alone will not pay for the studio’s electric bill, but where do you think the studio gets its money to pay those bills? And storage must be paid for as well. Why even produce movies? Investors do invest in individual films, that’s what producers DO. People also invest in companies. And yes, the investors in the company get paid from profits, though they are not tied directly to films or given any guarantees like the investors in the films. Money does not grow on trees, it is loaned and loans come with price tags called interest. Where do you get your information? Perhaps a few links from you would me better understand your position.
Here’s another link the spells out that CBS is responsible for licensing and merchandising of the Trek franchise: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/15216.html
The split was over a lingering resentment between Les Moonves at CBS and Sumner Redstone at Viacom after the merger. Moonves wanted to take the TV assets and handle them as he saw fit without intervention from Viacom. It had nothing to do with Trek per se, the assets were divided along company lines and Parmount got the filmed assets which were based on the TV properties from which all rights stem, and CBS got those.
You might also find this link of interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchwald_v._Paramount
#112 This should help you better understand the complexities of studio film financing as well: http://www.slate.com/id/2117309
Google is a wonderful thing, assuming one didn’t get a degree in film production, which teaches these sorts of things. Then again Google is free.
TREK NUMBER ONE AGAIN!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA, I LOVE IT! That may be (partially) thanks to me :) I’ve seen it 5 times and I’m not finished yet!
#112 WROTE: “As of last year, Paramount owns the films and licensing/merchandising thereof. … to establish the films as a seperate entity within themselves, unattached to any of the TV series.”
THis article seems to contradict that. Odd that CBS Consumer Products is licensing the Franchise Merchandise if Paramount acquired the licensing and merchandising.
http://www.cbspressexpress.com/div.php/cbs_products/release?id=21564
Don’t get me wrong, loved the movie and took the whole family, but can I say that being a huge TOS fan (age 43), the old school- updated uniforms were fantastic BUT…
The academy uniforms were horrible and the worst, and I still can’t figure these out…were the Admirals uniforms. GOOD LORD, did the costume designer get a great deal on 10 bolts of wool? Jeez, I broke into asweat just watching these actors wear these stupid things. And people ridicule Enterprise??, ( a fantastic series by the way). It made them look even worse when Pike shows up sitting in my chair and actually payed homage to Kirks TMP uniform- stood ouot like a sore thumb.
Again, Batman Begins cost $150M and made $372M worldwide. The Dark Knight cost $185M, so it doesn’t look like Warner thought that $372M was a disappointment. Besides, how much money do those movies make on home video? I know that a movie like ST can easily sell 10M DVD/Bluray copies. How much in revenue is that? I suspect that is around $200M.
I bet a sequel is a sure thing, at a slightly higher budget.
And realistically, how much do you think Paramount was expecting ST to do?
I would much rather see a big red lobster creature, and even Scotty’s Jawa friend, than see Kirk, Spock and Bones sing around a campfire.
This movie was as good as any Star Trek movie made before it. And I have watched Trek SINCE IT BEGAN. Let’s face it, TMP had its moments, but it was BOring. TVH was fun, but very contrived, and it lacked one of the most important members of the series – The Enterprise. TFF was dreadful beyond measure, embarrassing for the cast and myself as a fan and viewer. TUC was tired and had so many plot holes I couldn’t take it seriously.
Generations had some great moments, and some especially fine moments of acting by Patrick Stewart, but the second half was dreadful. It was nice to see Shatner back, but his death was pitiful. Insurrection was little more than a serviceable TV plot, and Data had grown very annoying. And lastly, Nemesis was just plain awful.
So that leave only three good Trek Movies in my mind – TWOK, TSS and First Contact, with some nod toward TVH. And in my mind again, the new film, Star Trek, holds up against any of these films.
And I’ve never like anything J.J. Abrams has done in the past. I loathe Lost, Alias bored me, MI:III was forgettable and Fringe is just, well, just not my cup of Tronya.
They’re already ordered a sequel to Star Trek, and I can’t wait. I like this ship!
#119. Budgets go up automatically due to inflation alone. Though as has been pointed out numerous times in these threads, whether a film actually recoups 100% of its costs it irrelevant to the franchise as a whole. Trek has probably already earned enough to greenlight a sequel. What is being discussed here is whether the box office can recoup a film alone and what that would take. Ultimately the ancillary markets like books, CDs, TV, DVDs, video games, toys and other merchandising and licensing will be the factor in whether these films recoup and a strong box office helps determine how strong ancillary demand will be. Clearly FX has already made quite an optimistic bid for Trek’s success for domestic cable TV. But keep in mind, for all of these ancillary markets, you can’t simply look at each dollar earned as profit over box-office, no more than you can say every dollar earned at the box-office goes to recoup the studio’s costs – the theatre and distributor gets a cut too. As far as merchandising is concerned, everyone from the actors, to producers and other artists get a cut of every dollar. In addition, for every new media the film is exploited into a respective participant’s union residual is triggered that the studio must pay first. And of course out of all of the money left over, a portion of studio operating costs have to be paid for as well as project specific development costs and overhead. As far as the next film is concerned, a number of things can influence its budget. How well the film ultimately performs, how good the script is, are there budget factors that can increase the sequel’s box office, like hiring a particularly expensive actor. But the studio has the luxury of waiting to see how the film does before they commit to a particular budget and enter into development on a sequel. The fact they chose to spend over $150 million on a reboot of the franchise almost foretold the fact that they intended to make a sequel or two. Only Trek’s failure would have yanked the plug. But with both Abrams and Trek, this venture was hardly going to fail, it was only a question of how well it was going to succeed.
I gotta get to IMAX!!!
The IMAX run may be ending, but I just discovered that the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center (in Florida, naturally) will be showing the movie on their IMAX screen through the month of September. So if you miss it now and are planning on vacationing in Florida this summer, you’ll get another chance.
I’m going tomorrow.
JJ Abrams w/ Little White Lies ……video posted above
#32
There are distinctly 3 obvious “erotic” tools in the opening sequence, with a possible 4th (half way off the screen to the left). It appears that whoever did it needed shapes to fill the initial void and the starship designs left a few holes, so a few other shapes where inserted to fill in. Chalk it up as an obnoxious easter egg, if you will…
Then again, knowing how some of us get so worked up about the ships and such, maybe the analogy is fitting???
lol
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, even though I had some nits to pick. But they were minor in comparison to the fact that Star Trek is back in the mainstream.
To those who complain about the “Big Red” monster: Did you complain about the rock monster in Galaxy Quest? Was that too out-there to comprehend? Geez. Trek is no more “real” than Quest was. Let it go. It’s entertainment. Be entertained.
As far as box office is concerned, I don’t know that much about how the Hollywood financial world works, but I’d say if a movie that cost $150 million to make brought in well over $300 million, it’s a success regardless of whether it makes a profit.
Um, @118 – take a chill pill, dude. I don’t think the costumes were the worst part of this film by a long shot. Look at any military academy in the country – the cadets all wear stuff that, IMNSHO, makes them look stiff. And the markings on many of their uniforms are beyond ridiculous. However, the movie uniforms are no worse than those. The uniforms in “Enterprise” were nothing more than coveralls. Hell, fighter pilots today wear those as their uniforms (they call them “bags”) festooned with patches.
And I doubt those costumes were made out of wool.
(I wish I could
Disregard the last incomplete line. :-)
Rank
Year
Title
ADJ BO
ADJ Budget
Year
Studio
1
1
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
$1,332.5
$109.8
2003
NL
N/A
5
Star Trek: The Voyage Home
$257.4
$52.0
1986
Par.