Do you believe this movie will be a financial success?

[Amaris]

I said "Yes", but with a caveat that I believe it will be successful in comparison to all of the previous movies, whether that will translate into box office blockbuster success, we'll have to see.

J.

 

[The Evil Dead]

The studio seems to be confident in the film, I suspect it will do modestly well in it's opening weekend and once people hear that the movie is actually damn good it will stick around theaters for a few weeks doing strong business.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

Said it before, I'll say it again: there has never been a Trek film that got this kind of corporate partnering like this before and in particular I'm talking about Esurance and Intel. I think it says a lot for a film when other companies want to spend money to promote to get in on the good cheese.

Also, Burger King is going to have a whole line of Trek toys (the last fast food promoo was TSFS withTaco Bell and the glasses) and Playmates has gotten the license back for Trek toys which means mass production and distribution.

I don't think there's any risk in this at all. It's going to be phenomenal blockbuster. Fandango did a poll and determined that this is the most anticipated movie of summer by a wide margin among men.

Whether ir's any good or not remains to be seen but it will make a shitload (fancy economics measurement) of money.

 

[JoeZhang]

I have a feeling this is going to do really well - a few friends who know I'm a trek fan have commented that the new film "doesn't look like it sucks" and will go to see it.

 

[Kirk1980]

I still wonder how many people will back up their curiosity with currency.

 

[Frontier]

I can't vote, the options are too narrow.

I think it'll be a moderate success. Very middle ground. It'll earn it's budget back. Not much more.

I think it'll get a lot of old trekkies curious. I think all current trekkies but the haters will see it, just to know. I think it might even attract some new people to the franchise.

I don't think it's going to "mainstream" star trek, though. It's not going to make trek into wars. Star Trek has 40+ years of "nerd" stigma behind it. You can't wipe that out. Not without a good 20-30 years of time passing without it being relevant to pop-culture. Considering the last movie was 2002, and last series ended 2005... well is 4 years. How much can people's impressions change of something in 4 years, no matter how "cool" or "good" it looks, or critics hail it?

I think it's going to end up being a middle-ground, moderate, toss-up 'success' -- it will not fail, it will not fly to new heights. It won't be Nemesis, it won't be The Voyage Home. If it earns it's budget, it'll become the highest grossing Trek movie, as the budget's 150 million I believe, but... all in all... I can't see the average NASCAR fan, or Wrestling fan, or non-fanboy Star Wars movie-goer, going to see this either. Maybe 10-15% of each such crowd, but not the whole of them.

We'll see. Part of me hopes I'm wrong and it's a huge success, a deeper part of me hopes it's a failure, even though I know such will hurt the franchise. As it is, I'll be there opening day to see it because I simply have to, as a fan, KNOW. I have to know if it's good or bad.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

This movie seems to be getting the right "early buzz" and Paramount doesn't seem shy about promoting it, so I think it very well could be financially successful.

I don't subscribe to the "Star Trek Stigma" idea that average movie-goers think Trek is only for geeks. People may claim that Star Trek has a "geeks only" stigma, but that doesn't make it true. Average movie-goers (like me) are bandwagon jumpers, so if this film gets some good early word-of-mouth, then those average movie-goers will be there in the theater regardless of an alledged "stigma".

If you read the postings in the "trailer reaction" thread, what the media is saying and what the audiences in the theater are saying isn't matching up...

 

[Corinthian7]

Yes it will be a financial success, I'd even go so far as it will make more at the box office than Nemesis and Serenity put together.

 

[Michael Chris]

Yes it will be a financial success, I'd even go so far as it will make more at the box office than Nemesis and Serenity put together.

Well, unfortunately if it just does that it won't come anywhere to being a success.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

This movie seems to be getting the right "early buzz" and Paramount doesn't seem shy about promoting it, so I think it very well could be financially successful.

I don't subscribe to the "Star Trek Stigma" idea that average movie-goers think Trek is only for geeks. People may claim that Star Trek has a "geeks only" stigma, but that doesn't make it true. Average movie-goers (like me) are bandwagon jumpers, so if this film gets some good early word-of-mouth, then those average movie-goers will be there in the theater regardless of an alledged "stigma".

If you read the postings in the "trailer reaction" thread, what the media is saying and what the audiences in the theater are saying isn't matching up...

I don't understand your post...what specifically isn't matching up?

I read that thread. I couldn't glean anything definite from it...most people said the reaction was neutral, some said it was positive and a a small few said they saw some negative reaction.

It's just a trailer, so I expect most average people to be "neutral". I'm a Star Trek fan, I loved the trailer, but the stranger sitting next to me could not tell that since I did not display any outward reaction.

By the way, the only reactions I heard in the theater was a smattering of two or three people calmly saying "cool". But don't forget, that's a group of people who are pre-disposed to being able to enjoy a movie about a comic-book story.

 

[Warp Coil]

Media reaction to the trailers and footage screenings has been quite positive. JJ and the cast have traveled around the world and made appearances to really hype the film. Paramount is investing a lot of resources into marketing the film, releasing multiple trailers and spending money on a Superbowl ad. Photos and articles of Pine and Quinto have ppeared in magazines. There's a whole new lineup of Trek merchandise coming out, only some of which focuses on the new film. I haven't seen this type of push from Paramount to promote a Trek film in... well... ever (at least, not in all the years that I've been a fan, since 1990 or so).

For once, Paramount is actually doing everything right. They're going out of their way to let people know that a new Trek movie is coming and that it's going to be a whole new entity. The trailers make it very clear that "this isn't your grandpa's Star Trek". This is something much larger, and is targeted at the average Joe who likes to see big Hollywood blockbusters.

There's also the creative talent behind the project. I'm very happy with J.J. Abrams - I like his other work. He would be on the short list of people I could imagine taking over the franchise. And while I haven't seen the film yet, I think I am going to be very happy with the end result. I have faith in Abrams to pull this off. Orci & Kurtzman seem to be very enthusiastic about the project as well. Overall, I'm happy with the casting. I'm particularly happy to see that Leonard Nimoy is involved, and that he's so supportive and excited about the film.

There's a lot to like right now. The buzz and energy is quite positive. If any Trek film is positioned to be successful, this one is.

 

[seigezunt]

My gut says no, for as good a movie as I suspect it may be. I just don't see people responding to a Trek movie in huge numbers.

I will be glad to be proven wrong.

 

[Flake]

Regular cinema goers make their future movie decisions based on trailers, reviews, advertising and word of mouth?

Trailers - are great, so thats one out of four.
Reviews - None yet, so we don't know.
Advertising - Sourced from the trailers, which are good.
Word of Mouth - Don't know yet.

If they all are good then that fact it is Star Trek won't enter the equation, based on what they/we have seen it doesn't take a lot of intelligence to see this is totally different to what has come before and the reviews should emphasize this and also state that you can watch the movie without having seen a minute of Star Trek.

Therefore it will be a success.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Your worst guess? I didn't want to leave the post blank..

Yeah because if you did the mods may have locked your post already

 

[Temis the Vorta]

After that trailer? Hells yeah.

What the movie needs for success is just to be kick-ass, big-budget, glossy Hollywood fun. Much crappier movies than Trek XI is likely to be make big bucks.

Last summer's Indy disaster was the third biggest box office champ of the year. Iron Man barely beat it to #2. The highly disappointing Hancock was #4. Don't worry about the movie being true to canon. Don't even worry about it being good. It can make plenty of money even if it fails at both.

Regular cinema goers make their future movie decisions based on trailers, reviews, advertising and word of mouth?

It's 90% word of mouth anymore. Reviews and advertising count for nothing. Trailers just get their attention - which is a crucial factor to jump starting the word of mouth but can't carry financial success past the first weekend. That's when word of mouth takes over.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

This movie seems to be getting the right "early buzz" and Paramount doesn't seem shy about promoting it, so I think it very well could be financially successful.

I don't subscribe to the "Star Trek Stigma" idea that average movie-goers think Trek is only for geeks. People may claim that Star Trek has a "geeks only" stigma, but that doesn't make it true. Average movie-goers (like me) are bandwagon jumpers, so if this film gets some good early word-of-mouth, then those average movie-goers will be there in the theater regardless of an alledged "stigma".

If you read the postings in the "trailer reaction" thread, what the media is saying and what the audiences in the theater are saying isn't matching up...

I don't understand your post...what specifically isn't matching up?

I read that thread. I couldn't glean anything definite from it...most people said the reaction was neutral, some said it was positive and a a small few said they saw some negative reaction.

It's just a trailer, so I expect most average people to be "neutral". I'm a Star Trek fan, I loved the trailer, but the stranger sitting next to me could not tell that since I did not display any outward reaction.

By the way, the only reactions I heard in the theater was a smattering of two or three people calmly saying "cool". But don't forget, that's a group of people who are pre-disposed to being able to enjoy a movie about a comic-book story.

Then you get what I'm saying, even if you don't realize it.

You say the movie has "good buzz", and if you read the "pro media" trailer reviews that would seem to be true.

The "butts in seats" audience reactions are a bit more diverse, tending towards at best indifference with a few extreme reactions for or against.

I do not call that "good buzz" where it COUNTS...among those who are being asked to plunk $10 down for a ticket.

 

[Michael Chris]

Yeah, but none of the trailers for the Dark Knight got any reaction at any movies I went to either.

 

[pookha]

our local imax announced the movies they would be showing for spring and summer.
right now they have watchman.
next is aliens vs monsters, then star trek and then harry potter.

 

[Amaris]

It looks like I'm going to have to make a trip out to our IMAX. It's 30 miles away and in a bad part of that town, but I'll endure the gunshots as long as they don't cut over the dialogue.

J.

 

[Phily B]

Its one of the first Trek films to get a massive push, and budget. From the trailers, and early reviews I can certainly see why. I hope it does well and the only sticking point against it is the stigma of it being Star Trek, it'd be pretty funny if Star Wars was on TV while Trek was back doing business in the theatres. TNG might've been popular, and DS9 was good but after TNG ended and TOS was hitting its sixth movie, it started to become a big silly.