Would Nemesis Have Fared Better?

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies I-X' started by austen_pierce, Aug 26, 2013.

  1. austen_pierce

    austen_pierce Captain Captain

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    Had it NOT been released at the same time as The Two Towers?

    I remember thinking that the latter was sure to drain sales from Nemesis.
     
  2. M.A.C.O.

    M.A.C.O. Commodore Commodore

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    Not really. It still had James Bond Die Another Day and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to compete with. Also Rick Berman says something to the extent that LOTR didn't have an effect on the BO for NEM because overseas it was not positioned to compete against and other films overseas.

    Rick Berman talks about all the shows and films in this video and these articles.

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9HcSB9WDTQ[/yt]

    He talks about the movies around 2:39:00. He starts talking about Nemesis around 2:41:00.

    Also gives these articles a read for more insight from Berman.

    http://www.startrek.com/article/rick-berman-looks-back-at-18-years-of-trek-part-3
     
  3. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    It got beat by the Jennifer Lopez Rom-com Maid in Manhattan its opening weekend. Nemesis would've done better if it had been a better movie. Also, it may have done a bit better financially if it hadn't been near the end of the incredible Trek glut.
     
  4. Lance

    Lance Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It wouldn't have made the movie any better in terms of story or any of that. But yes, I do think it would have fared better at the box office. NEM faced the most opposition of any Star Trek movie since TFF and the fabled "summer of blockbusters" in 1989. Possibly it faced even stiffer competition than TFF did (no disrespect to Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Batman or Ghostbusters II, but The Two Towers really was THAT big).

    There was evidently a degree of franchise fatigue in play as well (Enterprise was hardly setting the world on fire either at the time). But I honestly do think NEM could have done better in terms of $$$ if it hadn't been faced with the opposition that it was. I mean let's face it, come what may, it could hardly have done much worse. :D
     
  5. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    You're right. But it would've been embarrassing to watch it get sucker-punched by romantic-comedies for the five or six weeks it lasted in theaters. :lol:
     
  6. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The general public are too dumb to care about that, hence why they went to see Maid in Manhattan instead. Nemesis would have done better if they'd waited for more time to pass, promoted it better, and picked a less boring colour palette.
     
  7. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    It had been nearly four since Insurrection. I'm not sure they would have sold more tickets if they had waited for the actors to become even older and more lifeless.

    Star Trek: Nemesis would've fared better at the box-office if it had been a better movie. And I'm not sure it's fair to insult the intelligence of general audiences as they usually turn out for Trek films if they are decent.
     
  8. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    How would they know if a Star Trek film was decent or not.... before they'd seen it? :confused:
     
  9. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    Word of mouth? Just because you or I will buy a ticket sight unseen to a Trek movie doesn't mean general audiences are in the same habit.

    But in Nemesis case, the script had been leaked early and people were bitching and moaning about it six months before it premiered.
     
  10. SeerSGB

    SeerSGB Admiral Admiral

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    Reviews, trailers, commercials, plot synopsis, etc. People make their mind up about seeing a movie and--right or wrong--about the quality before their take the time and money to see it.
     
  11. austen_pierce

    austen_pierce Captain Captain

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    I don't think Nemesis lost any/many tickets to Maid in Manhattan. The two simply draw from a different fan base (at least then). I had forgotten about Bond and Harry Potter; those definitely also had an impact. I don't think they should have waited longer. It had been too long as it was since the lackluster Insurrection.
     
  12. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    People are still blaming NEM's poor BO on TTT? It came out two weeks before TTT, and still flopped miserably.

    I'm not surprised that the general public wasn't interested in it, because I wasn't interested in it, and I'm a Trek fan.
     
  13. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If my experience was anything to go on it might have done better had Insurrection not preceded it.
     
  14. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    Nemesis shouldn't have been MADE in the first place, hell NONE of the TNG movies should have been made since they obviously didn't care about good writing.

    Let's strike the TNG movies from canon! :devil:
     
  15. JarodRussell

    JarodRussell Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Nemesis was simply not a good enough film. And the promotion sucked, badly. I remember the ET special on Nemesis that focused on the choice of wedding rings and that Data gets to sing. YAY, that's gonna fill the seats.

    I always get the feeling that Paramount intentionally let this film run into the ground to get rid of TNG in the films. Berman himself said in an interview that TPTB didn't want the TNG crew anymore. Then they made all those kind of weird deals regarding director and writer. They reduced the production budget (while with 60 million it was more than in the other films, Patrick Stewart's, Brent Spiner's and Co's salaries rose as well, meaning for the film itself they had even less money). And in other interviews, the cast members said the sets were already being demolished while they were filming. It was clear this film was going to be the last one, no matter what.

    A few years later, the budget of the new film skyrocketed and they promoted the living shit out of it.
     
  16. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Nemesis has one or two really good things in it. But the cast were visibly tired. And wasted.
     
  17. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Outside of the English speaking countries ST tended to underpeform at the box office. And in the English speaking countries ST was competing agains the likes of The Two Towers.
     
  18. austen_pierce

    austen_pierce Captain Captain

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    I agree, and this is why I find it so hard simply to write this movie off. The Scimitar and the final battles are very well done, as are the new Romulan ships.

    I disliked B4, BUT liked the rescue sequence when Data impersonated him.

    I liked seeing Romulus, but we saw so few actual Romulans, it was obvious that we were just looking at a few actors on a low budget set.

    Had the Romulans displayed more loyalty to Shinzon throughout the film, the dramatic effect of the two commanders siding with Picard would have been better.

    On the other hand, the "text message" from Picard to navigation jolted me right out of the film.

    There are just so many woulda, coulda, shoulda moments in this film. It's so close to being good, but doesn't quite get there.
     
  19. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think that has more to do with the failure than any competition. That plus franchise fatigue because not even fans came out opening weekend. No Star Trek movie has opened that badly, not even TFF, which had a big opening and then dropped fast. At the same time, many Trek fans may not have seen the leaked script (not everyone wants spoilers). So i put it down to fatigue and general lack of interest. Nobody cared. Even before people could find out of it sucked or not, nobody was interested anymore.

    Except me, because I liked the film a lot and saw it a bunch of times. You're welcome, Rick Berman.
     
  20. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    It's funny, I saw it once in the theater and didn't care for it. Bought the DVD on day one and it still did nothing for me.

    But looking back on TNG's movie run, it is definitely the best of the bunch (which isn't saying much). I think there were points where it tried to be more than just another Trek movie and even though those attempts failed in spectacular fashion, I appreciate that they made the attempt.