Star Trek Ad Generates Buzz + Watch Saldana & Wheaton In Super Bowl Ads

Star Trek had a presence beyond just the Into Darkness ad at yesterday’s Super Bowl. In addition two Star Trek celebs made it into commercials: Zoe Saldana for Bud Light and Wil Wheaton for Lincoln. You can watch those commercials below get some info on the Star Trek Into Darkness buzz coming out of the game.  

 

Star Trek Sparks Buzz and Turns Superbowl Into Darkness

The big news for Trek fans yesterday wasn’t the nail-biter football game, but new Star Trek: Into Darkness Super Bowl ad (see TrekMovie analysis). The commercial cost Paramount almost $4M, but that bought exposure to an estimated 108 million viewers.

The commercial is leading to more buzz from the movie. Currently it is the second highest rated Super Bowl XLVII commercial (of all commercials) at the Hulu Ad Zone. Voters in a poll at Cinemabland are also ranking the spot as a close second (behind Fast & Furious 6). The sports site Bleacher Report has ranked Star Trek Into Darkness ad as the best Super Bowl spot of the year, saying   "this looks like it will be one of the biggest movies of the summer."  Over at Film School Rejects they rated the spot as one of their "winners" saying how the ad "promises it all in only half a minute." The Guardian (UK) surmises says that the ad shows "there are hints JJ Abrams Follow-up to his 2009 Trek reboot will build on the success of the first film." However it isn’t all positive buzz – USA Today’s Survey has the Star Trek spot ranked in the middle of the pack.

Having the game delayed because half of the Superdome was plunged into darkness due to a power outage also inspired the Twitter meme #SuperBowlIntoDarkness, with some joking that it was a clever marketing stunt.


Superdome goes into Darkness

Trek Super Bowl Ad Celebs: Zoe Saldana for Bud Light and Wil Wheaton for Lincoln

Bud Light ran a commercial last night titled "Lucky Chair" featuring Stevie Wonder and Zoe Saldana.

And you have to watch closely in this crowd-sourcing inspired 90-second commercial for Lincoln (called "SteerTheScript") – you will spot a brief cameo of TNG’s Wil Wheaton as the clapboard guy for a sci-fi movie shoot (at Vasquez Rocks, of course).

36 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

lol such interesting Commercials, I knew the Klingon Empire wanted Attention but making a Stratum go dark in the wrong Century that is just wrong.

If that’s supposed to be the Enterprise in that Lincoln commercial, the scale’s a bit off.

;-)

The green alien women, on the other hand, are close enough….

Yes, I was thinking, “Wow, Paramount really went all out to sell Star Trek into Darkness by plunging the Super Bowl into darkness.” We need Harry Ballz for some bad puns. Anyway clicked on the meme above and here are a couple of funny tweets

https://twitter.com/patbwdet

“I blame Benedict Cumberbatch.”

https://twitter.com/EnnisDL

“Scotty, we need full power in 5 minutes or this game is dead.”

Star Trek. Into Darkness.
Superbowl. Into Darkness.
Hmm. Kinda work’s.

#3 Captian!. I’m givenit all she’s got!. She canna take much more of this ya know!.

A guy I worked with asked if I saw the trailer and he said it looked good. I’m letting him borrow my copy of the last movie because he’s interested in seeing it in advance of STID

This from a diehard veteran trekkie:

I hope they get a Star Trek movie right this time, but I sincerely doubt it.

Star Trek is NOT explosions and super special effects – that would be Star Wars – FOLLOW THE RODDENBERRY FORMULA, or DON’T call it Star Trek!

If you can’t get this right I suggest you turn over the trek movie making to the Phase II guys – they have a lot on the ball!

I hope they better explain how a cadet who has not graduated yet can become a captain of the flagship with zero experience, zero command time and about 100000 people ahead of him in grade including ensign checkov.

“If you can’t get this right I suggest you turn over the trek movie making to the Phase II guys – they have a lot on the ball!” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I’m sorry, I needed a good laugh. One of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

#7

Funny, the last time a Star Trek film did a purely Roddenberry format, it turned into Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

And turning it over to people who produce webisodes? SERIOUSLY??

No thanks, I’ll stick with Abrams.

I wonder how many new twitter accounts opened due to the Lincoln ad.

@7. So, by your logic, there has only been 1 “real” Star Trek movie right? Must suck so bad to be you.

Well, Wil’s 2.5 frames ahead of his appearance in Nemesis.

100 days to go…

#7.
LOL, yes. Denise Crosby transforming into a giant space butterfly is True Trek. :p

*LOL* @ Superbowl Into Darkness.

Jacoby Jones returns the kick for 108 yards…..then after doing his end zone dance, he rips off a face mask and its…..John Harrison!

Who are you?!!?

I am…..better.

@16 That only works if the speaker is Randy Moss.

Stadium into darkness a publicity stunt? Well, Scotty does have a history of using the ship’s phasers to turn off the power during gladiatorial contests.

Nobody cares about USA Today.

Zoe kicks butt! YAY :D

I have respected her since Anamaria in PotC :)

I would love to write a screenplay for her someday in the very distant future.

There are a zillion old episodes for the “way it was” so stop whining. Besides, Balance of Terror, Doomsday Machine, Day of the Dove, Arena and others were all full of explosions and fighting and stuff. The effects of the day just couldn’t show it like now. Also, Next Gen and all the rest look old and way out of date now. Plus for the modern viewer they are BORING. Movies are about the experience and it better be a big experience if it is going to cost 12 buck per person. I am not paying 12 bucks to here someone say, lets go the the briefing room to discuss why the ship is firing upon us. Or I sense anger! Really, they are firing us, thank you captain obvious. The JJ verse is the biggest success story in modern trek time. Enjoy it and quite bitching.

Was it a publicity stunt? Well, they obviously didn’t have the budget to drop a star ship onto the station! ;-)

#7 Doug

Get out of your mother’s basement and do your own goddamn laundry!

I have just nerve-pinched Bob and downloaded a segment of the Into Darkness script, which I share with you all, for your benefit:

Khan: I am…better

Kirk: …at what?

Khan: Everything.

Spock: Illogical.

Khan: Ah! I never forget a face…Mr Spock. You are an excellent tactician, Captain. You let your second in command attack while you sit and watch for weakness.

Spock: Khan, logic dictates that you cannot be better at being worse.

Kirk: I would not presume to debate with you…

Khan: Don’t insult my intelligence, Captain.

Spock: Khan, there are two possibilities. Either you are better at being worse or you are not. If you are, you are better at being worse; therefore you are worse at something. If you are not, then you are not better at being worse; then, again, there is something in which you are not better.

Khan: Excellent. Excellent. But if you will excuse me, I grow fatigued again. With your permission, Captain, I will return to my quarters.

Kirk: You are in my Brig and that is where you shall stay.

Khan: No. I shall have my vengeance upon you, Captain. From hell’s heart, I stab at thee…

[A huge explosion and bright-flashing, mental-crunching chaos ensues, as Khan’s eugenic-accomplices set their leader free]

The superbowl ad for Star Trek was much of the same. I would rank it as possibly one of the biggest let-downs of the entire show. Sorry to say. I was really rooting for it. I’m a football fan and a Star Trek fan, and I always watch Superbowl. Not even a blip on my radar for the Star Trek ad. It should have been spectacular and NEW!! for crying out loud. The voice over was EXACTLY the same, the visuals were like 70% already seen. It’s like Budwiser making a superbowl ad from last year’s add with a few extra snippets thrown in! Massive let-down for me.

My only complaint is that they didn’t digitally delete the “moviebombing” extra, whom I have named, quite fondly (or not), “Mr. Smirky,” and replace him with a potted plant, suicide booth, or fire hydrant.

Ya know, it’s even a meme, I think. Or it could be. Not the name. The “moviebombing.” And that’s not a good thing.

Hey, wait a second. I just noticed that there are two giant ships floating over London. What the frak are those?

I’m having a hard time getting into this movie. Not sure if it’s the secrecy behind the villain (whatever), the footage of a crashing Enterprise attempting to illicit an emotional response (after one movie none there) or the typical Bad Robot marketing (starting to get a bit old).

And I agree with Pegasus. If you’re going to do a Super Bowl spot you really need to deliver the goods and this was essentially just more of the same from the initial teaser.

As for the rest giving Doug (#7) a hard time, I think you’re missing his point and if you don’t quite get his point you’re probably fairly new to Star Trek.

So, yeah, this is all starting to get a bit tedious.

#28

I’m not new to Trek nor did I miss his point. I just think he’s wrong and that his arguments for it are quite preposterous. Simple as that.

And as for tediousness, well, I appreciate a good buildup and this is definitely giving me what I want. Sorry that it’s not doing the same for you, guess maybe you won’t be in the theaters in May.

@28, I have probably been watching Trek longer than #7 has even been alive, and I too think he is just being f-in dumb.

#29

“guess maybe you won’t be in the theaters in May.”

Hey, let’s not get crazy there, chief. I’ll definitely be there but the buildup is stating to tire me out a bit., When it comes down to it, the campaign isn’t geared toward us but to a broader audience. I understand where 7 is coming from and I’m hoping that the writing matches the fireworks this time out (Orci and Kurtzman are unpredictable as writers). Without a writer’s strike hindering the development process, the script had a better chance of evolving this time out.

Doug is an idiot. We don’t need him or Dennis C sitting next to us in the theatre, crapping in their pants.

#31

Maybe so…

But I take umbrage at the point that because I don’t agree with Doug’s ridiculous notions that either a film is not Star Trek unless it follows EXACTLY the Roddenberry formula (something that hasn’t been done since TMP) or that the writers should hand the franchise off to WEBISODE creators that that therefore means that I am “new” to Trek and don’t get it.

I’ve been watching Trek for 20 years now. I assure you, I most certainly “get it.”

8

Read the viewscreen during the space jump in ST2009. It refers to him at a Lt. Actually, better yet, just let it go and just enjoy this work of FICTION.

GUYS. DOUG WAS MAKING A JOKE.

How is this not obvious? He was saying that a purely Roddenberry movie was made, and it was INCREDIBLY BORING.

@ # 26:
A TARDIS might look nice there! LOL