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'Star Trek' reboot soars despite trekkie snub
By Robert Marich
May 11, 2009 – Star Trek underwent a successful “reboot” as the latest theatrical installment of the venerable Paramount Pictures sci-fi property that stretches back four decades produced an estimated $75.2 million opening weekend. That’s the second biggest three-day opening this year, after the $85.1 million for Fox’s X Men Origins: Wolverine, and ahead of Universal’s Fast and Furious $70.9 million.
“That doesn't mean there weren’t miscues,” wrote BoxOfficeMojo’s Brandon Gray. “The ‘This is not your father’s Star Trek’ line of the ad campaign, while accurate in its description of the movie itself for better or for worse, was not only puerile but unnecessarily insulting to the previous Star Trek incarnations and the audience base. One doesn’t have to alienate the fans in order to broaden the appeal (even if most will take the abuse and still see the new movie anyway).”
Adds Gray, “The Batman and James Bond franchises were successfully rebooted without openly attacking what came before (and Batman had more to apologize for after Batman Forever and Batman and Robin).”
That “is not your father’s” line, which was used in advertising for Oldsmobile cars (now out of business) with ads featuring Leonard Nemoy (Spock!), was certainly an attention getter, while also being a bit condescending. The new Star Trek was crafted and marketed in the vein of a traditional action adventure film, and less a utopian social commentary as prior film and TV versions.
BoxOfficeMojo notes that Star Trek: First Contact set the previous high for a weekend with $30.7 million in 1996 (on its way to a so-so $92 million domestic total), which translates into $50 million inflation adjusted.
Paramount’s new Star Trek, which cost $130-150 million to make, opened on about 7,400 screens at 3,849 domestic locations (some locations put the movie on multiple screens). The prior installment, Star Trek: Nemesis, grossed a measley $43.2 million in domestic box office.
Industrywide, year-to-date, boxoffice is running a robust 15.1% ahead of last year, according to BoxOfficeMojo (the weekend alone is up 18%). That seems to be a testament to well made movies that appeal to audiences after Hollywood lost a bundle on serious contemporary political dramas in prior years.
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"Kingons," an advanced alien race that is half Klingon, half King, appear in new television advertising spots from Burger King Corp. in support of the Star Trek movie promotion.