What would you recommend for ST4 to top $500 million box office?

[RAMA]

Won't happen.

Star Trek just isn't popular enough.

It will always be a niche market.

In Europe, Star Trek is for nerds. It is not cool.

Paramount needs to accept this and some fans on this message board as well.

it is a niche franchise, no question. On the other hand it's a niche franchise with a fair number of casual, interested fans who don't follow all the advertising, etc. The fact STID came close to the magical $500 million should prove that the right mix of timing and execution could make it fly over the barrier.

Although if you count disc sales, ST09 made $585 million and STID made $552 million, so...

Avoiding the "secret" twist that hampers their marketing plan and prevents them from exploiting the star power of the A-list actors that they have recruited the past two films.

Actually I agree. Keeping elements from the audience sounds good on the surface but you have to ride your talent to the top!

RAMA

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I agree with a lot of these recommendations. Release it in late spring/early summer. More trailers, more marketing in general. Get a big "it" name on there as a supporting character a la Cumberbatch. Don't listen to the kvlt Trek fans who hate everything you're going to do because you're doing it. For God's sake let Simon Pegg write it. Bring back Jaylah.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Simon Pegg deserves to be attached to the Trek franchise for a long, long time.
There is little reason Trek can't reach $500 million. That's not a very big number in today's marketplace.

 

[Ovation]

1. Don't wait so long between films.
2. Don't get bogged down on how "Star Trek-y" the story is. Good story first.
3. As there will clearly be further re-imaginings, own the fact this is an alternate universe and have a main character die (though, in favour of good taste--not Chekov; he can be re-assigned off-screen). Or, if not die, let them be promoted elsewhere. Slowly replace the key crew members (keeps "star salaries" low if they're not all retained).
4. Get story input from a sci-fi author not generally linked to the franchise. Doesn't have to write the script, but may well offer "outside the box" thinking to distinguish Trek from other space movies, and itself.
5. Get out of "small universe" mode and borrow one of the two compelling ideas of the Voyager series concepts (flung far from home). Let's see the ship/crew really out in uncharted waters.
6. Solve a crisis/problem in a manner that does not primarily rely on weaponry (unless used as a tool to do something like smash an asteroid or something), but on thinking. The weaponry option can be made to seem the best option--but choose something else.
7. NO "wars"--not with Klingons, Romulans...not with any one.

Well, that's how I'd do it. Of course, I have no experience in filmmaking and would rather let the professionals take care of it--but since the question was posed (and I'm procrastinating from actual work).

 

[eyeresist]

1. Don't start off the movie with the characters feeling sorry for themselves.
2. Feature a strong female character in the main cast - Carol Marcus or Jaylah would be great, but if not them then someone as interesting.
3. Have a compelling plot that doesn't rely on crazy twists (Old Spock, Skype Spock, Krall/Edison).
4. If you have a feature villain, then bloody well feature them.

My idea is to do a chase movie. Cheaper, as mostly on the ship. Exciting, with emphasis on suspense as well as action.
The Enterprise encounters an intriguing enemy in deep space. The following story is basically a cat and mouse game. We've seen a little bit of this in most of the previous movies (TWOK being the most well known), but making it the main story would be new, and there are all sort of ways they could maintain interest.
They could pass all sorts of strange and dangerous space phenomena; gain and then lose strategic advantage, set or fall into traps, go cloaked or in disguise (send false messages and decrypt enemy comms), then when they're at breaking point a final struggle for survival.

Bring back Khan? It could work! Khan in either incarnation is an intriguing character, and NuTrek has the advantage that he's still alive. He could be anywhere now, doing anything. Imagine a trailer that ends with Cumberbatch saying "Remember me?" You wouldn't even have to see his face, just hear that creepy voice.

(Continuing the above examples of cat-and-mouse spaceship scenes in Star Trek: Balance of Terror (TOS), of course. The nebula battle in TWOK (though the whole story is arguably cat-vs-mouse), cloaking shenanigans in TSFS and TUC, the spaceship chase in INS, the big battle at the end of NEM ("He thinks he knows exactly what I'm going to do..."), Enterprise vs Vengeance in STID.)

Shit. I just realised I am suggesting remaking TWOK.
But really, I do think a prolonged submarine battle in space could be something fresh and intriguing for sci-fi fans who aren't necessarily Trek fans.

 

[Smellmet]

1. Don't start off the movie with the characters feeling sorry for themselves.
2. Feature a strong female character in the main cast - Carol Marcus or Jaylah would be great, but if not them then someone as interesting.
3. Have a compelling plot that doesn't rely on crazy twists (Old Spock, Skype Spock, Krall/Edison).
4. If you have a feature villain, then bloody well feature them.

My idea is to do a chase movie. Cheaper, as mostly on the ship. Exciting, with emphasis on suspense as well as action.
The Enterprise encounters an intriguing enemy in deep space. The following story is basically a cat and mouse game. We've seen a little bit of this in most of the previous movies (TWOK being the most well known), but making it the main story would be new, and there are all sort of ways they could maintain interest.
They could pass all sorts of strange and dangerous space phenomena; gain and then lose strategic advantage, set or fall into traps, go cloaked or in disguise (send false messages and decrypt enemy comms), then when they're at breaking point a final struggle for survival.

Bring back Khan? It could work! Khan in either incarnation is an intriguing character, and NuTrek has the advantage that he's still alive. He could be anywhere now, doing anything. Imagine a trailer that ends with Cumberbatch saying "Remember me?" You wouldn't even have to see his face, just hear that creepy voice.

(Continuing the above examples of cat-and-mouse spaceship scenes in Star Trek: Balance of Terror (TOS), of course. The nebula battle in TWOK (though the whole story is arguably cat-vs-mouse), cloaking shenanigans in TSFS and TUC, the spaceship chase in INS, the big battle at the end of NEM ("He thinks he knows exactly what I'm going to do..."), Enterprise vs Vengeance in STID.)

Shit. I just realised I am suggesting remaking TWOK.
But really, I do think a prolonged submarine battle in space could be something fresh and intriguing for sci-fi fans who aren't necessarily Trek fans.

I'm down with this. I think it would work. It's clear the 'blockbuster' approach isn't working with so much more popular competition around, Trek isn't standing out any more, and with a reduced budget is a moot point now, so a suspenseful, tense yet still exciting Trek movie in the vien of 'U571' 'Crimson Tide' 'Balance of Terror' etc is a fairly obvious way to go. With Khan, they left him alive at the end of STID for a reason didn't they? Maybe it's time to utilise that.

 

[BillJ]

I'm down with this. I think it would work. It's clear the 'blockbuster' approach isn't working with so much more popular competition around, Trek isn't standing out any more, and with a reduced budget is a moot point now, so a suspenseful, tense yet still exciting Trek movie in the vien of 'U571' 'Crimson Tide' 'Balance of Terror' etc is a fairly obvious way to go. With Khan, they left him alive at the end of STID for a reason didn't they? Maybe it's time to utilise that.

I think there are dangers with the submarine approach (not that I'm necessarily against it). You could end up with two hours of technobabble and shield down to 'X' non-sense. It would take a really good team behind the camera to pull it off. And it probably wouldn't be Lin and Pegg.

 

[Noname Given]

1) Be a good film (not necessarily or exclusively a good Star Trek film.)
2) Be marketed properly in the run up to the release date by the studio.

 

[Kor]

Have Christopher Nolan or Stephen Spielberg direct it, giving Trek a different spin than usual.

And have Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Amy Adams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Gary Oldman, Jack Nicholson, Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Anthony Hopkins all in very prominent roles.

Audiences will eat it up.

Kor

 

[Phily B]

I have no idea why they didn't market the 50th harder. It seems like a lot of individual channels etc etc are doing that job better than they did.

 

[Galileo7]

Have Christopher Nolan or Stephen Spielberg direct it, giving Trek a different spin than usual.

And have Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Amy Adams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Gary Oldman, Jack Nicholson, Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Anthony Hopkins all in very prominent roles.

Audiences will eat it up.

Kor

I believe Tom Hanks is a Star Trek fan.

 

[Dales]

• Give Scotty a moustache
• Remix the TMP uniforms
• Crazy Admiral-gone-bad
• Crossover with The Avengers
• KHAAAAAAAAN
• Bring back Shatner, kill him again
• Scotty knows this ship like the back of his hand
• NuTNG (cast that James McAvoy guy as Picard)

khannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn has be done and cannot be redone.

shatner is not needed

james mcavoy as picard is quite cool

 

[Mudd]

Simplest and most direct way to play to the franchise's potential future fanbase:

Replace Chekov with a Chinese navigator and then give the character actual important stuff to do in the next story.

 

[ItIsGreen]

khannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn has be done and cannot be redone.

You can never have too much KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN.

shatner is not needed

That's why we kill him off again...

james mcavoy as picard is quite cool

He looks just like that Professor X guy.

 

[M'Sharak]

khannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn has be done and cannot be redone.

@Dales , that'll earn you a warning for spamming. I trust you remember the reasons why - aaaaaaall of them. Comments to PM, please.

 

[Jax]

Star Trek is not going to make $500 million+ it's just not but we can and should crack $400 million thanks to the increasing market in China but a smaller budget is key for viable profitability ($150-$160). I doubt 2018 is viable so 2019 but no later (a nice 10 year run for the Reboot) but a May date would be best though June would do I guess, of course Marvel is going to dominate with Avengers 4 and god knows what WB will be doing with the DCEU.

For God sake a smart marketing campaign because no WoM, means no $$$

 

[johnjm22]

Have Quentin Tarantino direct it.

 

[VOODOOXI]

1/ Much better marketing campaign than the terrible campaign that Beyond had.

2/ J.J. Abrams returns to direct

3/ Find a better date to open the film. Either an early May release where it is the only major film for a few weeks or a winter release like Batman vs Superman where Star Trek is the only major film. The next ST film needs to be an event and not just another summer film sandwiched between other blockbuster wannabe's

4/ High profile guests...We are already hearing that Chris Hemsworth is coming back. I would add one other box office draw that would gain the general publics attention. To go a step further perhaps this individual should be someone who appeals to the international box office.

5/ Give the writers and creative team in general the time and support they need. Beyond's pre production was a train wreck. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to have a first time director (Orci) direct a crucial film in the series?...Then they kick him off the project and bring in a different team and force them to rush out a film...Unacceptable. TPTB should have more respect for the franchise than that.

 

[KGator]

As we all know by now, Beyond will do just fine, but it did not break out into the mega-blockbuster realm that Paramount wanted and we all expected for the 50th anniversary. I would set $500 million to $1 billion as that tier of success. So what should Paramount do?

Some ideas:

1) Start earlier..having a writer and production team as well as the main guest star in place is a beginning. Aim for 2018...which brings me to number 2..

2) Open it in May or June...a Memorial Day and 4th of July would have probably earned the movie an extra $30-35 million or so.

3) Have 2 or 3 "name" guest stars. Hemsworth and least one other for them to play against. I love Idris Elba, but apparently he was not as big a worldwide draw yet as Cumberbatch.

4) Market the movie with Hemsworth and Pine's faces all over the place.

5) If Pine and co are signed up for 2 films, then make it a two-parter that ends in the 5th film..a cliffhanger.

6) Go big...on a budget. $150 million sounds right, but they are going to have to go with more CGI/virtual backgrounds than JJ likes to make it epic but cheaper.

While I wouldn't say STB "did just fine", it should go in the black in the next couple of years and make a little money down the road. The ROI isn't going to be anything to get excited about but it should turn some profit.

1) I compare STB to XMen Apocalypse (though I think STB was the better film). Both were fine action movies to watch but both were entirely forgettable. The story for the next film can't just be the same old save the Universe or Earth from villian "insert famous actor here" yada, yada, yada. It needs to be something original that can capture the general public's imagination and build some excitement. I think breaking the formula is key. Let's just hope they break it for the better and not come up with something even worse (ie. copy something already done or that doesn't appeal to their target audience).

2) Opening closer to a holiday (either Memorial Day or Labor Day) is a good idea. STB was to far from Labor Day to get any real traction. Summer is not important as we've seen the fanbase is older and therefore not out of school for the summer. It will behave like a non-summer movie no matter where you put it on the calendar. And for goodness sake, don't release it right before other movies with a similar audience or blockbuster that are going to hog the entire weekend's patrons.

3) Better marketing is also key. If you cannot build excitement then this movie will die just like STB and a lot of other movies have this season. Some of that goes to the story (see item 1) and the rest goes to how the trailers are cut.

4) If you are trying to lure in viewers with specific actors, Hemsworth is fine although I'm not sure what he will bring. Outside of Marvel his recent movie run has been a list of disappointments. If only they had let Rihanna act in the movie (even a smaller role) rather than just sing the theme song, it might have boosted ticket sales.

5) $150-160 million sounds like a good budget if done correctly. Pushing ahead with production before the final script and plan is in place is a good way to go overbudget. Paramount needs to make sure everyone (Producers, director, actors, marketing, etc) is on the same page. This is probably the make or break film for the rebooted universe.

 

[PixelMagic]

If only they had let Rihanna act in the movie (even a smaller role) rather than just sing the theme song, it might have boosted ticket sales.

Although I loved the actress that played Jaylah, I wonder how much more the movie would have made if Rihanna had acted that part. They pushed Jaylah's character alot in marketing, but they could have done even more so if Rihanna played her.