I think the reason TMP was a disappointment was that it took so long, had so many missteps, had a humongous budget over run, had to have whole scenes revised after they were filmed and then refilmed. It was remarkable they were able to salvage as much of it as they did.
Why wasn't TWOK more commercially successful?
- Thread starter Captain Worf
- Start date
The box office numbers actually being offered by the studio to the public when ST:TMP finished its first run in 1980 put the take at 56 million domestic. I have no idea how the higher numbers that have been published in more recent years were derived.
People in the U.S. "didn't keep going in droves" to see this movie - it was hard to get in on the first week, but the big venues (like the MacArthur, where it had its world premiere) were not selling out shows by the second, and within six weeks you had to hunt for the movie in a metropolitan area like Washington, DC. Many cinema owners were frustrated with it because it did its best business early (in those days, at least, the studio and distributors took a huge chunk of first week's box office, with the exhibitors receiving a greater percentage as each week passed - hence the enthusiasm of theater owners for movies like Star Wars, which had great legs. Trek did not). Not only did critics fairly dismiss the movie but word-of-mouth was not good. It was not Star Wars, Close Encounters or even Superman.
The non-fans I saw it with were unimpressed ("this is what trekkies have been fussing about all these years?"), and most of the Trek fans I knew were disappointed.
People in the U.S. "didn't keep going in droves" to see this movie - it was hard to get in on the first week, but the big venues (like the MacArthur, where it had its world premiere) were not selling out shows by the second, and within six weeks you had to hunt for the movie in a metropolitan area like Washington, DC. Many cinema owners were frustrated with it because it did its best business early (in those days, at least, the studio and distributors took a huge chunk of first week's box office, with the exhibitors receiving a greater percentage as each week passed - hence the enthusiasm of theater owners for movies like Star Wars, which had great legs. Trek did not). Not only did critics fairly dismiss the movie but word-of-mouth was not good. It was not Star Wars, Close Encounters or even Superman.
The non-fans I saw it with were unimpressed ("this is what trekkies have been fussing about all these years?"), and most of the Trek fans I knew were disappointed.
I was 10 when TWOK came out in 1982. I remember thinking, "Well the first one was really dull. Why should the second one be any better?" so I never went to see it. In fact, I didn't see it until AFTER I saw TSFS and my interest in Trek was re-ignited (The DC comic book by Mike W. Barr and Ricardo Villagran had a lot to with it, too).
To this day I've never seen TWOK theatrically.
To this day I've never seen TWOK theatrically.
I think it comes from inflation adjusting. Basically when adjusted for inflation, $239 Million worth of unhappy movie goers saw "The Motion Picture."
I wasn't. Unhappy, that is.
I think Entertainment Tonight said something similar about the time of the release of ST:TSFS.
I've always enjoyed The Motion Picture.
There is a 70mm presentation of TWOK in Detroit on July 22nd and 23rd at the beautifully restored Redford Theater movie palace for only $5.00.
http://redfordtheatre.com/movie/
http://redfordtheatre.com/movie/
That's a good question. I think the period of the "original theatrical release" for ST:TMP was considered to be the three months or so that it played in first-run theaters here. They were still saying 56 million at the time that it was first reported (late 1980) that Paramount was considering a follow-on television series.
