It's still not profit. A film has to make at least double its budget in box-office to break even, since the theaters and distributors keep part of the ticket price.
Seeing Star Trek V, summer of 89..
- Thread starter srombomb
- Start date
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
I remember that it was #1 on its opening weekend. $16 million I believe.
People had high hope after TVH...quickly dashed.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Yeah...I think after TWOK TSFS and TVH they thought the franchise was unbreakable or something. Like the hare in the race with the turtle.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
While lots of folks were disappointed, I think more were just staying home to watch TNG for free (though that was about the point I gave up watching the show for the better part of a year, the ratings never seemed to mess up despite crappy storytelling. Otherwise it would never have made it to season 3.)
Also, I remember several angry people not wanting to see the movie just because they were still pissed over the 'get a life' thing on SNL back in 86.
Also, I remember several angry people not wanting to see the movie just because they were still pissed over the 'get a life' thing on SNL back in 86.
I remember enjoying the humour and warmth of STTVH on Video, and i was hoping for the same in STV......i was not disappointed, STV might not have the greatest effects and story, but i love the character interactions, which makes me feel like I'm watching TOS again.....and that was a big winner for me.
I even bought and enjoyed the "Captains log, the making of star trek v", i think reading that book gave me a better appreciation of the movie.
But i remember the one overall feeling i had when i went to see STV way back in 1989, i know my fav cast were getting old, and i knew at some stage we would not get another movie with them, so i think that put me in a better frame of mind for the movie, knowing that my fave characters would no longer be appearing on screen anymore.......unfortunalty that came sooner than i expected with STTUC, but by god did that movie give them a proper send off.
So i have always loved STV, i see it as a fantastic fun romp with some old friends, and i grateful we got so much from TOS cast and that Trek era.
I even bought and enjoyed the "Captains log, the making of star trek v", i think reading that book gave me a better appreciation of the movie.
But i remember the one overall feeling i had when i went to see STV way back in 1989, i know my fav cast were getting old, and i knew at some stage we would not get another movie with them, so i think that put me in a better frame of mind for the movie, knowing that my fave characters would no longer be appearing on screen anymore.......unfortunalty that came sooner than i expected with STTUC, but by god did that movie give them a proper send off.
So i have always loved STV, i see it as a fantastic fun romp with some old friends, and i grateful we got so much from TOS cast and that Trek era.
Ya know, we can come up with a million theories as to why the movie didn't do well and why the film turned out as it did -- but the bottom line is, it just sucked.
Having said that, I'd still like for Paramount to redo the effects -- because at least then it would suck LESS.
Hey, even I would buy the DVD if they remastered it with new FX.
It'll still suck though.
Having said that, I'd still like for Paramount to redo the effects -- because at least then it would suck LESS.
Hey, even I would buy the DVD if they remastered it with new FX.
It'll still suck though.
Strangely enough, in the US, the National Enquirer had the storyline and details about the movie well before the release date. I recall being incredulous and suspicious of he quality of the film -- even when it was in production -- due to that NE article. Now, I don't normally trust the NE for anything but I did come to find that they had some kind of insider providing information on the Trek films there for awhile...and it was all pretty accurate!
With regard to TFF, they published descriptions of a shuttlecraft with WINGS -- I was like, WTF??!! WINGS???!!!! Well, when I saw the film, the shuttlecraft was nowhere to be seen but I read later in an interview with Nilo Rodis Jamero (the designer) that they originally planned for it to have wings. Maybe that's why it has those stubs on the side of hull...? Pre-production art of such a shuttlecraft can be found in The Art of Star Trek.
Anyway, a stupid idea...in a movie full of and based on stupid ideas.
The NE also had descriptions of God turning into the devil and the crew running through "hell" to escape him.
ALL of that was planned and it was pretty much (as I recall) all detailed in Shatner's book.
The National Enquirer, as a source of news is worthless but they were dead on with regard to STV.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Oh yeah! I remember that National Enquirer thing too! They also did one about the season 6 finale of TNG, Descent.
I remember that other rag, Star doing a 2-page thing before TNG started..I had that on my wall for months.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
On the original STAR WARS as well. I've looked for the issue for over a decade and never found it, but ENQUIRER ran the story (before CFQ and their double-issue, and 19 years before my story on it) about ILM being shut down for a week or so in late summer 1976, less than a year before the film came out, because Fox was evaluating their non-success (thus far) and the project as a whole.
It is something TOTALLY MISSING from the recent, supposedly complete MAKING OF STAR WARS book (which does mention the fall 1975 shutdown, a totally different issue, before Fox fully greenlit the film), something I've emailed the author about (and not gotten any reply, which is odd, because I noticed a few cribs from my piece in his parentheticals.)
The idea that Fox could have just eaten 6 or 7 mil and written off SW, or taken it away and had some studio hack try to finish it, really blows my mind, even now. I'm no SW fan, but it obviously had a huge impact in many ways (most not good) on the industry. The parallels between the fx problems on SW and on TMP are really strong in a lot of ways ... but of course on TMP they DID get rid of the vfx guys and start over.
That's interesting, Trev...
I am admittedly far less knowledgeable about SW history than Trek history -- but I had no idea the FX work on SW was in such trouble at one point. Pretty much all the press and books I've read on the making of Star Wars makes it seem like Lucas was in complete control the whole time and everything was smooth sailing.
It's always been kind of implied in the things I've read and watched on this subject that Lucas and Fox gave ILM all the time in the world to develop the new FX technology for SW.
But, it's interesting that the Enquirer blew the lid off the difficulties at the time.
It wasn't Shatner Resistant™.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Cinefex 65 ran about half of what I wrote on the subject; for the rest, you will have to wait for somebody to purchase my screenplay "A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY WITHOUT CGI ... " (soon to be a subject of litigation for any number of months, I'm sure.)
