6 reasons Beyond will be the biggest ST movie yet

[The Wormhole]

No-one cares about the presence or absence of a plot summary on IMDb except you.

I actually make a lot of decisions regarding which movies I see based on what's about them on IMDB. I highly doubt I'm the only one. And while I'm planning to see Beyond anyway because it's Star Trek, seeing "plot is unknown" for any other film so close to its release doesn't make me interested in it at all.

 

[johnjm22]

I think "director of Fast and Furious" will immediately make fans of that franchise feel more positively about Beyond, even if they don't recognise the actual name. Serious FF fans will know the name, and that should help with word-of-mouth publicity.

I'm skeptical that it will make any significant difference. It's two very different demographics we're talking about here.

75 percent of the people who went to see the last FF film were non-Caucasian. Nearly 40 percent Hispanic. Half of the entire audience was female.

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but it's no secret that most of the people that watch Star Trek are white. That's not going to change because Justin Lin directed it.

 

[Greg Cox]

I would be perfectly happy not to know a thing about the plot until it opens.

I don't need to know any crucial details months before it opens.

 

[M'Sharak]

I would be perfectly happy not to know a thing about the plot until it opens.

I don't need to know any crucial details months before it opens.

Remember when it was like that for every movie?

Six months out (maybe not even that long) there was a preview reel in the "Coming Attractions" lead-in - three minutes of Technicolor™ action, adventure, and a Very Dramatic Announcer saying very dramatic things, but giving away next to nothing about story or plot. And that was all you knew until you were sitting in your theater seat with your popcorn and maybe a package of Good & Plenty or a box of Junior Mints, watching the opening credits. Even Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark were like that, the first time around.

 

[Greg Cox]

I caught a sneak preview of Raiders and had no idea what it was about beforehand, just that it was a new Lucas/Spielberg thing. I honestly assumed that it had something to do with Noah's ark . . ..

 

[BillJ]

I'm skeptical that it will make any significant difference. It's two very different demographics we're talking about here.

75 percent of the people who went to see the last FF film were non-Caucasian. Nearly 40 percent Hispanic. Half of the entire audience was female.

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but it's no secret that most of the people that watch Star Trek are white. That's not going to change because Justin Lin directed it.

Might be part of the reason for picking Lin. Trying to broaden Star Trek's appeal.

 

[Greg Cox]

And yet, it's still something more significant than "plot unknown." Most have several sentences, the new Ice Age movie coming out the same weekend as Beyond has an entire paragraph. "Glorified elevator pitches" they may be, they're still descriptions and still a better attempt to promote those movies than Paramount is making with Beyond.

It's probably worth remembering that the average moviegoer doesn't scour IMDB, fan websites, or Trek message boards searching for spoilers for movies that don't open for months. (Hell, in my experience, too many couples don't figure out what movie they're going to see until they're in line at the multiplex.) The movie's not really going to show up on most people's radar until the TV commercials start airing . . ..

Meanwhile, I wouldn't count GHOSTBUSTERS out based on the trailer (which I thought had some funny moments, actually). BRIDESMAIDS made a mint and this is largely the same director and cast. Plus, Melissa McCarthy's movies tend to do amazing business on their own.

Will it draw the same crowd who loved the original version thirty years ago?Hopefully, but I'm not sure that really matters in terms of box office . . . . .

 

[photon70]

Might be part of the reason for picking Lin. Trying to broaden Star Trek's appeal.

Absolutely. We've had a diverse cast from day 1, i.e., 1st unsold pilot. Why not use a director who is a minority to try and broaden the appeal to the casual movie-goer. After the main cast, the director of a movie is the most visible person involved.

If we got more females, more minorities and under 25s into the cinemas to watch STB, then we're on our way to matching / passing ST09's box office numbers and greatly improving the international numbers.

 

[RAMA]

A reason 7: ST Beyond movie trailer had more than triple the views of STID's. How's that for BUZZ

 

[BillJ]

We're just going to have to wait and see. I thought Star Trek Into Darkness would do $600 million, easily. It didn't. These things are hard to predict. Ghostbusters could pull a Deadpool or people could end up saving their money for Suicide Squad. It could be a casualty of a poor marketing strategy like STID.

Star Trek Beyond could end up being crowded out by other movies, or it could be a hit. Who knows?

 

[Greg Cox]

Heck, just a few years ago the X-FILES franchise was pretty much dismissed as yesterday's news after the second movie sank without a trace. Then the new mini-series did blockbuster ratings . ....

If these things were easy to call, I would not have bought the book rights to CUTTHROAT ISLAND back in the day . . .

 

[Maurice]

Absolutely. We've had a diverse cast from day 1, i.e., 1st unsold pilot.

Have you SEEN "The Cage"? It's about as diverse as a bag of Wonder Bread.

 

[Greg Cox]

Have you SEEN "The Cage"? It's about as diverse as a bag of Wonder Bread.

As I recall, there's an Asian guy working as an assistant transporter operator, but, yeah, the cast of "The Cage" is not nearly as diverse the subsequent pilot and series.

 

[Maurice]

Yeah, one asian guy, and everyone else whiter than white.... except Spock, who's yellow peril yellow.

 

[johnjm22]

Might be part of the reason for picking Lin. Trying to broaden Star Trek's appeal.

For sure it's one of the reasons they picked Lin. I just don't see how it's going to make any significant difference.

My fear is that they're going to market the movie towards people who aren't going to see it anyways, and in doing so make the movie look less attractive to the people who would normally want to see it.

 

[BillJ]

My fear is that they're going to market the movie towards people who aren't going to see it anyways, and in doing so make the movie look less attractive to the people who would normally want to see it.

They'll trade $67 million (Nemesis total) for $400+ million every day of the week. Trek fans, on their own, simply aren't enough of a concern for Paramount.

 

[Rahul]

Beyond at this point pretty much looks like a very troubled production...

The original plot and director fell through, a new script was hastily written by Pegg and others, and Justin Lin basically came on board when all the important decisions were already made. Kind of reminds me of Ant-Man.

Now it will certainly make a big profit. But I expect it to perform worse than STID in the States, and probably tha same range world wide. Maybe less, because of Suicide Squat and Ghostbusters.

Remember how people didn't like the ghostbusters trailer? Well, they at least TALKED about it online! Beyond, at this point, is deader than disco, the only reaction I have heard of was the one from Simon Pegg. And Trekkies complaining about the Beastie boys. That hopefully may change with a second trailer. But this then really needs to knock it out of the park. A whole week(!) of reshoots indicate some serious trouble with the script, which often leads to bad word-of-mouth, which leads to the only hope being a big opening weekend.

If you ask me, the success of Beyond at this point is much more decided by the quality of Ghostbusters (is it bad -> people will go watch Trek instead, is it good -> Trek will split viewership with it), than the quality of Beyond itself.

I'm hoping for an "Ant-Man" result, where a very troubled production turned into quite an enternaining and successfull movie...

 

[Greg Cox]

Hell, TMP was a "troubled" production.

And so was TITANIC . . . and BLADE RUNNER . . . and . . . and CASABLANCA.

For that matter, GONE WITH THE WIND went through at least three directors, and the classic 1935 version of THE WIZARD OF OZ went through four!

 

[johnjm22]

They'll trade $67 million (Nemesis total) for $400+ million every day of the week. Trek fans, on their own, simply aren't enough of a concern for Paramount.

Of course. I'm not talking about the hardcore trek fans though. Those people will see the movie regardless. I'm talking about the more casual fans, or people that have a passing interest.

 

[BillJ]

Of course. I'm not talking about the hardcore trek fans though. Those people will see the movie regardless. I'm talking about the more casual fans, or people that have a passing interest.

I'm more concerned they're going to market the movie to Trekkies and completely turn off mainstream audience that simply go to the movies to have a good time.