Just to be clear, my article in no way implies the May date is changing
Oh boy! Is the May date changing again?
- Thread starter gastrof
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Just to be clear, my article in no way implies the May date is changing
I see what you're saying, but I don't think anything will ever remove the "geek" stigma that Trek has. It has become a part of Trek culture. In fact, for a lot of Trekkers, the "geek" stigma has become embraced as sort of a badge of honor.
This stigma will always be indentified with Trek whether we like it or not. No attempt at methods of trying to make Trek "cool" can ever change that. JJ Abrams shouldn't even try to make Trek non-geeky, because it will never happen.
^
^^He will need to make it look enough "unlike" old Star trek to get the average movie-goer's attention, while making it look enough like Star Trek to be, well, still Star Trek.
That's a difficult fence for him to straddle.
^^He will need to make it look enough "unlike" old Star trek to get the average movie-goer's attention, while making it look enough like Star Trek to be, well, still Star Trek.
That's a difficult fence for him to straddle.
That tactic makes me think this. It seems like a half baked bait and switch move that would most likely backfire on itself. Sure, in between stuffing his face with beer and Cheetos and taking his frustrations over the course of the game out on his spouse, the average Super Bowl fan would stop and be entranced by the Paramount logo and shiny images. But once the Star Trek title appears at the end, he'll most likely roll his eyes and resume using his spouse as a punching bag because Trek still has, if not always will have, that geek stigma. I don't see how raising people's expecatations and then dashing them with just two little words (Star Trek) is helping the Trek movie.
And to those who are comparing Trek XI to Batman Begins, I beg to differ. Once Schumacher's camp fest was done and over, there had been people, not fans but real people, who were anxious to see a Batman movie that brought him back to his roots. While at Trek, once ENT ended, so did people's fervor for more Trek and it was pretty much relegated to the pop culture dustbin. Plus, Batman has had more mainstream appeal than Trek in recent years.
I'm not wishing for it to fail, but Trek XI has to do something that goes beyond spatial anomolies and dropping shield percentages to get some major attention. Throwing some tidbits early in the game is a good start. Otherwise, it looks suspicious. As Shakespeare wrote: It is the empty vessel that makes the greatest sound.
IF they like what they're reading and seeing.
The vocal Internet minority hated everything they saw about "Nemesis" - and by the time the film came out, the bad word of mouth of the previous 18 months or so killed any chance of the film having a big USA opening weekend. There was simply no curiosity about "Nemesis", even from the fans. The cinemas showing it were almost empty.
Good, bad or otherwise, "ST V: The Final Frontier" and "Insurrection" still filled cinemas to the rafters in their opening weekends. "Nemesis" lost to J-Lo's "Maid in Mahattan".
Wouldn't you have said the same thing about Spider-Man before the movies?
This is true of Spider-man. Before the movies, I thought Spider-man was pretty stupid, and a loser of a superhero. In fact I didn't see either of the first two movies in the theater. But when I sat down and actually watched it, Spiderman 2 became one of my favorite movies. Same thing with Stardust
Spider-man 3 on the other hand...
But anyway, my point is, if it is a good movie, it will get its respect.
Whether or not people currently think it is nerdy...
Spider-man 3 on the other hand...
But anyway, my point is, if it is a good movie, it will get its respect.
Whether or not people currently think it is nerdy...
Absolutely. It's the filmmakers' job to produce a quality product and marketing's job to promote it to the intended audiences -- and for each, there can be a different approach. I wouldn't call near-total secrecy a very good approach for any audience, unless the studio is afraid it has a turkey (and then, as with not giving critics an advanced screening, the approach tends to keep audiences away).
But let's be fair, too -- Nemesis was an awful film. I convinced three very casual Star Trek fans to see it opening weekend -- and our theater actually was pretty full -- and was apologizing all the way home. One could argue that ST V and Insurrection were equally bad, but I never thought so.
Abrams and the studio are taking a "Barack Obama" fourth-quarter approach . . . it could work, but it's not working on me.
No secrecy at all - including the open bootlegging of all script versions - certainly didn't help "Insurrection" and "Nemesis". ST V at least had a few plot surprises.
We've had plenty of huge movies that were kept under wraps all the way up till a few weeks before premiere. You don't add secrecy to a potential blockbuster because you're scared it's a turkey before you even make it. In that case, you order a new script so it won't be as likely to be a turkey. JJ (and Paramount) ordered secrecy from the moment there were script drafts that could be leaked.
If the film opens - and is hugely popular, and a critical success - how many ST fans and members of the general public are going to refuse to go, simply to punish JJ for his secrecy?
Basil, you are free to do so. But I'll be there opening night.
And how much do you know about other movies 8 months in advance?
Look at it this way. We're as far away from Trek XI as we were from Iron Man October last year. We had a proper Iron Man trailer October last year. Trek XI doesn't even have that. And no, I don't consider Welding the Enterprise a proper trailer.
I repeat again, I'm not looking for the entire script, just something about the movie. At this point, I don't care if it's fake, at least we'll have something to talk about. Actually, fake spoilers might be a pretty good idea. It satisfies us with something to talk about the movie, and Abrams can keep his secrecy which he is going to ridiculous lengths to maintain.
"Wolverine" has been being filmed right here in Sydney, is to be premiering the same month as "Star Trek XI", and all I know about it is that Hugh Jackman reprises Wolverine and it's an origin story, supposedly set before the "X-Men" trilogy. I've seen nothing about costumes, sets, guest cast, or how close it will stick with "canon". Has there even been a trailer?
Isn't there supposed to be a new "Terminator" movie coming next May, too? I know nothing about that either. Nothing about stars, sets, costumes, posters, director, writers. I think I recall seeing a teaser trailer for that one.
Now, with ST, I'm regularly canvassing for information and I feel there's been plenty of official stuff so far - interviews with the stars and creators, the eight posters, titles of past licensed novels that inspired parts of the script, the teaser trailer, etc.. And even fans' closeups identifying the Starfleet uniform unique fabric weave, and spy cam pics of buildings, aliens, main characters, sets - that I feel quite well informed. And I'm really surprised no script excerpts have been bootlegged so far.
I get the feeling that May 2009 is going to be busy for movies. Releasing a few secrets here and there certainly isn't going to hurt. I think it would be better to do that than hype up everything at the last minute.
A
Amaris
Guest
Agreed!
I have to tell you, even seeing it a hundred times before, when I popped in the Iron Man DVD into my DVD player and watched the Trek XI teaser, I still had goose bumps. I am excited about this movie, and I don't want to see stills, no script leaks or anything like that. I want to go in, see the movie and be blown away by how great of a story it is.
J.
Drat. I acually had that in my hand today. At least, I assume it's also on the Region 4 version?
^
^^I had a false alarm yesterday evening...
I walked into my living room where my wife was watching the TV and I saw the Star Trek teaser. I thought (for just a split-second) that the TV ad campaign had begun. However, my wife then said "oh...I rented the Ironman DVD."
^^I had a false alarm yesterday evening...
I walked into my living room where my wife was watching the TV and I saw the Star Trek teaser. I thought (for just a split-second) that the TV ad campaign had begun. However, my wife then said "oh...I rented the Ironman DVD."
Terminator does have an official plot synopsis. True, it's only one paragraph (and not a very long one) but that's a hell of a lot more than Trek XI has.
Really? JJ has already told us that ST XI is a story that involves two Spocks, a villain named Nero who may or not be a Romulan, and how the crew we know in TOS came to be a team and working on the Enterprise together. We have a very long cast list, and know that Spock's previous captain, Christopher Pike, and both Kirk's and Spock's parents are involved.
That's a paragraph, even if not an official synopsis.
Exactly, it's not official. And it's pretty sad that we're still only guessing if Nero's a Romulan or not. It should be an established fact by now if he is or isn't.
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