UPDATED: Paramount Spokesman: Star Trek In Same League as Star Wars & Transformers

UPDATE: Yesterday first word came out that Paramount were moving the release for the new Star Trek to May 8th 2009. Today a Paramount spokesman explains that the film will still be completed by this year but they feel it can stack up against traditional summer blockbusters. In addition Paramount have updated the official movie websites, but for now are only saying “May 2009” for the release.


From the AP Article (at CNN Money):

Studio spokesman Michael Vollman said the switch was a business move, not because of any problems with the film caused by the Writers Guild of America strike that just ended.

“Star Trek” will be finished by fall in time for its original release date, but studio executives decided to hold it until next summer, the film could pull in more money, he said.

“`Star Trek’ is in fantastic shape,” said Paramount spokesman Michael Vollman. “This is all about box-office potential. Summer is where you see the `Star Wars’ and the `Spider-Mans’ and the `Shreks’ and the `Transformers.’ `Star Trek’ is in that league.”

The movie had been in production without its screenwriters on hand for revisions during the strike, which began Nov. 5. The guild reached a deal with producers last week, and writers voted Tuesday to end the walkout.

The strike had left a few holes in 2009’s summer blockbuster schedule, leaving the May 8 date up for grabs, Vollman said.

So as frustrating as the move to Summer is, the word from Paramount is a big vote of confidence in the film that is being made right now. Vollman’s comments tie back to something that Star Trek co-writer and executive producer Roberto Orci said in his first big interview with TrekMovie.com back in October. Here is that excerpt

TrekMovie.com: So you really think that, in terms of mass appeal, Trek could be as big as Star Wars or your recent Transformers film?

Roberto Orci: Transformers is a great example because it was a franchise that was existing and had a strong fan base, but that was a niche market let’s say. Because of that our approach was to re-invigorate it. We don’t think that there is anything inherently flawed at all with the soul that Star Trek has laid down. And we feel that if we can tap back into that soul, then it can actually be those things. Not only do we want to please the fans, and we are confident that we will have a movie that fans see in a certain way where their knowledge of canon is not wasted and is part of their enjoyment of the movie, but simultaneously the story has been developed so that it is also an introduction for someone who is not a fan or even someone who knows nothing about Trek or thinks it is dead. We think that it can be that because we think that the bones of the house are right and all it needs is some redecorating.

Back in the 70s Paramount first thought that Trek could be their ‘Star Wars’ and they turned the Star Trek Phase II TV project into the big budget (for the day) Star Trek The Motion Picture. Although TMP is still the biggest Trek film (in terms of ticket sales), it fell short of ‘Star Wars big’ and since then Paramount have treated Trek films as ‘medium sized’ and usually put them out in the fall/winter. It remains to be seen if Trek really can move into Star Wars and Transformers territory, but it is nice to see Paramount feeling like Trek can be in the big leagues again.

Official sites updated
More fallout from Paramount’s change of the release date for Star Trek. All of the various official sites for each market have had the release dates updated and Paramount isn’t officially saying yet which day in May Trek will land.

The main official site (for US & Canada) now shows. “MAY 2009” where just yesterday it said “CHRISTMAS 2008.” All the international sites (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico/Latin America, and France) now just say “2009.” The only exception is and Germany which has no date at all). But don’t panic my German friends, I am sure they will get around to putting a “2009” there soon enough. It should be noted that the trailers have not been updated with new dates yet and some of the sites also have the original HTML ‘title tags’ saying “Boxing Day 2008,” etc. It is assumed that will all be sorted out shortly.

How firm is May 8th?
Stories in both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety yesterday cited May 8th as the specific date for the new Star Trek, however right now Paramount are only officially confirming “May 2009.” This indicates that although the May 8th date is the most likely, there may be some wiggle room. Paramount was the first studio to announce a post-strike schedule shakeup. It is likely that Paramount are waiting to see what other studios do now that they have reshuffled. Maybe Fox will move their X-Men: Wolverine movie from the first weekend in May to later in the summer (giving themselves more time and to ensure Star Trek doesn’t trounce their second weekend). In that case Paramount would likely slip Trek into May 1.

One should also not worry too much about the international dates only saying 2009. The original plan for Trek was to open domestically on 12.25.08 and then in most English speaking markets the next day with the rest of the world some time in early 2009. So it is likely that the international markets will still be closely aligned with the domestic. In fact summer movies tend to bunch global releases even closer together so there may even be a shorter gap between between various releases than the original plan. But for now it is just ‘2009.’

So in other words…stay tuned.

UPDATE 2: Fox Takes Christmas
Fox to Paramount: “no backsies.” Variety is reporting that Fox has swooped in to take the vacancy left by Trek but moving their Jennifer Aniston-Owen Wilson comedy Marley and Me up a week. They also shuffled around a couple other comedies to move into newly opened slots. So far the Wolverine movie remains in the May 1 slot, a week before Star Trek.

TrekMovie.com Countdown Widget Updated
We have updated our countdown widget (bottom of the right column). For now it is using May 8th because you need a specific date and so that will have to do. It currently reads 449 days to go. You can ‘grab’ the widget and put it on your personal site or blog. When you click on the countdown it takes you right back here to TrekMovie.com.

Indiana Jones Trailer
This has nothing to do with Star Trek, but today Paramount released the trailer for their big May movie for this year…check it out.

(HD version at official site)

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Can’t wait. December … May… it’s all good

Lame.

I wonder how pissed the toy company and licensees are right now.

They paid the price they did believing that they have product in the stores to support a heavily hyped movie at the busiest retail season of the year.

Now that it’s moved to May, they may have to significantly downgrade their estimates, which may affect the perception of the “value” of the premium they paid.

I wonder if Paramount took the discounting into account, prior to the announcement.

This will mean that some of the licensed tie-in material will be less rushed, which is doubly useful in the case of development-heavy things like computer games. So that’s the small ray of sunshine I see: some of the swag will have more development time.

(I still suspect that the film will wrap more-or-less on schedule and wait in the can until May, since so many of the people involved will be obligated to move on to their next jobs, regardless of how Paramount chooses to market this particular project …).

4 – Not knowing the toy manufacturer business, but I was wondering the same thing you just posted.

4: I am sure the licensees have contracts that allow Paramount to change release dates without a breach.

The licenses are long-term, probably over 3 films, and with the May release leading to Christmas consumption of toys, the licensees are probably better off.

They have better business in ’09, and a bright future for Trek merchandise.

Yeah, but the page title says “May 2008″…

I know it’s off topic but how many of you have checked out the Indy trailer?

It’s good to see a hero loved by generations back in action one more time!

Someone must tell the Paramount webmaster to update the website header from May 2008 to May 2009.

Zminus10

See what I mean about the dates?

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1052/startrekdatemg7.jpg

I know which one they want it to be, but they could be more clear about it.

found out about it last night, went to bed, woke up, thought it was a dream, and now this makes it a reality…how terribly disappointing, it’s not so much that i’m aggravated over the push back as to how much hype has been going on lately, the release of the teaser, the playmates announcement, etc…they should’ve decided this beforehand

I wonder when we will hear from JJ, has he made a statement? I can’t imagine he’s happy about this decision or is he?

i may speak to trading standards about the false dates !!! its just nt on gettin our hopes up :-/

MY PROBLEM WITH MOVING “TREK XI” FROM X-MAS TO MAY…

…people seem to forget that a Christmas-released film DOESN’T do it’s biggest business on that day or week, but throughout January and even February (or in TITANIC’s case, all the way to April). I seem to recall the LORD OF THE RINGS films, TITANIC, CHICAGO–heck, even SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE way back in 1978-79, doing boffo business in the following winter months, usually because those months are such a vast wasteland of sub-par flicks.

STAR TREK XI would have been THE film to see during Dec. ’08 and Jan. ’09… as it stands now, it’ll probably have a big May opening weekend, but quickly fall by the wayside to make room for the other, bigger, more “popular” summer behemoths. Unless it’s the GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME, I don’t see TREK XI lasting too long through the summer.

Sorry, but Christmas would have been PERFECT. Now, it’s just going to get lost in the shuffle.

I’m still CRUSHED. over a year to wait puts this in the same timeframe as when we saw the first Movie poster at the San Diego Comic Con in 2006.

If we gt a better Movie and franchise … GREAT…. all of us waiting, what I will exageratingly call a “16 month prison sentence” – not so GREAT.

that makes me think…. If I broke into Paramount , lets say around Christmas this year, watched the movie… got caught… had the book thrown at me and sentenced… I’d still make it out in time to see the Premiere. Just food for thought.

any body know what films it will be competing with in may 2009 ??

Please dont let star Trek go up against something like a Star Wars movie. I mean I like Trek but it does NOT have that staying power like other movies. Superman Returns sequel is coming out in 2009!!

I don’t care. Just give me a good Trek movie. Every year. Yeah. EVERY year!

#16.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, MAY 1 2009

Paramount has done a tremendous injustice to the fans. You awaken a dead franchise and then put it back to bed again! I mean c’mon. What does JJ Abrams think of this???

May 8 would be perfect because it’s Federation Day!

Cursa you Paramounta CB-ESSA.

#15 Thats funny, a 16 months prison sentance, haha.

#16 Sorry, I dont know what they’re going up against, but I will find out and let everyone know (as if this can possibly get any worse).

Argh…. Feels like being kicked in the nether regions. I’ll live but I can’t say I enjoyed the experience.

Apologies in advance to the British Naval Dude…

2009. The 40th anniversary of Star Trek’s cancellation from TV. WhooHoo!!

It must’ve been too good to be true to get Indy 4, Batman, Bond, and Star Trek in the same year. At least with Paramount putting it on the official site, we sadly know the truth. Oh well. Anyone ordering the 12.25.08 posters? Bet they’ll be harder to come by now.

Yeah, it sux we have to wait another four months.

That being said, Cast & Crew should be thrilled to bits with an early-summer release date. This is a vote of confidence in the project from Paramount, as movies perceived as weak by the corporate overlords don’t get released in the summer blockbuster season. And who’s to say the Transformer and X-Men crowds won’t catch the latest Trek movie, even as a comparison for the FX?

Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|

24. arrrr… no worries…. I wear me cup at all times fur things like this…

23. Here’s yon possible May 2009 movie competition:

Orson Welles rises from tha dead for a sequel to Citizen Kane; “CK:The Quickening”
Lucas decides now ta go ahead with the “Star Wars 7: Luke Be Pissed”
Christopher Walken stars in “Ernest Goes to Hell”
and George Clooney with Eva Langoria star in a remake of “Gone With the Wind”

Poor, poor Trek… oh, no… arrrrr… I best switch to artsy fartsy fare…

better box office will bring more people to star trek, yet i can’t wait till may

JJ, Bob Orci and Crew….fight to get the December release back, it was by far the best date. May is just lackluster, and it’s really going to hurt the momentum that has been gained. It’s far too long to shove the release ahead.

The flash intro on the official site has gone through a sort of redesign since it was first launched. The Starfleet logo now gets darker, to where you can barely make out the emblem’s shape. Wonder why that change was made…

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNES?

Truly awesome to see Harrison Ford back as Indiana Jones.

yeah!!!! Indiana Jones!!!! Him and Captain Kirk were my childhood idols!!!

them and Hot Rod from Transformers

such a geek I am

Harrison Ford looks like he barely aged. I think he will easily be able to pull this role off.

I hope Roberto, Alex and/or JJ stop by soon and give their perspective on the change. Like just about everyone else, I’m deeply disappointed … but I suppose I’ll live.

Indy rocks.

I’m excited about Indy 4 but…that trailer was terrible.

WOW Indy 4 looks amazing. I like the alien implications of the skulls.

Summer be good fur tha studio? fur tha franchise? fur tha box office?

” tha needs o’ the many outweigh tha needs o’ tha few ”

B’sides, I can catch up on me BBC shows… let’s se what’s on now: EastEnders… London News… Dawn Gets Naked (hmmm…) … Snooty McBrides Banger-Mash-Up… 6th season Lovejoy episode….
aaawk noo… BBC sucks…
time fur beddy bye…

While I do think May is a better month (there are GIANT crowds going to the movie theater every freakin week, which you don’t exactly get in January), it’s still gonna suck to have to wait another 5 months.

At least we still get Indy and Batman this year though.

I am excited for Indy 4. Harrison Ford looks great for being 65.

Wait & see, even May itself will be subject to change. Don’t be shocked if it gets pushed to Thanksgiving 2009.

with as long As They’ve had Already, Star Trek could be Out THIS Summer!!
Ya know, Christmas ’08 Was too Long To wait for. Now they want us to wait until MAY of 2009? it’s this Bullshit Corporate mentality that is Screwing us All,so forget it. I don’t care anymore!!

JJ, buddy, speak to us. Pleeeeeez. :(
Orci, JJ, Quinto, ANYONE!!! Talk to us!

Can. not. Wait. for Indy.

Indy trailer tidbit:
The music at the very opening was lifted from Sci-Fi channel’s “Children of Dune,” a really good score, I might add.

So we wait for Trek.Get over it.
Now they’ll have ample time to tweak it, based on our continual bitching.

Love to see Ford as Indiana Jones again! Yum! I’ll surely be going to the cinema for this one.

Weak !!!!!

I hope the new Star Trek movie will not have any stiff competition in May 2009.