Why didn't Beyond do better at the Box Office? It has done okay so far, but we have sci fi movies like Captain America Civil War and Star Wars: The Force Awakens have done way better. To be fair it did better then other Paramount films release this summer like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
Because movie audiences are children, this time of year. They are out-of-school and want to see the Fireworks display of a good, CGI gore-fest. "Ooh! Ahh!" They will find it hokey, not creative, that music played such a central role. They aren't going to see the character moments as anything other than fluff, surrounding the action scenes. They aren't going to look for growth in the characters, the dramatic structure, or be entertained by any of the elements surrounding the main characters. This movie will age well, but general audiences are resistant to having wonderment at the exploration of space. We aren't in the time of the Apollo missions, anymore. They are resistant to learning anything, because school is a drag, so what is dramatically interesting about this movie, is going to go over their head--that's if they ever get to the point they are taught such things in school.
Star Trek is a symptom of a larger disease. We do not value culture in our society--such things are seen as passe. Values. Morality. Hope. Vision and Dreams. Long talks about what is important. Listening to your elders talk about the past, what they have learned. Everything has to feel good. Everything is disposable, because we only value the new. No one wants to think, and studios are focused on making money, not having their films last beyond an expiration date--when they leave the movie theater--and rake in tremendous amounts of money as tent-poles for the studio's bottom-line. Why should such things matter? Because there is inherent worth in living a moral life, getting information and processing it from every aspect of your life, and having an attention span. We are living unfulfilled lives. We think what is superficial, trite, full of tropes, is good, what is original and creative, is boring, or ridiculous. Higher thought. Imagination. What is going away, what is disposed, is valuing history, lineage, honoring our past. We value ignorance, when it sounds powerful and certain, over what is intelligent, nuanced, and real.
I know each generation says "It wasn't like this in my day," but what is the aesthetic value of the song, "Work" by Rihanna? What is the aesthetic value of a song like "Sometimes" by Britney Spears? Do you see the difference? Irreverence, without purpose or satire, is just being vulgar.
So, they managed to straddle the line between spectacle and creativity, and lost their audience. Marketing aside, I see it as a symptom of things I see all over the culture. The abandonment of the Pontiac Silverdome, while the Coliseum still stands. The value in having Donald Trump as a candidate. And Star Trek being rewarded for its superficiality.
