Variety: 'Star Trek' moved from Christmas '08 to May '09
- Thread starter Lawrence B
- Start date
The Star Trek that we are getting is going to be a whole new era for the franchise IMO. I am a die hard TOS fan at heart and absolutely love anything that has to do with the 60's television show. While my favorite Trek movie to date is First Contact, I have been waiting years for a TOS movie that would pay homage to what was and pave way for what will be, and I am so excited that we are going to get that. I don't mind having to wait until May - if it means a better movie and a better time for the movie to come out; then I am cool with it.
No try reading the whole post another six months won't make much of a difference at the box office is what I said, it's a waste of time to wait another six months for any movie is also what I said and that's also not a contradicion. There's no proof that waiting another six months will help the movie at the box office and the wait isn't worth it for any movie.
TheCanon72
Lieutenant
However, there's no proof that waiting another six months will not help the movie at the box office and the wait isn't worth it for any movie. 
While I agree that there's probably no benefit to waiting (assuming that the reason given is the real one, obviously!)... but there's also no HARM in waiting, other than to delay profits to the stockholders (of which I am one).DWF said:
No try reading the whole post another six months won't make much of a difference at the box office is what I said, it's a waste of time to wait another six months for any movie is also what I said and that's also not a contradicion. There's no proof that waiting another six months will help the movie at the box office and the wait isn't worth it for any movie.
Clearly, whether they're right or wrong, SOMEONE in a position of authority on at PPC believe, without question, that they film will be more profitable if they do this.
That is the ONLY reason that they'd do this sort of thing, after all. (unless they're just masking concerns that they may have to reshoot bits and pieces and want some extra "buffer" in the schedule just in case!)
Apparently, the decision makers at Paramount feel that releasing Star Trek in May 2009 will give them the opportunity to maximize thier share of the boxoffice take during that time frame.
If moviegoers are going to spend $X during May 2009 on movie tickets, and Paramount can increase their percentage of that $X significantly by releasing Star Trek instead of some other movie (or no movie), then that is a legitimate reason to reschedule.
I don't know why so many people here think they know Paramount's business better than they do.
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The fact that many decisions made by studio executives don't work out well gives people the unfounded notion that by application of common sense they could be right more frequently.
Of course, what's the batting average of the best major league hitters out there right now? Does the fact that they strike out quite often justify the assumption that one of us could outscore them?
Of course, what's the batting average of the best major league hitters out there right now? Does the fact that they strike out quite often justify the assumption that one of us could outscore them?
Give me a shot of Decadurobolin and some Winstrol and I'll direct rings around Abrams, dude.
Yeah it totally sucks that Paramount is postponing the release and so yes it totally sucks that we the devoted fans will now have to wait even longer to see it. And yes technically it is being delayed apparently due to the hopeful chance of the movie making even more money, however, isn't that what everyone really wants here? What exactly will it mean if the movie can make even more money if it is delayed until May? Well, more money means more ticket sales, which means a lot more people going to the theater to see Star Trek. Paramount is fully aware of us, the large fan base, and knows that they are automatically guaranteed at least a certain number of ticket sales no matter what because of the die hard Trek fan base. But as we have seen in the past, the large fan base does not guarantee a successful movie or a successful series.
Now I agree that if Enterprise had been better it might have lasted longer and yes if the last two movies had been better, etc, etc.
But this is where we are now and so what Paramount really wants at this point is the exact same thing that all of us Star Trek fans really want, which is big box office numbers. But to get the larger ticket sales you have to also get non die hard fans to go and see it as well. That means it not only has to appeal to the large number of regular movie goers who are not fans who will hopefully also flock to the theaters and pay to see it but it has to be released with as little competition for those ticket sales as possible. The regular movie goers, also called the general public is key for a very successful movie and it is these regular movie goers who added with all of the rest of us fans that will give the movie an even better chance of being a big success. I don't think I have to explain to everyone here why it so important for this latest Star Trek film to be big and very successful. Paramount is aware of that as well which is I think the main reason why they have changed the release date. Star Trek is one of if not the most successful franchise for Paramount and so they want this latest movie to succeed just as much as we do.
I think they didn't watch their franchise as closely as they should have these past ten years or so as Berman and his crew ran with it doing whatever they wanted while Paramount probably sat back assuming that it would keep being successful and that those "in charge" knew what they were doing. Then they sadly saw as we all did as it started to falter and fail. They watched as the last two movies didn't do well, Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek Nemesis (2002) and adding insult to injury "Enterprise" didn't have the viewership that they enjoyed with all of the other series that have come out since TOS.
So Paramount stepped in and started damage control to try and save what they still had before their Star Trek franchise totally tanked.
Now Paramount wants the same thing we want, obviously for a bit different reasons but the end results are the same. And in a way Paramount is looking out for us, not against us, while they look out for themselves and their franchise.
Now, we want this movie to be successful so we will have more Star Trek, right? Paramount wants it to be successful as well so they can make more Star Trek, which means for them for money. Sorry, but thats how the entertainment industry works folks, but if Paramount plays this well and times the movies release as best as they can giving it a better chance for a larger audience to see it and so getting a bigger percentage of movie ticket sales, then that will make the movie even that much more successful. That is a win win for them AND for us.
So as much as this totally sucks right now, in the long run, the big picture, etc this should be an even better thing for us Star Trek fans.
And in the meantime if it also gives the movie makers even more time to tweak and make as good film as they can possible make given the extra bonus time, then so much the better.
So yes, waiting a few more months may in fact actually be a good move here, not only for Paramount but good for Trek and for us fans.
Now I agree that if Enterprise had been better it might have lasted longer and yes if the last two movies had been better, etc, etc.
But this is where we are now and so what Paramount really wants at this point is the exact same thing that all of us Star Trek fans really want, which is big box office numbers. But to get the larger ticket sales you have to also get non die hard fans to go and see it as well. That means it not only has to appeal to the large number of regular movie goers who are not fans who will hopefully also flock to the theaters and pay to see it but it has to be released with as little competition for those ticket sales as possible. The regular movie goers, also called the general public is key for a very successful movie and it is these regular movie goers who added with all of the rest of us fans that will give the movie an even better chance of being a big success. I don't think I have to explain to everyone here why it so important for this latest Star Trek film to be big and very successful. Paramount is aware of that as well which is I think the main reason why they have changed the release date. Star Trek is one of if not the most successful franchise for Paramount and so they want this latest movie to succeed just as much as we do.
I think they didn't watch their franchise as closely as they should have these past ten years or so as Berman and his crew ran with it doing whatever they wanted while Paramount probably sat back assuming that it would keep being successful and that those "in charge" knew what they were doing. Then they sadly saw as we all did as it started to falter and fail. They watched as the last two movies didn't do well, Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek Nemesis (2002) and adding insult to injury "Enterprise" didn't have the viewership that they enjoyed with all of the other series that have come out since TOS.
So Paramount stepped in and started damage control to try and save what they still had before their Star Trek franchise totally tanked.
Now Paramount wants the same thing we want, obviously for a bit different reasons but the end results are the same. And in a way Paramount is looking out for us, not against us, while they look out for themselves and their franchise.
Now, we want this movie to be successful so we will have more Star Trek, right? Paramount wants it to be successful as well so they can make more Star Trek, which means for them for money. Sorry, but thats how the entertainment industry works folks, but if Paramount plays this well and times the movies release as best as they can giving it a better chance for a larger audience to see it and so getting a bigger percentage of movie ticket sales, then that will make the movie even that much more successful. That is a win win for them AND for us.
So as much as this totally sucks right now, in the long run, the big picture, etc this should be an even better thing for us Star Trek fans.
And in the meantime if it also gives the movie makers even more time to tweak and make as good film as they can possible make given the extra bonus time, then so much the better.
So yes, waiting a few more months may in fact actually be a good move here, not only for Paramount but good for Trek and for us fans.
Well, not really, because wanting and getting are two entirely different things. Just because Paramount wants Trek to be a mainstream summer blockbuster doesn't mean that it will be a big summer blockbuster. I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat thining that Paramount wants to drive a silver stake through Trek's still beating heart.
What I think is that the competition for the mainstream moviegoer is simply too stiff for Trek to make the kind of money it has to make. Slashdotters are laughing their asses off at the plot so far (mostly ye olde time travel) most mainstreamers see Trek and Trekies as nerdy, hardly the image to project to a date. It could overcome the resistance after a week or two IF there weren't other very appealing movies being released right around it. The boomers loves their Tom Hanks, and his movie is released 5/22, teens love comicbook movies, and there's one out 5/2, with a connection to the highly successful X-men series.
I think between those two movies, that pretty well eliminates the two main groups other than hard-core Trekkies who would have made up the "mainstream" audience that would see the film.
I'm not saying the film is bad, just that the franchise doesn't have enough appeal to get people to pass up X-men and Tom Hanks.
Oh, this film is definitely going to have enough appeal to compete with the Hanks film and the X-Men spinoff.
Are Slashdotters really representative of the general audience Paramount is so keen to reach? Two of the most successful Star Trek movies had time travel as a key element (IV and First Contact). Back to the Future movies were quite popular and they were all about time travel. I find it hard to believe that the a time travel plot concerning Star Trek would be that big of a turn off for people unless they were already predisposed against giving that sort of movie a chance.
What? TNG Seasons 1 & 2 and VOY Seasons 1-7 only add up to 9 years.
Well, they're Science fiction fans, so I *hope* they're somewhat in the target audience. My point was simply that outside of the circle jerk known as TrekBBS, this movie is being greeted with a lot of skeptisism. True Unix geeks don't realistically speak for the entirety of the potential viewing audience, but I can't say that a scifi film being laughed at by scifi lovers is a *good* sign.
It's a simple enough concept -- if the people who should be interested in the film are laughing and the ones predicting its success are the ones with some sort of vested interest in the success of the film -- that's trouble. I don't think Trekkies and Paramount Execs are exactly unbiased observers the way Slashdotters are. If you know of any more general TV/Movie sites, that would probably be better than slashdot. I just don't know them.
I'm not saying a complete bomb, just not a blockbuster.
Thanks for your reply. I knew nothing about Slashdotters until your response, but if they're science fiction fans, I don't think they're a good representation of the GENERAL audience that Paramount hopes it will reach. When they say "general audience" I assume they mean people who aren't usually science fiction fans.
Knowing now that Slashdotters are science fiction fans, actually makes me MORE skeptical that their complaints are a true barometer of the movie's potential. I've seen science fiction fans of ALL types bash other science fictions shows that don't suit their tastes. Star Wars for example, remember how much ridicule the prequels got and still get? They still made plenty of money despite the fact that many science fiction fans turn their noses up at them and berate them every chance they get.
I really think it's too early to tell at this stage. When the new trailer is made that shows the actors in actual scenes, when the advertising is stepped up, I think then we'll be able to get a better idea based on how people respond if Paramount has made a disastrous mistake and overshot with this movie or not.
Knowing now that Slashdotters are science fiction fans, actually makes me MORE skeptical that their complaints are a true barometer of the movie's potential. I've seen science fiction fans of ALL types bash other science fictions shows that don't suit their tastes. Star Wars for example, remember how much ridicule the prequels got and still get? They still made plenty of money despite the fact that many science fiction fans turn their noses up at them and berate them every chance they get.
I really think it's too early to tell at this stage. When the new trailer is made that shows the actors in actual scenes, when the advertising is stepped up, I think then we'll be able to get a better idea based on how people respond if Paramount has made a disastrous mistake and overshot with this movie or not.
Your argument makes sense, if you proceed from the assumption that "people are laughing."
I haven't seen even the tiniest hint that this is the case. If I've missed it, perhaps someone can point out where, when, how, etc...
Most people I know (very few of which are "trek geeks" at any level!) think that this looks pretty cool, and more so than any other "Trek" they've seen decades.
We'll see, obviously... a bit later than expected, but not all that far away, still!
I mean... people were FAR more likely to laugh at "those Dungeons and Dragons nerds" who got into Orcs and Dwarfs and Elves and so forth. But Peter Jackson's movies didn't get laughed at...
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