Why Star Trek Nemesis failed to reach the heights of TWOK

[davidcarter123]

That's right but due to this people are unable to make out which one to watch first lol.

 

[JarodRussell]

... and release it next to one of the most anticipated films of the year.

Maid in Manhattan?

 

[Jeyl]

... and release it next to one of the most anticipated films of the year.

Maid in Manhattan?

I didn't mean that movie, I meant The Two Towers. Maid in Manhattan was a surprise. When TTT was due to be released the following week, that's pretty freaking close.

 

[Maurice]

These days films live or die based on their opening weekend grosses, and there are only so many weekends around peak moviegoing periods, so if there was no major competition on its OWN opening weekend, the Nemesis tanked not because of Two Towers or some other film, but because there wasn't much excitement about it. Maybe there was some competing film out that same weekend...that I don't know.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Maybe there was some competing film out that same weekend...that I don't know.

Nothing spectacular. Sadly, ST fandom had reached a point where fan clubs were not booking out rows of seats for their members on preview and premiere night. No one was queueing round the block.

Here in Australia, I attended, or helped to organise, large fan-attended preview screenings of "Wrath of Khan" to "Insurrection". Hundreds of fans, many in costume. (I missed the TMP premiere, but that movie got me into fandom.) By "First Contact", I'd had to walk away from my club due to politics and in-fighting, but I still received invitations to ST events openings from rival groups (or Paramount itself).

Down Under, "The Two Towers" premiere was still several weeks away (Dec 26) and "Maid in Manhattan" even further away (late Jan). "Nemesis" won its weekend Down Under, but the cinemas were still devoid of patrons. A 7pm suburban screening was about one-quarter full. Opening night! No queues of fans in uniforms, no group bookings. So sad. It was as if fandom itself had vanished not long after "Insurrectiion".

 

[BillJ]

So sad. It was as if fandom itself had vanished not long after "Insurrectiion".

When you produce year-after-year of uninspired product, that tends to happen.

 

[MasuPu'a]

These days films live or die based on their opening weekend grosses, and there are only so many weekends around peak moviegoing periods, so if there was no major competition on its OWN opening weekend, the Nemesis tanked not because of Two Towers or some other film, but because there wasn't much excitement about it. Maybe there was some competing film out that same weekend...that I don't know.

Nemesis was released December 13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was November 15, James Bond: Die Another Day was November 22. The Two Towers was December 18. Being released around the same time as those films was not the sole reason why it failed, but it certainly didn't help. Two Towers came out less then a week after Nemesis. Nemesis didn't stand a chance.

The fact that it came out right when a couple of heavy-hitting films were showing was just bad luck in addition to it being a crappy film.

 

[Danny99]

I think an even bigger reason is that you had a director in Stuart Baird who wasn't familiar with the universe and because of that had a hard time directing the actors and wasn't familiar with their dynamic. John Logan's script was simply weak despite the fact that he claimed that he was a huge fan and watched every single TNG episode before writing the script. To me personally both of these men were among the primary reasons why the film doesn't work or was successful at the box office.

I'm agreeing with the points made here.

Logan's script was as much a fan script as me writing a Star Wars movie with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader because Wikipedia told me even though I haven't seen one movie.

I think the real problem here is Baird. Not only did he make no effort to improve the flaws of the script, he made no effort to do anything really at all.