Something I rather appreciate about that article is how it highlights how Paramount is approaching the next feature film (yeah, we shall see, etc) with a mind toward the franchise’s well-established box office ceiling.
This is the sort of thing that dominated so much discourse over the relative financial success of the three most recent outings, most notably Star Trek Into Darkness, whose $455 million 2013 global cume was only modestly impressive. It was the highest of the three, and it couldn’t crack half a billion.
Much has been said on the subject of whether it might have had stronger legs if it was perceived as a better film, but a lot can be gleaned without the hundred-page forum threads. Internationally, Star Trek is not a big brand, for starters. These movies weren’t going to go where Paramount wanted them to go without that.
If they can put out a new film - if, indeed, but if they can - and that film eyes something more in this ballpark, a lot of suit-wearing people are going to be happier with the results. And while none of us, at least that I know, belong to the subset of viewers who wear those suits at Paramount, we can be glad to know the franchise isn’t underperforming on the big screen in large part due to the unavoidable relentless conundrum of ballooning budgets that have not, nor will they ever, fit the bill for Star Trek’s broad appeal.
tl;dr Let’s see a movie go into production that’s cost-effective enough for a $455 million haul to be regarded more optimistically.
As for Section 31, it knows its audience and it will have been budgeted accordingly; that’s the impression I get from all this. So yeah. Good start!