Why didn't Beyond do better at the Box Office?

[locutus101]

I haven't been keeping close tabs on the whole business, but you may find the answer to your question in this thread, which is specifically about the Discovery design, and changes thereto.

Discussion of the new series properly belongs in that forum, anyway, rather than here.

I used the forum GPS to get here, so I don't know where this thread is.

 

[shapeshifter]

I am guessing that they wanted to avoid too much polemic over this design since it didn't matter to them all that much.

When are Trek producers gonna learn they cannot please everyone.

I was really warming up to the design, anticipating seeing it in action with only some minor mods so if they screwed with it too much I likely will become polemical. <sharpens blades>

 

[locutus101]

When are Trek producers gonna learn they cannot please everyone.

I was really warming up to the design, anticipating seeing it in action with only some minor mods so if they screwed with it too much I likely will become polemical. <sharpens blades>

Well, then I suppose you'd be happy if it stayed that way (according to the adage that you can't please everyone).

 

[Kruezerman]

Marcus's faction--or what's left of it--finagles for power in the Earth government, outside the control of Starfleet until it has enough global influence. They wake Khan up again and convince him to help them with what he's best at: being a world leader.

They hope he'll just be a figure-head, but he's too much for them to handle. And the cry of xenophobic fear and hate and "Earth first" is more powerful than they expect. He champions a cause that the aliens need to go in order for Earth to be the great paradise everyone wants it to be. He designs a massive barrier or shield to completely encompass the planet, the moon, and all the orbiting stations/colonies. It's suppose to be completely impenetrable. Then Earth secedes from the Fed. And the Enterprise stands alone.

Obviously, aside from being kind of like Bab5, it's a little on the nose and heavy-handed. On the other hand it also seems almost too obvious.

That's a bit like Into Darkness, to be honest. Apart from the secession part.

 

[Tomalak]

Make Earth Great Again, build a space wall, and get Vulcan to pay for it.

 

[CorporalClegg]

And then the Borg come, knock the space wall down, and turn all the sheep into drones. And then... LocutuKhan!

This shit writes itself.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Make Earth Great Again, build a space wall, and get Vulcan to pay for it.

They can't Nero imploded them.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I'm sorry but how was Suicide Squad's marketing a mistake? Marketing's job is to bring people to the movie theater. The film will live and die on its own after that. People forget that early on projections were for this film to open in the 60s. Then the trailers started coming out and interest grew, Internet chatter picked up and projections increased.

There is a reason that WB has made over a billion dollars for something like 12 years in a row. The marketing strategy is created and implemented by the WB marketing and distribution division. They seem to have it down pretty well.

And having it down pretty well has paid off, since Suicide Squad's making lots of moolah despite critics hating it.

STID despite glowing reviews at launch has been an issue for trek fans since 2013 and hurt buzz for the movie that would follow it...Poor marketing IMO especially with the 1st trailer that did alot of damage...The July release date and a poor box office summer compared to 2015 didn't help either.

I wonder if the much-hyped-in-fandom boycott has had something to do with it after all?

 

[Mudd]

No.

 

[timtonruben359]

I've read a couple of articles about Beyond that were posted over the weekend (Forbes, Hollywood Reporter and Variety) and the following seems to be the common consensus:

1) Paramount's advertising campaign was a failure.
2) It's budget was too large to make it profitable in an over saturated market.
3) The last summer release date likely affected its box office.
4) Beyond is expected to do good business in China with limited competition - projection is about $150 million.
5) Beyond needs to earn a total box office of $350 million for Paramount to be a success.
6) ST4 will likely happen at a budget closer to the first film around $150 million.

 

[eyeresist]

I wonder if them not following up on threads from Into Darkness could have damaged turnout? A warmongering Starfleet (Marcus couldn't have been the only Federation leader in on it), Klingons on the brink of war, genetic supermen sitting on ice, Kirk being revived with Augment blood? All those things were left on the table and none were touched upon in Beyond.

I don't think viewers would actually be turned off by this lack of continuity. More likely the vagueness of the big threat was a problem.

That said, I think it would be cool if Khan came back for a later movie. Kirk tries to stop a war between two species being fomented by a mysterious third party, then comes the big reveal.

KIRK: What are you doing here?
KHAN: Winning.

I do think Khan could work as an ongoing, unpredictable threat, a sort of 21st century Ming the Merciless. A "magnificent bastard" who they sometimes have to team up with, but who will always betray them.
Maybe Trek movies need a rota of memorable villains who can be inserted into all sorts of stories, putting a face to the threat and generating reliable commercial appeal.

And Krall was a Maco, not Starfleet.

He was a former MACO who became captain of a Starfleet ship, the Franklin.

 

[Disco]

I've read a couple of articles about Beyond that were posted over the weekend (Forbes, Hollywood Reporter and Variety) and the following seems to be the common consensus:

1) Paramount's advertising campaign was a failure.
2) It's budget was too large to make it profitable in an over saturated market.
3) The last summer release date likely affected its box office.
4) Beyond is expected to do good business in China with limited competition - projection is about $150 million.
5) Beyond needs to earn a total box office of $350 million for Paramount to be a success.
6) ST4 will likely happen at a budget closer to the first film around $150 million.

So providing the China projections are accurate Beyond will be a success? $200m to date?

 

[NewHorizon]

So providing the China projections are accurate Beyond will be a success? $200m to date?

I sure hope so.

 

[locutus101]

I sure hope so.

I sure wish I had a piece of THAT action...

 

[PixelMagic]

No.

Oh, Dennis. I love your voice of reason among fandom. You give me hope. Heh.

 

[timtonruben359]

I've read a couple of articles about Beyond that were posted over the weekend (Forbes, Hollywood Reporter and Variety) and the following seems to be the common consensus:

5) Beyond needs to earn a total box office of $350 million for Paramount to be a success.
.

Sorry let me rephrase something, Beyond has to make $350 million to at least breakeven for Paramount and anything beyond that will bring Beyond into making a profit.

So providing the China projections are accurate Beyond will be a success? $200m to date?

If China does what these publications are projecting - then it would likely bring Beyond out of the red and into some level of profit for Paramount.

 

[Disco]

Where are you getting costs of $350m to make Beyond from? Everything I've seen has budget at $185m

 

[locutus101]

Where are you getting costs of $350m to make Beyond from? Everything I've seen has budget at $185m

Wow! The way you guys are arguing, one would think that it's your money that is at stake. I didn't know we had millionaires on this site.

 

[Disco]

I'm curious not arguing.

 

[Smellmet]

Where are you getting costs of $350m to make Beyond from? Everything I've seen has budget at $185m

Marketing budget on top of the production budget.