[ad_1]
Chris Pine, who played James Tiberius Kirk in the “Star Trek” reboot timeline (better known to Trekkies as the Kelvin Timeline), knows from first-hand experience just how ill-advised that strategy was. “I’m not sure ‘Star Trek’ was ever built to do that kind of business,” he told Esquire in March 2023 (via Variety).
To the actor’s point, 2013’s “Star Trek Into Darkness” remains the property’s highest-grossing film ever with a worldwide take of $467 million. “Star Trek Beyond” needed to hit a similar mark or higher to justify Paramount’s spending. That would’ve been hard enough even if “Darkness” hadn’t ticked off Trekkies something fierce with its white-washed rehashing of “The Wrath of Khan.” That “Beyond” also had the misfortune of debuting on the heels of numerous summer releases that had managed to bomb with both critics and general audiences (“Alice Through the Looking Glass” and “Independence Day: Resurgence” being two such examples) didn’t do it any favors, either.
It’s a shame, too. “Beyond” was largely heralded as an admirable marriage between the optimistic and progressive sci-fi storytelling that had characterized old-school “Trek” and the more spectacle-oriented approach favored by the earlier Kelvin Timeline films. Had it cost half or perhaps two-thirds of what it did, it would’ve been a financial success. Even in 2016 dollars, $110 million could still get you a sci-fi movie as visually impressive as “Passengers.” (Look at that — we managed to defeat the “Say Something Nice About ‘Passengers'” challenge without breaking a sweat!)
Instead, Paramount way over-spent on “Beyond” and the movie was unable to recuperate its costs, “only” grossing $343 million. That the studio also jumped the gun and announced “Star Trek 4” ahead of the film’s release was only more egg on its face.
[ad_2]
Source link
Comments are closed.