Why not the Next Generation for STXI?

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

No movie in Hollywood makes a profit. 1989's Batman made a gazillion dollars and Warner Bros. said they lost money on it.

Same with television. Babylon 5 has been one of WB's best-selling DVDs and has made a gazillion dollars as well, but WB still insist that it hasn't made back the cost of producing the show. Funny, considering that they really didn't throw a lot of money at it; the show being made for little more than $800,000 per episode. Compare that with it's contemporaries which were made for more than a million per episode.

 

[Tralah]

After Insurrection, I'm surprised people still want a 24th Century movie.

I'd love a 24th Century movie. I'd just want it well done unlike Insurrection and Nemesis. I thoroughly enjoyed First Contact and it did well at the box office, so no reason why they can't do another good movie based in the 24th century. The question is would they attempt it again after those two failures? Most likely, no. 'Tis a shame.

 

[Luke Lightsaber]

What went wrong with the TNG movies was when they let the actors like Stewart and Spiner dictate screenplay ideas and actions. I know it's in their contracts, but the first draft of Insurrection sounded very cool, and would have made a great sequel, but Stewart wanted to play light comedy.

 

[Tralah]

Small hijack... Where can I read this first draft of Insurrection? I'm quite curious but I haven't located a copy of it yet. Thanks.

 

[Luke Lightsaber]

Oh, I don't know. I have an old Making of Insurrection book where it says that Pillar wrote a dark story where Picard has to hunt down Data, and kill him, but Data comes back at the end repaired, etc.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4558556a1860.html

"It's been 17 year since the original Enterprise warped off our screens, after 78 episodes, 22 animated segments and six feature films, leaving fans with spin-off shows The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Despite interstellar improvements in sets, costumes and special effects, none of the spin-offs held a star to the one that started it all with Kirk, Spock and McCoy."

I don't think the spin-offs have the power to create or maintain a franchise.

Aren't spin-offs generally part of the definition of a franchise? And DS9 and especially Voyager very definitely spun from TNG not TOS so I don't know if it's true that one spin-off can't spawn others.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4558556a1860.html

"It's been 17 year since the original Enterprise warped off our screens, after 78 episodes, 22 animated segments and six feature films, leaving fans with spin-off shows The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Despite interstellar improvements in sets, costumes and special effects, none of the spin-offs held a star to the one that started it all with Kirk, Spock and McCoy."

I don't think the spin-offs have the power to create or maintain a franchise.

Aren't spin-offs generally part of the definition of a franchise? And DS9 and especially Voyager very definitely spun from TNG not TOS so I don't know if it's true that one spin-off can't spawn others.

"All In The Family" spun off "Maude" which then spun off "Good Times".

Also, "All In The Family" spun off "The Jeffersons" which spun off "Checking In".

 

[Kryton]

"Love American Style" spun-off a segment called "Love and the Happy Days", which itself spawned both "Laverne & Shirley" and "Mork & Mindy".

The less said about "Joanie Loves Chachi" the better.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

The less said about "Joanie Loves Chachi" the better.

I fear that when all is said and done and the aliens find our little blue planet, they'll discover this show and realize that we were a doomed race from the start.

 

[Kryton]

I wonder if it will be like Gilligan's Island and the Thermians...

"Those POOR PEOPLE!"

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Youngsters today can't relate to old people on television, and the TNG actors are all old now.

Yes, but is this actually true, or just something TV and Movie producers believe to be true?

 

[Kryton]

I dunno...I still think the big green guy needs to get off the big screen and back to the small one.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Wasn't it the same with Dr Who getting a young doctor? Youngsters today can't relate to old people on television, and the TNG actors are all old now. Even in the late 80s, we quietly laughed at the geriatric TOS trio going out to new frontiers.

I remember in the late 80's when I saw TNG for the first time I didn't like the idea of a old-bald headed captain (I was a young teen at the time), but after years of watching it (most noteably after Star Trek VI came out) I got used to the idea and the show was second nature to me. So I can understand how the younger generation may not like the idea of old actors... but Stewart was the only one that was really "old." In Voyager, a lot of the actors seemed kind of young.

 

[Tyberius]

Nemesis did not make money. It made a little over 67 million worldwide to date at the box office. It had a production budget of 60 million. That then has to be at least doubled to cover the cost of advertising, print production, etc. That makes the entire cost at least 120 million. So Nemesis lost 53 million, maybe more. That's a dismal failure. And it's doubtful if DVD sales and rentals made up the difference.

Don't trust Hollywood accountants.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

Nemesis did not make money. It made a little over 67 million worldwide to date at the box office. It had a production budget of 60 million. That then has to be at least doubled to cover the cost of advertising, print production, etc. That makes the entire cost at least 120 million. So Nemesis lost 53 million, maybe more. That's a dismal failure. And it's doubtful if DVD sales and rentals made up the difference.

Don't trust Hollywood accountants.

These numbers are not from studio accountants. They are from BoxOfficeMojo.com, an independent box office sales reporting service used by the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNN, CNBC, and Fox News.

 

[Tyberius]

Nemesis did not make money. It made a little over 67 million worldwide to date at the box office. It had a production budget of 60 million. That then has to be at least doubled to cover the cost of advertising, print production, etc. That makes the entire cost at least 120 million. So Nemesis lost 53 million, maybe more. That's a dismal failure. And it's doubtful if DVD sales and rentals made up the difference.

Don't trust Hollywood accountants.

These numbers are not from studio accountants. They are from BoxOfficeMojo.com, an independent box office sales reporting service used by the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNN, CNBC, and Fox News.

Where are the production budgets?

In general, a movie production is a closely held corporation that disbands after the movie is released. Actual production figures are not readily available as the financials of the corporation are not subject to independent review. For tax purposes, a Hollywood production always loses money. The marketing numbers are inflated to have the entire production cost marginally exceed the revenues from ticket sales.

 

[Rarewolf]

Nemesis.

The TOS cast still got the Undiscovered Country after The Final Frontier

 

[Franklin]

Nemesis.

The TOS cast still got the Undiscovered Country after The Final Frontier

TFF still made a profit and Trek was still a lucrative property in 1989.

Not the same in either case with NEM.

 

[Kryton]

And TFF got a product placement tie-in with Kraft Marshmellons.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Youngsters today can't relate to old people on television, and the TNG actors are all old now.

Yes, but is this actually true, or just something TV and Movie producers believe to be true?

No, it's true, the TNG actors are all old now.