Why does anyone care how much Paramount is going to make off this film?
I can understand people wanting this film to be a hit at the box office, but why would anyone care how much some bean counter accountant locked away in an office at Paramount is going to profit?
Because, like it or not, the movie business is a "business", which means its reason for existence is to provide a return on investment for the owners and/or shareholders of the corporation(s) that produces it.
In most cases, if a film loses money, the company or companies that footed the bill up front to produce it, are less likely to do it again.
Star Trek is fortunate in that regard, because it is a long-standing franchise that has made a ton of money over many decades from movies, TV, print, and merchandising. So even though Nemesis and ENT were considered failures, Paramount was willing to give Trek the benefit of the doubt, a second chance, if you will. And that's how we got ST09.
Had ST09 bombed catastrophically, especially given the big-budget treatment, it is doubtful we would have gotten any more Trek for a long time (if ever).
So Paramount's "bean counters" being able to show a profit from this film, and add to Paramount's bottom line, and add to the value of the company, is certainly good for the pockets of the shareholders, but it's also good for Trekkers, because it means we will certainly get more Trek.
I am always mystified why some people are so resentful of companies making a profit, especially when said company produces something you like(whether it's a movie, or a car, or a cell phone, or a box of cereal).
If said product makes money for the company, the company makes more of it. You win, because you get more of what you like, they win because they keep making money, and keep hiring and paying people who work for the company, so they can pay their rent and buy food for their children, etc.
I have never resented companies making money, because companies don't really "exist", except as a legal entity. Companies are just groups of people, who work for the company, or who own stock in the company(and most of those ordinary shareholders are still ordinary people who have the stock through their 401k accounts).
As we are seeing in America right now, when businesses tank, it hurts all of us, not just the so-called "fat-cats" who run them. If a business fails it puts people out of work, and if it's a really crucial business, the government will come in and bail them out, and then we ordinary taxpayers end up footing the bill.
Back to the original point of the post, movies aren't crucial businesses perhaps, in the same sense the banking or airline industry is, but from a Trekker standpoint, Paramount win = fan win.
**gets off soapbox**
Oh, for pete's sake -- I saw the X-Files movie. I forgot about that, too. And that Da Vinci Code. I keep editing.
It had never happened to me before.
