STID "tracking" for $85-90 million opening [U.S. box office]

Trek films have performed better at the box office when there haven't been any new Trek shows on TV than when there have been.

 

Wow, really? Any indication as to why?

 

Well the TNG movies were basically big budget episodes, but they were never considered or expected to be massive blockbusters.

 

I caught a ten-thirty show and it was not sold out. It was a good crowd but if you came late, you could still get a good seat. I didn't take that as a good sign.

 

There hadn't been a movie in 7 years when 09 came out. But even this time, there hasn't been a movie in 4 years. I would have thought the hunger for new Trek would be at fever pitch

 

Completely agree. The last time Del Toro was big was in 2001 when he won the Oscar for Traffic. He's virtually disappeared over the last few years.

I thought four years was a little too long for the next Trek sequel. Though now I don't know if three years would have made any difference.

 

Having a lot of new Trek on TV made the movies less of an event. Whether the same would apply to big budget Trek films with a cast that has never appeared on a Trek TV show could be a different story, though.

 

The only hope STID has right now is if the Saturday numbers jump huge from Friday.

 

Maybe people are waiting till the weekend to see it, or they are waiting for the crowds to die down. My family often wait a few weeks til the hype has died down, to see a movie. Whereas I usually want to jump straight in while it's hot! I'll go to STID again a couple more times, when I hit my next payday.

 

Four years since the last Bond before SKYFALL, and that didn't hurt the box office in the slightest, god knows why. Still can't believe the worship that PoS got.

 

I thought it was okay, but just that. The BO take surprised me, I know its strong worldwide but it doubled the BO of QoS and CR which both did significantly worse than Trek domestically.

I'm sure Paramount was hoping for a similar effect for Trek.

 

And they're getting it in foreign markets. It's just the domestic numbers that are taking an unexpected dip.

 

I know that has been the perception around here but I never saw it like that. That is not a reflection of my opinion of the movie. I really like it, in fact I liked it better than the last.

But it was arrogant for the presumption that many had that a single film's success meant that the whole franchise was cool. Audiences are fickle and its been a number of years. A decade ago 4 years would not have been long at all to wait for a sequel. More and more though sequels are coming sooner. With Avengers having the various solo films to hold interest.

But on top of a longer wait there so much mystery surrounding the film's plot and characters for so long the anticipation waned. Most of the audience could give a shit if this was Khan or not all these years. I liked it but it was too dependent on awareness of previous Trek lore to care about or follow rumors. Khan is not an icon like the Joker is. The Joker has been around for over 70 years and played by a number of very famous actors. Before now Khan was in a single episode and one movie. He is Trek's number 1 most famous villain? Who is next? Trek does not have many villains known outside of fandom, so his being number 1 does not mean much. Considering the long fixation by the writers and fans on "what will happen when Khan appears?" Anything after this is going to be a letdown, maybe he should have been saved for a later film.

It too soon to tell what its true success will be. But for all the talk of lowering expectations about liking the movie, it should be about lowering the expectations of the current popularity of the franchise.

 

3/4 full at the 4:30 pm showing today (IMAX).

 

I would have thought that this movie would have several built in audiences in the bag.

a)Trekkies
b) fangirls of the various actors, particularly Cumberbatch
c) Star Wars fans, to see how their new master fares at big budget sci fi
d) fans of summer blockbuster fare

Seriously, where are all the Star Wars fans? STID is just the thing they need to whet their thirst until Ep VII comes out.

 

Actually I think the announcement of the new Star Wars films might, just might, have dimmed enthusiasm for this. Even before JJ was announced to direct. Star Wars has been talked about more than Star Wars in the last 6 months. Star Trek's cooler younger brother returned from vacation.

 

Grrr, upstaged by Star Wars AGAIN! For a brief moment, there, thanks to Trek 09, and the sour aftertaste from the prequels, Trek was cooler!

Noo, Star Wars has to come along again and steal its thunder. I do like Wars, but I've always liked Trek more.

 

It's been a couple of days, guys, and those days have been in the middle of the week. Give it time. Relax. Wait until Monday, when we'll have a better look.

 

Everyone was all poised to see this, excited, pumped, etc; and then they announce Episode VII. It might have deflected attention away from this, true