Star Trek Now Top Domestic Grossing Film of 2009 (& #4 Globally) May 28, 2009
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: CBS/Paramount, Star Trek (2009 film) , trackback
The box office numbers for Wednesday are in, and as expected, Star Trek has passed Monsters vs. Aliens to be the top domestic grossing movie of 2009. Star Trek brought in $1.8M yesterday, bringing its total up to $194.8M domestically. It’s global total now stands at $286.8M.
Star Trek on the charts
Here are the top 5 films of 2009 so far (via BOM)
| 2009 movies (Domestic) | Gross ($Millions) |
| Star Trek | $194.8 |
| Monsters v. Aliens | $194.0 |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | $166.3 |
| Fast and Furious | $153.7 |
| Paul Blart: Mall Cop | $146.3 |
Although Trek’s tops the charts domestically, it remains in 4th place globally, due to other films outperforming it overseas (BOM). [note: overseas data is not as up to date as domestic data]
| 2009 movies (Global) | Gross ($Millions) |
| Monsters v. Aliens | $346.0 |
| Fast and Furious | $336.0 |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | $311.4 |
| Star Trek | $286.8 |
| Taken | $221.0 |
Star Trek is by far already the top grossing film in the franchise before adjusting for inflation, but it is also climbing to the top after adjusting for inflation. Here is where it stands right now (domestic).
| Star Trek franchise (domestic) | Inflation adjusted Gross ($Millions) |
| ST: The Motion Picture | $239.1 |
| ST IV: The Voyage Home | $212.3 |
| Star Trek | $194.8 |
| ST II: The Wrath of Khan | $192.3 |
| ST III: The Search For Spock | $163.2 |
| ST: First Contact | $149.5 |
| ST: Generations | $129.9 |
| ST: The Undiscovered Country | $127.7 |
| ST: Insurrection | $107.5 |
| ST: The Final Frontier | $94.0 |
| ST: Nemesis | $53.4 |
Star Trek will likely cross the $200M mark on Friday or Saturday, and end its fourth weekend with around $205-210M (passing Superman Returns and Batman Begins total domestic gross). After that it is anyone’s guess as to how far it can go domestically, but probably somewhere in the $225-$265 range by the time it leaves theaters (which probably wont be for 2-3 months).
It is harder to project international sales due to the difference in the various markets and release dates. It will be easier to make international projections when more data comes in, especially when we see how it does in Japan this weekend. However, with Viacom’s chief talking up the sequel, it is clear that Star Trek is already seen as a big success at Paramount.
Loading ...
Comments»
#1?? Suh-weet!
GRATZ!!!!
great!!!!!
This is just so freaking awesome!!! I’m so happy to see Star Trek do so well! Yahoo!!!
Wolverine is looking up in a daze, asking someone to jot down the license plate of that starship….
;-)
Well, this is what we all had hoped for. I mean, all of us who didn’t wish that it would fail miserably so that we could keep Star Trek in our little box and never let it escape. So that we could always say “Mine! All mine!”
Just wondering…not a criticism at all.
I wonder after all the marketing and paid promotion is done, how much was spent in total for this movie?
Just curious on how much of a percentage profit Paramount will see from this movie.
I like this film !!! It’s EXCITNG !!!!
The insane popularity of this film is an indicator of how far Terk has fallen from what it’s creator intended it to be. It seems to be a victim of it’s own mass appeal. Let us mourn for what it has become.
PSYCH!!!!!!
I remember some article that said Trek will earn half of the Wolverine’s money at best. Hahaha
What’s wrong with all those other dumb countries?
Wait a minute…
Here we are, almost halfway through 2009, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop is #5 domestically?? Oh lordy…
Seriously though, this is great news! Grats to all involved!
With foreign BO, this baby could rake in over $400m. Not bad for a ‘tired’ franchise!
#5
Oh and by the way Wolverine, that license plate number is NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, OR D!
#9. For that joke you get 24 hours in the Agoniser Booth. PSYCH!!! Way to go Trek. #1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is wonderful news. People are going to be lining up for the sequel, so let’s hope Bad Robot kicks it up a notch for part II, just as Trek did during its first cycle of films!
#14. You forgot to mention. U.S.S Enterprise. Thats what ran over him. Or did the Big E blast him with a volly of Phasers and Photon Torpedoes.
#14—”Oh and by the way Wolverine, that license plate number is NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, OR D!”
Lol. Nice.
Wow! Are there others who hoped that this might happen but were afraid they were taken in by what might have been hype?
Well said!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
6. THX-1138 – May 28, 2009
Well, this is what we all had hoped for. I mean, all of us who didn’t wish that it would fail miserably so that we could keep Star Trek in our little box and never let it escape. So that we could always say “Mine! All mine!”
#19. I havt to be honest. Im Bumbed. I thought Trek ould do much better. I thought it would make at least 500 million by now. Lol. Ok. I am so happy it has done so well. I am a little surprissed it has done so well. But Extremly pleased. Way to go Trek.
Given the circumstances and the competition, these are good numbers. We’re in the middle of a global recession. The studios are in for some difficult times. I don’t think Paramount itself expected to do this well.
12. Lyle – May 28, 2009
“Wait a minute…
Here we are, almost halfway through 2009, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop is #5 domestically?? Oh lordy…”
It’s one of those deceptive realities regarding begining-of-the-year numbers. Studios usually dump movies they have no hope of making money into the January/February wasteland — after the big Xmas movies. Typically audiences dwindle after the holiday. As a rule the studios all put out crap during this time. That means if people want to go see a movie at the begining of the year because, oh, I dunno, the economy is in the tank and everyone wants some kind of escape, they only have the crappiest movies to choose from. Of all the forgettable crap that came out during that time, a stupid sitcom-level comedy starring a former sitcom actor was the ‘best’ thing available for anyone to waste their money on. It’s not an indication that this total waste-of-time movie was any good, more that bummed-out Americans needed to be entertained and that load-of-crap movie was the lesser of several evils. These numbers are truly deceptive and you need to factor in the mental state of the average movie-goer who had very little options to choose from during the most dire days of the economic downturn. Believe me, “Paul Blart” will never be remembered. It was a quickee movie pumped out by a studio after hearing about the similar Seth Rogan project but wanted to beat them to the punch on the cheap. It’s why two or three comedies with similar themes/ideas come out simultaneously. They get pitched, the studios know the idea is a good one but decide to make their own version of the same premise cheaper and faster. I remember in I think it was 1988 there were three of those dad-and-his-teenage-son-switch-bodies comedies all out at virtually the same time (and now over 20 years later Zac Efron is making some studio a crap-load of money simply re-rehashing that Freaky Friday premise for the bazillionth time — same thing: crappy economy, people want to escape, studios ain’t got crap thanks to some writer’s strike last year).
YES! Go Trek! I expect you to be at the top at least until Transformers 2 opens. Don’t disappoint me! :-P
btw, the international box office numbers for Wolverine, MvA, Fast & Furious, and especially Taken are all out-of-date. I know Wolverine has already hit $320 million worldwide, don’t know how much MvA and Fast & Furious are off but neither have been updated on Box Office Mojo since May 3rd. Taken hasn’t been updated since April 5th!
14, 17, 18 — ROTFL!
From now on, they will be retiring that license plate.
Quoth Picard: “Let history never forget the name… ‘Enterprise.’”
And, as Kirk said (”The Ultimate Computer”):
“Do you know the one, ‘All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by…”‘You could feel the wind at your back, about you – the sounds of the sea beneath you. And even if you take away the wind and the water, it’s still the same. The ship is yours, you can feel her, and the stars are still there.”
Source:
http://tvsothertenpercent.tripod.com/startrek/kirk.html
22. JohnWA –
“Given the circumstances and the competition, these are good numbers. We’re in the middle of a global recession. The studios are in for some difficult times. I don’t think Paramount itself expected to do this well.”
Historically, studios (and the entertainment industry in general) do very well during economic crises. The biggest box office returns came during the Great Depression. No one wants to sit around and mope when the economy is down. They want to escape into a movie or tv show.
Fantastic, Star Trek will prosper for a long time
All it needed to be popular was to be dumbed down a little.
I loved the film, just watched Unification which had the great Leonard Nimoy init, a great episode.
This is the attention I have wanted Star Trek to have in the past, glad to see its getting it.
I only wish this was my all time fav Star Trek film.
Yep, there’s Nemesis at the bottom. That’s how you know it killed Star Trek
Still is surprising to see that TMP is still relatiely the watermark of the franchise for box office…
You Go Trek! Thanks Orci, JJ, Alex and all who made the new Trek the GREAT fun trek movie that it is, the perfect casting, the humor and heart of the characters we love, the EFX that blew us all away(better than Star Wars), the grand epic scope and excitement in the story, and a BIG THANKS to Anthony and Crew for Keeping us so well informed at trekmovie.com!!! Nuff Said! (Whos Nuff anyway?)
27. captain_neill – May 28, 2009
“Fantastic, Star Trek will prosper for a long time
All it needed to be popular was to be dumbed down a little.
I loved the film, just watched Unification which had the great Leonard Nimoy init, a great episode.”
That’s funny because at the time I felt Unification kind of dumbed Spock down a little! Now that I’ve seen the new movie I’ve really got to see dumbed-down Nimoy-Spock! Kidding! I’m just kidding! Seriously, though, let’s all hope there’s no writer’s strike again during the sequel’s scriptwriting phase and any fuzzing pseudo-science can be better addressed. Hey, Orci & Kurtzman, I don’t blame ya! You delivered a rousing movie I’ve already seen multiple times and gotten other folks to see as well! But let’s face it, the “supernova threatening the galaxy” dialogue definately needed a few more passes. Damn writer’s strike!
32-
Perhaps it wasn’t Spock that “dumbed down” Unification, but Sela’s brilliant plan to invade a planet of 6 billion Vulcans with one warbird, three unarmed antiquated transports, and 20,000 troops.
You delivered a great movie. Honest. I have seen it 4 times
I feel films in general are being dumbed down these days. I take it there would be no Briefing Room scenes in future movies as it would probably lose the MTV Generation but TOS had them as well.
#8 – that was… fresh
i think nemesis would hav done better if they didnt open against the two towers. go trek go.
Great numbers for Trek, however, it has been sliding all week and is currently #4 behind Angels & Demons (which is also sliding ut holding its own). What is great news is that Terminator is sliding by considerably more than Trek, so if you have only seen it 8 times, get out there and see it 10 or 12 times. Keep those numbers pushing the envelope!
Wednesday B.O.
1 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM $3,067,892
2 TERMINATOR SALVATION $2,855,248
3 ANGELS & DEMONS $1,943,357
4 STAR TREK $1,801,099
36. lt1701e – May 28, 2009
i think nemesis would hav done better if they didnt open against the two towers. go trek go.
. Actualy. it would have done better with a different writer and different Director and a much better script. otherwise i think i agree. Lol
$286.8 million???????
THIS IS A DISASTER!!!!!!!!!
Well, *somebody* had to say it… ;)
A great movie, and a great rebirth for the franchise.I really admire the “Pike” character.Hope to see more of him.Perhaps admiral of an expedtitionary fleet with Kirk, and the big “E” on point,leading the way???
Keep it going JJ!
53 million for nemesis? how unbelievebly embarrassing! on the box office side, I don’t think money for movie tickets was a factor even in this global ressession. you either like trek or you dont. The reason that TMP did so well was that all the trek fans showed up, once, and even twice. even though TMP put me to sleep (thanks to sulu’s sunday drivng over V’Ger) I was glad to see trek again!
36. lt1701e — Nemesis didn’t open against The Two Towers, it opened the week before it. You’re right, though, Two Towers may have taken a little bit of business away from Nemesis, but not much. It still woulda flopped.
I must confess I didn’t see Nemesis until it came out on DVD. It got really lousy reviews from both critics and fans. And I remember feeling fairly turned off by the idea of seeing another Final Frontier when a much better movie was playing.
Between Nemesis and The Lord of Rings…
Not much of a contest there.
Woo-hoo!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x136cl_celebration_dating
I like this film. Its exciting!
Anthony may I say again thank you — I visit this site daily (more than once) for two years — always good to see updates. You put a lot of work into this site–it is very appreciated by many.
Can anyone please explain to me the fascination with the moronic ‘Fast and the Furious’ movies?
Boldly going where no Star Trek Film has gone before. Kudos JJ Abrams.
Make the next Star Trek movie even better.
#44. I’m with you. Though I’m sure to invoke some ire, I think the biggest of Nemesis’ problems was Insurrection. That was the last Trek film I saw at a theatre until now, and like you I did see Lord of the Rings in the theatre. Insurrection was such a complete disappointment and waste of time for me, I cannot even remember what it was about. However, when I finally did see Nemesis on DVD, I was sorry I had not seen it in the theatre for the space shots. The only truly terrible thing about it for me was the pointless dune-buggy chase and the horrible Data/B4 sub-plot. Otherwise, it was classic TNG Trek. The fact its budget ended up double what they had been before First Contact didn’t help either. It certainly doesn’t have the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of all the Trek films and the major critical reviews are around the 50% mark. I don’t think its fair to say it was just a terrible script and that’s why it failed. There are clearly mitigating circumstances beyond the content alone.
Wow, despite my select issues with the film as far as intellect and cinematography, I’ve been waiting for this article to appear – and now that it has, it makes me smile. The world is a better place with Star Trek in it.
[...] a comment » Why Star Trek, of course. As of today, Trek became the highest grossing film of 2009 with a domestic total of [...]
YAYZ! Energize to the sequel…NOW!
the failure of nemesis had many factors, with the competition being only one. Poor marketing was another. I also believe big factor was Insurrection, which was disspointing to fans and mainstream moviegoers after STFC. After that fillm, many didn’t even bother with NEM. I think NEM was better than INS. Tenuto and I have debated the merits of INS. As much as I admire the late Micheal Piller, I feel he was not able to cross over and create a feature film, and instead made an interesting 2-part TV episode. And moviegoers want a MOVIE, and so they just threw in the towell on trek…until now.
When you get your Star Trek TNG bluray box set, there will be a special feature on each disk with me, Jeff Bond and Larry Nemecek chatting about each film. You can watch with interest to see me come up with nice things to say about INS! For my audio commentary with Damon Lindelof for STFC, there was no problem effusing, that is a fave for sure.
Dang… I’ve only seen it once!!!! Gotta get out there this weekend and catch up!
Jim & Robert
thank you for your thoughts. It is my pleasure to do TM, and of course lets not forget the valiant crew of John, Alex, Rob, Kayla, Russ, Matt, Chuck
Star Trek is a positive vibe for our future. People went to Trek over the ‘dark’ films that were around (Wolverine, Terminator). Only Monsters vs Aliens was a real contender.
Sign of the times?
55. Blowback – May 28, 2009
Dang… I’ve only seen it once!!!! Gotta get out there this weekend and catch up!
Only once!!!. Whats wrong with you. Lol. You havt to see this Movie at least 5 times. I have seen it 8 times so far. Tied my own record for Trek 2.
57: I agree whole heartedly, and you’ve made a great point. People want things that cheer them up, not doom and gloom to depress.
Yes, a sign of the times.
Hey Anthony. If you ever get to Austin let me know. Ill take you out for a drink. Thank you and your staff for an incredable site you have allowed us to come and talk Trek on. May you and your family Live Long and Prosper.
oh, Anthony. There was a LOT nice to say about Insurrection. There was such artistry to it, such beautiful locations as we never have seen in Star Trek before or since. The characters were there to a T (including the Riker who always seems to get into a life-or-death fight when he takes the conn). The story was complex enough, without a direct or obvious villain, to give you things to really talk about. I have friends who still engage in debates with me about whether the crew did the right or wrong things. That kind of uncertainty of principles in extreme situations is so masterful. Plus, the humour was great – second only to STXI. The music wasn’t as obvious as FC’s, and instead it served a purpose in creating moods, as good music should. Don’t draw attention to yourself Mr. Score, I always say. Meanwhile, the visual effects were a dream come true for me, as the lover of models that I am, because the effects here mimiced models instead of smoothing out and streamlining so that things begin to look fake. The lighting was right, too! None of the TNG movies ever got the lighting right except Insurrection (the worst being Generations).
I can’t say enough good about Insurrection. I know I’m in the minority. But I honest to God walked out of Insurrection feeling more satisfied than I had in many years. Until I watched TWOK again, it actually dethroned the King.
48:
Because they are trying to achieve warp speed on cars. :)
Didn´t you know that mere nitro speeds up a car so fast there´s light distortions?
T.’.
To the filmmakers; it appears your gamble has paid off; now, if you can come up with a ‘Dark Knight’ style sequel, we’ll be in serious artistic territory. Here are some episdoes from TOS that might provide story options, altered, of course, for the new timeline:
1. The Doomsday Machine
2. Balance of Terror
3. Space Seed (probably better for the 3rd installment, but what the hell)
4. Amok Time
5. Menagerie
Good luck.
T.’.
Great to see it is topz at the box office where it deserves.
I’ve seen all the major films so far this year and so far DAMN they All suck. Star Trek is clearly the best film of the year so far and that includes bad dramas trying to aim for an oscar push (they sucked too). This Trek film is by far not perfect but at least it was a fun ride and certainly didnt insult my intelligence as deliberately as Wolverine or Terminator Salvation had (come on SkyNet why kidnap Reese claiming to want to kill him to Win this war but yet keep Reese as hostage as bait for John Connor — that’s just Stupid writing…of course Star Trek still has the brain dead outline of a black hole that swallows the supernova but yet acts like a wormhole for time travel so like where’s the supernova it should be in the past too — it’s like gone now..for convenience .. uggh — but still trek was at least bearable).
Bring on Star Trek II(A)!!!
I can’t believe there are Star Trek fans that were fans long before Nemesis and refused to see that movie in a theater. It’s ST, “you gotta support your team!”
@ 63 Sorry dude…No Vulcan, no Amok Time. Hey…that makes me wonder, did T’Pring make it off planet? Stonn? T’Pau?
Btw although TMP has received a lot of heat over the decades i think when watched seriously it is a good film but needs serious editing. You can so tell that it is not for the mass market but for only hardcore sci-fi fans…Nice touch with the geekdom use of Voyager satelite returning home to its creator — the general public would not appreciate that cute science tidbit but i loved it.
One thing about the old trek films (1-6) is that they appreciated the Enterprise starship as part of the crew…so when you see it die (blowup like it in Trek 3) you feel hurt by it even though you could tell Harve Bennett (the exec producer who wrote part 3) was desperate to capture Nicolos Meyers brilliant Star Trek 2 writing by killing off a main character (in this case the enterprise).
Trek 2: WOK is by far the best writing and best of the Trek Films…It’s about a strong, smart villain that makes it work…Meyers has always been a clever writer, director in the same breath as James Cameron in his day. Fun fact…Harve Bennett had orignalyl written the script for Trek 2 but it was so corny (with Kirk fighting Khan with whips) that Paramount brought in a new writer who wrote the present day script of Trek 2 from scratch in 2 weeks…Benett and others wanted Meyers to take credit for Trek 2 writing at the time but Meyers didnt care and so it was left as Bennett being the writer (as seen in the film) despite Bennett having nothign to do with it except suggesting Khan be the villan…Meyers now regrets the decision since he is now only credited as a “uncredited screnwriter” despite writing the entire thing himself.
Trek 4: VH was written by Bennett and Nimoy and directed by Nimoy prior to his beginning his Hollywood hit-after-hit run as a popular director in the 80s directing very successful comedy movies. This film was very funny and deserved its sucecss. You had to love the characters and to this day still makes me laugh…very funny comedy.
Trek 6: TUC was written by Meyers and Nimoy with the idea of making it into a living Opera. Excellent writing and the fears of change…Interestingly the title “The Undiscovered Country” was the original name for “The Wrath of Khan”.
Regarding the question of the quality of (or lack thereof) Nemesis….I have to paraphrase the guys on Big Bang Theory. “Star Trek Nemesis is so bad it’s now the standard by which all other badness is measured.” (Sheldon and Raj were debating which movie was worse…Star Trek I or VI. HILL-arious!)
#66 … ROFL…God, Nemisis! No thank you. I respected and grew a fan of Trek during the TNG run…great, entertaining show especialyl when it started popping up in reruns on other channesl so i could catch earlier seasons…”Yesterday’s Enterprise” where Lt. Yarr is back on ship through an alternate universe but she has to be killed AGAIN to save things and she has this feeling of “i have to die..this sux”…The episode played out as a movie and only wished it was 2 hours long….Great music in it too for a change from the always talentless composer they had on that show (cant recall his name)…Goldsmith theme was the only thing descent most of the time.
The only trek films i’ve seen in theatres: Trek 2,4,6,Generations, First Contact and finally Star Trek 2009….Hated the Generations and first Contact and made me stop going to see trek films until the most recent trek. Also hated their tv spinoffs except TOS and TNG…and some episodes of Voyager, and DS9.
#69 – Nemsis and Insurrection are the worst of the bunch…even Trek 5 wasnt as bad. I personally feel Star Trek I and VI are very good films…but in terms of Trek 1 it needs seriously editing and try not to come off as trying to be too cerebral and slow as 2001 was trying because the public hates that…i love that kind of true sci-fi though so i liked the film.
Trek 1 had a BRILLIANT soundtrack if anyone is looking for something…
The best star trek sound tracks:
1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Jerry Goldsmith (9/10)
2. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan – James Horner (9/10) — u gotta here this
(Trek 3 rehashes alot of Trek 2 so i wont include it)
That is all for me…some nice tunes from Trek 6 (very operatic)
The rumor is that the new film cost about $150 million. I would not be surprised if advertising/marketing expenses were close to $100 million. That would put a rough break even point of $250 million. But I bet there are other expenses that need to be factored in. Hopefully the final gross will be at least $350 million worldwide.
It is great to see Star Trek back again! It was virtually dead and now it is back in the public psyche once more. J.J. Abrams and his team did it! (Although I could have done without the destruction of Vulcan)
On Wolverine getting hit by 1701.
Get up you worthless MAGGOT. Even Gummer Pyle would have gotten out of the way. Now lean over and choke yourself!
@30 I find it surprising too that STTMP is the highest attended movie in the series. I get the math but intuitively I can’t wrap my arms around it. I remember clearly that when the final box office was reported…there was a collective “meh!” from fans and Hollywood…especially in a time when Star Wars made over $300mm in late 70’s dollars. The idea/hope for a sequel was in serious jeopardy! (TWOK was even initially filmed with TV cameras because it was going to be a made-for-TV movie early in production!) So it’s surprising in that context that Paramount is already committed to another Trek film. I’m delighted of course but I sure hope ST09 blows right past $239mm.
KIRRRRRRRKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!
#72. The film will most likely not recoup from boxoffice alone. Few do. The current numbers being bandied about are these:
$140M+ budget
$150M marketing and distribution
$28M-$129M current theatre take (depending on each deal)
———————
$318M – $419M
The good news is this film is likely to do similar numbers in DVD sales and lucrative TV sales are already happening. I would also be curious to know how well toys and other merchandising is doing. The Book is doing terrifically. Plus much of the advertising dollars will be amortized against the next film and the franchise and distribution is mostly handled by Paramount as well.
#9– yes, the current success and mass market appeal is really not what gene Roddenberry and desilu and NBC were hoping for way back when. They were trying to produce a failure with limited appeal. They would be so disappointed to see their idea become a top grossing film.
Where do people get the idea that tv shows, movies, books, art, etc fail if they have mass appeal? This is one of the single most immature and unenlightened armchair-artist arguements there has ever been. It shows a true misunderstanding of what art is supposed to me: shared. Grow up.
ST09 already broke even, has been in the black for a while now
I like this news! It is exciting!
57-
Or maybe Americans just enjoy seeing San Francisco get wrecked.
#78 – FANTASTIC NEWS. DIRECT FROM PARAMOUNT!
#72 – Looks like all those numbers really were just rumors! It’s been all profit for a while now!
Which of these hyped movies is the biggest failure this year?
1. Wolverine
2. Terminator Salvation (best music score with Runs and Goses and Alice in Chains!)
3. Watchmen and the adventures of Dr. Manhattans *****
4. Angels and Demons
336 million globally for Fast and Furious proves that people ALL around the world are vacuous and stupid. America doesn’t have exclusive rights to idiocy after all.
.
1. Wolverine actually turned in a pretty nice profit. Its going to be way past 400 M worldwide when its all said and done. Definitely not a failure financially.
2. Terminator Salvation.. hard to guess. Depends how much it drops this weekend. Could be the one.
3. Watchmen.. made its money, I guess. Who would’ve thought it would even make it past 100 M.
4. Angels & Demons. Making HUGE money overseas. This is going to do pretty well.
Answers:? Terminator Salvation
@ 7. Well… 130 million is the budget for the movie. Where… 35 million was covered by SpyGlass Entertainment and the rest was between bad robot and paramount. Now…. Advertisement is probably 50 million dollars. So total costs and advertisement and movie budget is…. ~190 million. Now the movie has made around 300 million worldwide so far… So its in green numbers. Plus you can add MUCH MORE international dollars once more data comes in…. AND …. DVD/Blu-Ray sales and TV movie Rights….. thats another probably 50-60 million dollars…. its probably made 200-250 million dollar profit after dvd sales.
The point of the film was that it showed that destiny would still bring these characters together.
Remember the original Pike ended up in a wheel chair after a horrific accident. Destiny still put him in a wheel chair due to the centurian slugs latching onto the base of his brain.
Only this time without the horrible disfigurement.
I really like the subtle things like that. The Kelvin salt shaker that tells us that Kirk had grown up in the shadow of his fathers greatness and reputation in Iowa adding to the chip on his shoulder.
The power of Orci and Kurtzmans story telling is that they assume intelligence from their audience and so don’t have to spell everything out as they know people will get it.
Look at that inflation chart! The top FIVE Trek movies deals with TOS. If you include Generations, the top EIGHT OF ELEVEN Trek films were TOS!
Not that I have anything against TNG, but I think its pretty clear why the studio and the surpreme court wanted to go back to TOS. So please lets stop with the requests for another (yuck) TNG movie, DS9 movie, Voyager movie, and certainly not a Enterprise movie!
However, if these were straight to DVD titles or little side projects I wouldnt see the harm in them.
Oops I forgot the blip on the radar for TNG, First Contact!
Wow, a real first. A medical tricorder tied into a cell phone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjm9nQ5_bUk&feature=related
Apple has allowed the upcoming iPhone to be a powerful meducal device. Things are going to get exciting.
$195 million so far eh? I’ve happily contributed to this a few times, will likely again before it’s over. I’ve seen all movies from TUC – XI & am glad to see a Trek movie getting this much hype & making this much.
Wonder if the next one will have Star Trek in the title or go the route of Dark Knight.
#88, yes, all of those things you mentioned were pretty cool. They stood out for me in my first viewing of the movie and you’re right, part of their beauty was that they were subtle. The fact that Pike in the wheelchair meant he would probably never be in the position to have the bigger accident was one of the most wonderful moments in the movie for me…
BUT, Kirk lifting up the a salt shaker without the impact of the first scene and without Pike’s commentary moments before, would have lost meaning and would have required us to write into the movie those things. my point is, they have to give us a line to follow, or they’re just being lazy. Good Movies 101 says everything must be within the four corners of the movie. You call it an Easter Eggs if its found somewhere else on one page of some novel from back in the 90s…. and good movies aren’t made on Easter Eggs…
68.
I believe it is Jack Sowards who is credited with writing the screenplay, which was based upon a treatment written by Harve Bennett. Nicholas Meyer came in and re-wrote the script in 12 days, took no credit and no pay.
78:
Anthony:
“ST09 already broke even, has been in the black for a while now”
Is that including money due to theaters? And the Return on Investment to Spyglass? Is marketing included in the movie’s separate P&L, or is their a centralized Paramount budget which funds it? If the latter is the case, then the flick is in the black.
I continue to find this stuff interesting, but still elusive.
The Definitive Answer to the question of whether any Star Trek sequel should deal with any element of TNG et al was given in 1982:
Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner)
→ The last time Tap toured America, they where, uh, booked into 10,000 seat arenas, and 15,000 seat venues, and it seems that now, on their current tour they’re being booked into 1,200 seat arenas, 1,500 seat arenas, and uh I was just wondering, does this mean uh…the popularity of the group is waning?
Ian Faith (Tony Hendra)
→ Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no…no, no, not at all. I, I, I just think that the.. uh.. their appeal is becoming more selective.
ME: TNG’s appeal became quite selective, as did Tap’s.
Wildest expectations MET!
For me, the WOK worship is at an end. There’s a new “best in show” in town.
JJ- You had better direct the second movie, (and keep the lens flares, btw) ESPECIALLY now that this one is kicking all ass!
91
“The fact that Pike in the wheelchair meant he would probably never be in the position to have the bigger accident was one of the most wonderful moments in the movie for me… ”
There’s been speculation by Greenwood that he might get out of the wheelchair. IIRC Pike was disfigured after his time as Capt, he was overseeing Cadets or something…
#30: “Still is surprising to see that TMP is still relatiely the watermark of the franchise for box office…”
Frankly, I am not.
ST TMP is, in my opinion, the purest TREK, remaining truest to Mr. Roddenberry’s ideals, humanitarianism, intellectualism, and while far from the most exciting TREK to the silver screen, it is epic in ways none of the others have been.
That said, ST09 is probably the most exciting of the flicks, TWOK coming incredibly close.
Now if Mr. Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof can just strike a balance between the two, we will have a truly extraordinary film… here’s hoping for that dream in the next film.
I really enjoy seeing ST: Nemesis as the bottom of lists :)
#61: I am with you there, cagmar.
I give “Insurrection” a far better shake than do most fans. To me, It was a great morality tale, something I don’t think the NEXT GEN films have done very well. Yeah, it had some lows as well– I think the fountain of youth angle is a bit weak, but the idea of preventing a forced relocation was a fascinating concept.
“Nemesis” should (and could) have been better; it had, of course, the right principal cast and what on paper looked like a good writer and it had, to me, Star Trek’s best alien race, the Romulans.
What it did not have was Jonathan Frakes at the directorial helm and a poorly cast villain whose motivations made no sense at all… it was a damned poor way to close out TNG’s reign. I hope someone can find way to get a REAL ending filmed for TNG (direct-to-DVD?). PIcard and crew deserve better.
well tmp had steller cosmic music, the best visual effex possible for the time, you cant go wrong with Trumball,Dykstra et al–the first return of the original crew and the big e beautifully redone,an epic cosmic story, one of Hollywoods best directors at the helm, and while i admit the characters we luv were mostly lost to the epic scope of the movie, still the return of trek was a stunning moment for me and many fans–i still remember seeing it opening night-wow–yes it was rather slow but what eye candy! Tmp was the only trek movie i saw several times or more at the theatres up until now—jj has done it-yes i also loved Khan but was irritated by the reused effex scenes from tmp but loved our trek characters back in the front again and the death of spock so poignant-i never thought i would get to see how kirk cheated on the kobayshi maru test-stroke of genius that was for the new movie-wow!
#86: “Remember the original Pike ended up in a wheel chair after a horrific accident.”
Accident? Accident is a bit of an understatement! Disaster better describes how Pike was so tragically crippled.
Of course, it has always played off-screen (unless you’ve seen Captain Pike’s fate in the webisode “Star Trek – The New Voyage’s “In Harm’s Way”) how Christopher Pike ended up confined to a mechanical wheelchair/iron lung bravely trying to rescue his cadets on a training mission (gee, does Spock’s death in TWOK seem eerily reminiscent of Pike’s fate?).
I’ve asked this before and don’t recall anyone responding: Do you (as a fan) consider the webisodes such as “Star Trek Phase II, Exeter, Hidden Frontier, Odyssey, Intrepid, Farragut” and countless others, as canon? I
mean, it’s always been said if its filmed it is canon… and technically speaking these webisodes *are* filmed… so what do you think (Anthony, this might be a cool poll question)?
Yes #96, I know that was a completely different situation with the wheelchair in this movie. It was in no way the original accident. What I’m suggesting is that because Pike is already injured in this case, the way the other accident happened, with him repairing a plasma conduit or something (refresh my memory?)… can’t happen that way anymore. He may never end up completely damaged as he was in The Menagerie.
And I really really hope they don’t pull him out of the chair. This is a real opportunity to have a compelling person with a disability depicted. That would be as much of a mistake as removing Geordi’s visor in the second season of TNG. No way.
101:
If I videotape my brother crushing my Playmates Enterprise models under the wheels of his car, and post it on YouTube, is it canon? Each ship can have its own ‘webisode.’
If I videotape myself melting a Star Trek action figure’s head with a Bic lighter, and I post it to the net, is it canon?
I can make all the voices myself: “Ahhh! My head is burning! Help me Spock!” to add gravitas.
Nothing done outside of licensed Trek on screen is canon. Your description canonizes Saturday Night Live and every parody ever filmed as potential canon. Snap out of it man…
I’ve said this before
DO NOT DO KHAN AGAIN!
Why does anyone want a new franchise to just go over the same things again?
We’ll end up with is Shatner’s Khaaaaaaaaaan better than Pine’s Khaaaaaaaaan, Kirstie Alley is better than ? as Saavik.
Is ? better than Ricardo Montalban as Khan, probably not.
Do you really want go down the same road again? I don’t
Look at Superman Returns, how annoyed were the Superman fans including myself who love the original movie and were livid that all Bryan Singer could do was rehash the story of Superman The Movie in a weird mashed up way.
I say look at other Original Series episodes fro inspiration but leave Khan alone.
#101 – the first criteria for canon, above all others is that it is produced by the official rights holder. This is somewhat confusing now that CBS & Paramount have split, but for all practical purposes until the waters get murkier: Canon = video produced by CBS or Paramount only and does not extend to licensed products produced by others.
Anthony!! were you serious about a TNG Blu-ray Box Set???? ????????????
oh, and by the way…Antonio banderas would make a excellent khan!
#103: “snap out of it man.”
Huh? Did I in any way say I thought the webisodes are canon, AJ? I asked an honest question… and your examples do little to counter the argument one way or the other… but I do thank you for posting a reply, I really am curious what people think.
#105: RD, I am not sure your argument completely rule out webisodes as canon. It is kinda iffy on where CBS stands in regards to sanctioning the fan productions… while they aren’t profiting from them, they certainly aren’t hurt by them either. I’ve said this before in previous threads, Cawley, crew and competitors have done much in keeping TREK alive after the premature demise of “Enterprise.” I mean, in an unofficial kind of way, they have sanctioned them by not shutting them down.
#104: Good morning, Dave (oops, I am mixing my SF metaphors–grin). I completely agree with you. Noooooooooooooooo. No No No!! No Khan!!! If TREK is go boldly forward, it need not, nay must not, look to past stories, in fact, I think that Khan would be a terrible terrible idea.
I think Ocri, Kurtzman and Lindlof can come up with something totally new (even if that means using some familiar alien races) and knock our socks off!
Good for STAR TREK. I have read reviews and reactions to WOLVERINE, T-SALVATION, AD and they have not be too favorable. Ironic that many thought these films would topple STAR TREK. I do know all the films listed are making money and in the end all including STAR TREK may not have the strongest greatest scripts in the world. I just think the STAR TREK cast and film itself has more heart and drive. I just hope they can bring in a bit more of the original series and balance the right mix of action, characterization, mood and style to make a very strong sequel. I also hope they do something original and if they want to bring in some remake elements have them in the background. I also would prefer no Khan or stuff like that. It has been done well enough already.
To echo Rick’s and others’ sentiments (as well as the ones I already posted), about bringing Khan back? Think of it this way, when ST TMP came out critics and some fans cried it was a case of “Where Nomad had Gone Before.”
Do we really want–or need that again?
Incidentally, I think Pixar’s “Up,” which is being released today, is going to be a significant–if not a stealth player in the summer box office in the weeks ahead.
It looks quite hysterical.
I am puzzled how people continue to give good reviews to this one. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that Trek is back. But I agree with the following reviews. I take it HuPo is known by most. The other I stumbled upon on webjam.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson/huff-post-review—star-t_b_200098.html
http://www.webjam.com/electric_sheep/movies/$movie_reviews/2009/05/28/star_trek__or_no_more_time_travel_please
To be fair, very few countries are reporting numbers at the BOM site, compared to the other 3 ahead of TREK…I think we’ll see a big jump once the Asian markets report in..
We may see some real competition this weekend with UP!
looks really good and you rarely see animation do poor at the box office… uh…. Clone Wars…sorry!…. but I believe TREK should stay on top of the 09 box office, at least until Transformers and Harry Potter come out later this summer…\V/
Speaking of Pixar (Monster vs. Aliens, Up), I hear they are so impressed with the performance of ST09 that they’ve decided to hire members of TOS and TNG to provide voices for their next epic animated film. They’re going to call it “Finding Nimoy.”
–BIG grin–
LOL @ 114
112. stardc – May 29, 2009
I fail to see the relevance to this thread. Perhaps the review thread?
Khan? No thanks. Give me Kor or Kang, or even the Romulan Commander for BOT. It’s one thing to have a villian from TOS appear in a film, but if its the same villian for a second time (even in an alternate universe) it lacks coolness to me. Khan has been done, and done well, both on TV and film. No need to visit him again.
I have seen Star Trek and i found it very exiting film but it lacked Roddenberry’s vision for the future. They haved to write a better story for the sequel. Star Trek was a decent start but the story for the sequel has to be better quality and please hire good science adviser Abrams. Science aspect in Star Trek was garage.
#21
I predicted around the low 300-400 million dollar range, because TREK has never done well in the global markets, and saw nothing in this movie to change that.
I commend the filmmakers for their valiant attempt in doing the global road shows, but it would have helped them better, I think, to include bigger stars in key roles in the film. Also, I feel they made another error in not adding more females in key positions in the cast, especially on the ship. Room should have been found—though I understand the difficulties–for Rand and Doctor Chapel. Also, Nero’s main henchman, his name escapes me, should have been female.
Hopefully, these kinds of errors, and other can be avoided in the next film.
Great News.
Star Trek lives!!!
Kirk + Spock = box office
Y’all are blind. If they must redo TWOK, Faran Tahir *must* play Khan.
Hell yeah I want Khan back!!! Some people aren’t giving the screenwriters enough credit. No one says it has to be Space Seed all over again. There are a million different way this could go. The Botany Bay could be discovered by the Klingons, anything could happen! That’s the fun of the new timeline. The key is to find a suitably impressive actor.
I myself would love to see a Gorn somewhere in there. The one on Enterprise was a letdown.
119:
The issue with Star Trek globally is that JJ & Co. were sent on press junkets. In the US, both Wolverine and Terminator 4 have been decimated by the press, but people go anyway. No one cares about reviews.
Overseas, it’s the same. The press may have been impressed, but no-one reads reviews. Posters, TV spots and previews everywhere would have been a better choice.
As for bigger stars, Eric Bana is no slouch, having starred in ‘HULK’ and Spielberg’s ‘Munich.’ Problem is, he is unrecognizable. I saw the film with my brother the other day, and he said “THAT was Eric Bana?”
In any case, the film is a good start for overseas audiences. Hopefully #12 will blow it wide open.
#117 I strongly advocate for the Commander from BoT in the sequel. Instead of the enemy, he (and the Romulans) should be the ally against some common menace. Nomad? (naw, too small) Space Amoeba? (naw, too silly) Day of the Dove, or Obsession gas cloud/energy beings? (maybe the 1st, not the 2nd) Doomsday Machine? (absolutely!!!, but make it Machines…)
#121, 122 Faran could portray Khan but with hair. :) Great idea to let the Klingons find Khan. And when they scan him and find that his DNA and those of his compatriots are *similar* and directly the same as the augmented DNA Klingons carry they’ll assume he’s Klingon…. Emperor Khan of the Klingon Empire! Ah yes, even better than Emperor Ming from Mongo… :) And we can have him quoting Shakespeare and Milton…
Well, I think we’ve just developed a great 1950’s sci-fi Saturday movie serial theme for the sequel. Federation and Romulan crews must work together to stop the evil Emperor Khan and his Klingon Star Empire….
I wonder what Rick Berman thinkg of the success of this new film. I mean, ST09 has surpassed all the TNG movies by far! It just goes to show that Rick Bermen is a hack and delusional. I saw him in an interview once stating that everyone, Trek fan or not, knows what Klingons and phasers are. BS! They do not! He also thought that Nemesis is the best of the TNG movies. (ha ha)
BTW: Nemesis is the only Trek movie I have only see once and will never watch again. I regret having to waste two hours of my life watching that. It bombed in the box office not just because of competition with Two Towers, but also because it just sucked! And some parts really just pissed me off…I digress.
I’m glad Star Trek 09 is doing well. I hope it surpasses all the Trek films in the box office and is at least in the top 4 for the year.
The success of Star Trek 2009 just goes to show how wrong things were being done in the Berman years. He was a decent producer for tv, but entirely out of depth once they moved to features. The TOS movies started out with Robert Wise, they were really trying. The TNG movies with…David Carson? ‘Nuff said. The TNG movies were all glorified tv episodes, and many of the actual series episodes were better.
The new blood that’s been brought in now was absolutley necessary. And VOODOO is right, so too were Kirk and Spock. I didn’t want to see an entirely new crew, and I’m so glad they didn’t create one.
think it’ll beat TMP eventually?
I believe that given time, TFF wil eventually top the Trek movies box office list. It’s just off to a slow start…
:-)
I love how when something doesn’t agree with some people’s view/philosophy on Trek it’s considered an “ERROR”. This is the filmmaker’s vision, not an “error”. there is no definitive bible. when you are given the reigns to Trek, then you can correct these “Errors” and if that did happen…. other people would want to correct YOUR errors.
120:
“Kirk + Spock = box office”
Well, aren’t they lucky that gay marriage is now legal in Iowa (and not San Francisco!).
Seriously, though, who’d have thought that would be the case? After listening to the “Star Trek needs a rest” blather from TPTB since 2005, Paramount went back to Trek’s iconic roots, and absolutely nailed it.
What’s clear from the hugely positive critical response is that this is what was expected all along, and thank God they finally pulled their finger out and did it.
??? Anthony Pascale ??? re. #78:
Not to sound negative, I believe ST09 production costs + marketing costs combined to around 280 million. Are they just now breaking even? Just curious.
Personally i would have like to have seen a brief scene in the movie with the next gen crew at the start getting totally destroyed by Nero before he goes after Spock and gets sucked into the black hole.
Perhaps in some perverse way i would have seen that as justice for the way Kirk was given such a bum death in Generations.
But in reality i think it would have added to the fact that Neros ship was more advanced than even our future technology and to what it took to bring it down.
I liked that in the film the Enterprise was no match for the Narada so they had to rely on wits to win the day. Something that was always a strength of Kirk’s.
I think sacrificing the next gen crew would have been a dignified way of sending them out and would have added weight to the story as well.
#132 “Personally i would have like to have seen a brief scene in the movie with the next gen crew at the start getting totally destroyed by Nero”
LOL! Closet would pay to see the movie an additional 3 times if that happened!
37 I agree …though TREK has slid after 21 days…T4 and Museum are already slid into the seven figure amounts after only 6 days…TREK has legs…I don’t believe either of these will pass TREK domestically..
forget Angels…though strong internationally..I wonder if it willl even break
100 mil domestically….
TREK on the otherhand is on the verge of 200 mil with a good shot at 250 to 275 mil!!!!
If we all go and see it 2 more times, we can keep it on top!!!
133. Shatner_Fan_Prime
I would have paid to see it an additional 5 times if that had happened. ;)
#117—”It’s one thing to have a villian from TOS appear in a film, but if its the same villian for a second time (even in an alternate universe) it lacks coolness to me. Khan has been done, and done well, both on TV and film. No need to visit him again.”
I think for now I tend to fall on this side of the debate too.
Although there are plenty of possibilities for a story involving the SS Botany Bay, there are infinitely more possibilities for stories that do not involve rehashing/combining “Space Seed” and TWOK with a twist. An ‘alternate encounter’ with Khan might make a great Orciverse novel though! After all, he is still out there—with some ‘eighty or ninety’ genetic supermen in cryogenic freeze…
“I am Khan. Please sit and entertain me.” :)
I think that if there is a true recurring nemesis for JTK, it was always the Klingons in general. I think there is an obligatory Klingon presence in the sequel. I would be surprised if that didn’t happen.
#136, well the canon mentioned in the movie provides all the motivation for the Klingons to jump into the fray. I find it hard that the Klingon Empire would just look the other way after 47 warships were destroyed by a Romulan ship.
Of course Abrams could overlook this convenient setup for an exciting sequel, in which case I’m with you. Despite being on record as being interested in exploring Kahn or even Shatner (and not ruling such stories out), I hope he follows his own rules with this so-called origins’ story. He originally said, it was a story that had not been done before and that excited them.
Here’s hoping. But I think introducing another alien species is not the best way to go either … it would have to be done really well not to turn out like the Cardassians, not that it would matter one iota to non-Trekkers.
#132 “Personally i would have like to have seen a brief scene in the movie with the next gen crew at the start getting totally destroyed by Nero”
There is always hope for the DVD release! :) I think if anything Countdown needs to be filmed and inserted as a prologue to ST09. This way we get to see the bad assery of Nero more and his motivations will be fleshed out a lot better than what we currently see.
Wolverine BLEW
#139 … Yes. Yes it did. So too, apparently, do Angel & Demons and Terminator. It seems that so far this summer, only Star Trek and Up are crowd pleasers.
#138 – even better, since Countdown is not official canon and the Enterprise watched the Jellyfish get sucked into the black hole, have the Enterprise E destroyed in the alternate universe after having been sucked through the black hole itself and met by a group of angry Klingon warships. Kirk could then respond to the E’s distress signal only to find some dying survivors on the bridge – namely Picard trapped ignominiously under some wreckage like Shatner. Then the E’s warp core explodes, destroying it completely and Kirk goes off to confront the Klingons for destroying a federation ship (from a parallel reality or not) and meets his true Klingon archenemy for the first time.
It’s a nice thought (the destruction of TNG), but sadly I doubt Patrick Stewart (or any of the others) would ever agree to it. And it might upset a few fans around here too. LOL
I’m afraid I wouldn’t support anything that puts TNG in bad light, although others might disagree.
I love all Trek series and incarnations. :-)
Ironically, it is the Romulans who more or less have the upper-hand in Alpha Quadrant politics in the altered timeline. Nero may not have succeeded fully in weakening the enemies of Romulus, but he sure as hell did some damage.
47 Klingon warships destroyed, another 7+ Starfleet vessels, and the planet Vulcan (along with 6 billion of its inhabitants).
Romulan losses (presumably) = zero.
Orci’s favorite episode of Star Trek is “Balance Of Terror”, and the Romulan Star Empire’s curiosity about the strength of its former enemy (Earth and its allies) is likely already brewing. The Romulan Senate and/or the Praetor is likely already contemplating a probing assault across the Neutral Zone (executed about 7-8 years later in the Prime Timeline), but who knows how the events of 2258 might alter their thinking?
They certainly may be looking at an altogether different threat if the Klingons seek vengeance for Nero’s actions.
Spock Prime’s involvement in the events depicted in “Unification, I and II”, along with Vulcan’s destruction and Orci’s fondness for BOT might also play into a potential storyline for the sequel somehow.
But I still expect to see Klingons…lots and lots of Klingons. And for some reason, I expect them to really get under the skin of a certain young Starfleet Captain.
#143 … “But I still expect to see Klingons…lots and lots of Klingons.”
Here’s to that, Closet! That’s one of the first things my brother (a moderate fan who loved the movie) said after we saw it: “I want to see some Klingons next time!”
We all know you don’t care for the TNG depiction of that race, but it’ll be interesting to see how much of it the Supreme Court retain, and what they’ll change.
#143 – Keen observation regarding the Romulans. I actually wondered what the audience was thinking when the bad guys had pointed ears too like the good guy Vulcans. I don’t recall it being explained clearly enough for a casual viewer to really understand the relationship. WIth Vulcan, gone, the Romulans will be far less confusing since they will really be the only characters with pointed ears aside from Spock.
Vicious though the Romulans are, they are so reserved in their methodology (unless Abrams changes their philosophical canon in the alt universe) that they don’t make an effective nemesis for Kirk. This bar-room brawling rebel-Kirk we’ve been introduced to actually helps bring his personal conflict with the Klingons into perspective. They trigger his base-instincts to react violently to taunts and challenges. The Romulans just don’t have that kind of demeanor. Unless Abrams totally avoids Romulans and Klingons in the next film, which is a strong possibility, the Klingons must figure prominently to build that antagonistic relationship which served as Kirk’s Achilles’ heel through TOS right up to TUC – a catalyst as important to shaping classic Kirk’s personality as any he ever faced.
#118: “Star Trek was a decent start but the story for the sequel has to be better quality and please hire good science adviser Abrams. Science aspect in Star Trek was garage.”
Funny thing is, they had a great science advisor (Kayla Iacovino, who has done a great job in here reporting new science developments). We’ve seen her work in here every week with Science Friday/Saturday… (whatever day it ended up working out)… seems the production crew ignored her if it didn’t fit their needs.
Ok, I can understand why the first movie did so well, and Nemesis and #5 did poorly, but does anyone have any idea as to why Undiscovered Country (considered by most as the third best movie) did so comparatively badly?
#147 … Because it was coming after a financial (and largely critical) failure. Also, fairly or not, the original crew was being subjected to ageism at that point. Many people just felt they were too old to go on. Spock even comments on this in the movie (”Does that constitute a joke?”).
I personally would’ve liked to see them go on, but the mainstream was ready to move on. Now, 18 years later, the original characters are back, young again and stronger than ever.
Trek slides again. A&D still outpacing it and holding its own as are NATM & TS. However, nothing will cost Trek crossing the $200M domestic box office line this weekend. With a total of $196.7M it only needs to make another $3M which is likely by the end of today. UP will most likely eat into NATM dropping that title below TS for the first time. So I predict the weekend BO for Trek to come in 4th behind TS, but likely still beating A&D which will still hold its own in 5th.
THURSDAY
1 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: $3,067,773
2 TERMINATOR SALVATION $2,657,056
3 ANGELS & DEMONS $1,918,936
4 STAR TREK $1,871,777
So anybody who hasn’t seen Trek 8 times by now, better get out there this weekend and see it at least 3 times.
#118
Agreed – Porco phoned it in… from Saturn.
Naaaa….
What I want to see in the next movie is Kingons….lol…..those are awesome…
Just watched Enterprise – Affliction last night…..that and Divergence are the two most important episodes in Star Trek History……backed up by the Enterprise Augment Trilogy with Arik Soong…. Withoug Affliction and Divergence we would have no TOS Klingons. That two parter explained why TOS Klingons not only acted, but looked differently than TOS Movie and TNG era Klingons…. The Augment Klingons that boarded the NX01 in Affliction sure acted like TOS Klingons – cowardly by running away from a firefight, expressing fear, no bat’leths or dk’tahgs – only disruptors, sabotaging the ships computer….clearly TOS Klingon behaviour….
Makes me wonder if we will see Augment and Ridged Klingons in the sequel…could be pretty cool….. Someone mentioned that the Klingons should find Khan…awesome idea….
However the Kingon BK advertising for the new movie was very odd…considering that the entire Klingon sub-plot involving Nero’s escape was cut from the final film…that was a bad mistake JJ…..as much as I loved the film – keeping that scene and seeing the Narada destroy the 47 Warbirds would have been epic….
Yet the Kingon ads do kind of fit still…warbirds in the Kobayashi Maru simulation…the mentioning of Klingons in the film…. However why are the Kingons ridged only in the ads…. During that era Klingons are ridged and ridgeless. I guess it had to do with the familiarity with the TNG era Klingons appearance…yet ENT Affliction and Divergence was their last appearance…..yet honestly people watched TNG the most…. Makes me think what the Supreme Court has in store for their look and behaviour…I guess we will get a glimpse in the deleted scene…
I was surprised that Nemesis did so poorly in the US, given that it was the last hurrah for the TNG franchise and it wasn’t an odd numbered movie. It had the potential, a great Khan-like villian, (god, I hate having to use such an overused cliche’), an excellent battle sequence between the E and the Scimitar.
On the other hand, it opened against Hairy Pothead 2, the finale to the LOR trilogy, and the umpteenth James Bond movie. The movie had significantly curtailed exposition/backstory due to the deletion of numerous scenes focusing on Shinzon and changing relationships between TNG crew. Also, the movie had its usual pastiche of self-indulgences such as Picard et al singing Gilbert & Sullivan (a gimme scene for Patrick Steward) and a couple ‘hammy’ Data scenes.
I’ve literally read hundreds of posts suggesting that the next Trek movie have a Khan storyline. My concern is that this is simply regurgitation rather than renewal and would be disastrous for the franchise. I’m reminded of the remake of Poseidon Adventure in 2006 which won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Remake.
My hope is that they try something new for ST2011. It was logical to ring all the Trek bells and whistles in ST 2009, but additional retreading would be silly. Obviously, there needs to be a epic threat to the Earth or Federation (the top three films and the top TNG film prove this out). Insurrection was too introspective, Nemesis too self-indulgent, Final Frontier too intellectual (perhaps the last gasp of the ‘made ya’ think!’ ideology of the sixties TOS), The Undiscovered Country was too ‘Trek-centric’.
It is quite possible that the next movie will spell the death-knell for Trek, which is something we should all be prepared for.
My predicts for ST2011: a TNG crossover with Picard/Data; a Shatner reprise; a ‘villain movie’; something to do with the Klingons.
My joke themes: Garth of Izar commandeers a Doomsday Machine and goes on a rampage (think Battyman 2’s Joker with a big gun); a multi-storyline movie with Kang, Tribbles and the female Romulan Commander (as a Kirk love interest); a remake of Spectre of the Gun only our guys are transported to a gangland ‘hood to deal with the usual 21st century craziness such as drive-by shootings, crimesprees, ho’s and hoods, and other such nonsense; “Kirk’s Brain” (nuff said); a doctorin’ the Tardis timeline story such as Nazis/Al Qaida take over the world; or suddenly finding themselves flung into the C Quadrant and having to find their way back to A Quadrant; the Trek crew finally encounter the mysterious ‘timeguy’ from the beginning of Enterprise and thwart his century-long scheme to divide and conquer the Federation.
Some ideas: Let’s take a look at a love interest for Kirk. An adversarial hottie would be interesting, a woman who can turn Kirk’s hormones against him (think female Nero, only insidiously clever and calculating instead of a psycho ‘everyman’). Kirk needs a chess match after being throttled, punched, asswhipped in a bar, etc…
We already had a time-line story, so why repeat it. The timeline thread in ST2009 used Spock in the role of expositor (the teller of the MacGuffins), so that would be a unnecessary redux. Unless the E goes ‘futurewards’ to prevent a cataclysm event such as the destruction of the TNG Enterprise or Federation.
Bold paint: Don’t do Khan, or Search for Spock, or ‘fix the broken stuff in ST2009″. A new villain race would be nice, such as a race of ‘transformers’, sentient mechanicals like Borg, only more ruthless. A natural cataclysm that just ‘is’, and our guys have to deal with it. An extradimensional threat (ie, the Monolith in 2001), something that isn’t from time or space, isn’t comprehensible, doesn’t make sense at all. Don’t bring ‘em back to 21st century…the current era sux enough without having to be proven even more assclown by ‘futurians’ from the 23rd century who have already accomplished the Great Ascent. Don’t dumb down the next villain to “Joe the Plumber” standards, plz.
Also, don’t skimp on backstory so much. I know this one had to be short-n-sweet to meet the ADHD mentality of common theatergoers who can’t handle anything more than 90-120 mins. Let’s face it…people don’t go see Trek for the plot…it’s an eyecandy adventure. Given this, Abrams did pretty well to make this one SFX-rich without sacrificing too much emotion, so it didn’t turn out to be a stale-fest like so many of the SFX -endowed movies and their ilk.
Take a risk…have an anime Trek movie using TOS crew, completely done by Asian filmmakers. It would be too sophisticated for American audiences, which would make it tasty for Asian and Euro moviegoers.
Daryl – May 28, 2009
“…of course Star Trek still has the brain dead outline of a black hole that swallows the supernova but yet acts like a wormhole for time travel so like where’s the supernova it should be in the past too — it’s like gone now..for convenience .. uggh — but still trek was at least bearable).”
This particular point was discussed in Q&A section! Without repeating the theoretical physics, black hole is like whirlpool. Ships can get around the center (the singularity) but floating debris gets sucked in.
102. cagmar – May 29, 2009
And I really really hope they don’t pull him out of the chair. This is a real opportunity to have a compelling person with a disability depicted. That would be as much of a mistake as removing Geordi’s visor in the second season of TNG. No way.
___
Interesting…
why do i always miss boborci?
would love to thank him for a great film that got almost everything right.
almost is the best u can hope for with star treks history of bitchy fans- lol…
#145—”I actually wondered what the audience was thinking when the bad guys had pointed ears too like the good guy Vulcans. I don’t recall it being explained clearly enough for a casual viewer to really understand the relationship. ”
I think the closest thing was probably the whole bit about the difficulty in distinguishing Romulan language from that of Vulcan. It just isn’t spelled out for the audience. Still, the common appearance and similar language makes for a pretty simple puzzle for anyone who cares, IMO.
Funny you should bring that up though, as I have always wanted to see the actual story of the “Romulan Exodus” from Vulcan canonized. Although you are absolutely spot on in your assertion that Romulans would make a poor recurring nemesis for someone like Kirk, a story involving a Vulcan/Romulan olive branch (with facilitation by Spock Prime) in the wake of Vulcan’s demise might make a compelling tale. I don’t see anything headed in that direction though.
TO DESERTRAT: I read that this movie cost $150 million to make, so they are definitley in the Green Column! LOVE THIS MOVIE AND WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY. CAN’T WAIT FOR THE DVD.
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to see a great blog like this one nowadays..