The Marketing of Star Trek
Posted by Rodneyon 20. 02. 2009in News Chat
It’s been 43 years, 10 movies and more than 700 episodes of six TV series of Star Trek, and after the fanbase has essentially died out the studio has decided that Star Trek shall rise from the ashes and really hit it out of the park without any of the baggage of what has come before.
No easy task, and Yahoo has a great article laying out what was, and how they got to the point of starting over.
The films based on Gene Roddenberry’s 1966 space Western serial have not been mega-hits, and, more importantly, they have failed to draw big audiences in increasingly crucial overseas markets. The top-grossing “Trek” feature was 1996′s “Star Trek: First Contact,” which grossed $146 million worldwide, with only $54 million coming from international (1979′s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” actually has sold the most tickets in the series).So rather than continue to milk a languishing franchise, Paramount essentially has started over, holding on to core elements of the “Trek” universe while courting a new audience as wide as the galaxy.
I hadn’t realized that the Trek films were so luke warm with results. Knowing how rabid the fanbase was, how could it fail? Yet it never managed to achieve the financial success its dedicated fans seemed to think it deserved.
Let’s face it. Film fans are pessimists. We love to find anything to bitch about and complain about. So with such a die hard group of fans like Trekkies, we already knew they were going to complain.
Trek90210 and other nonsense trendy catch phrases were thrust about griping about how this is destined to ruin Star Trek, while they wait in line to see the latest revamping of Batman’s franchise praising it and vibrating with anticipation.
The article lays out some of the obsticles and efforts made in this reboot/sequel that will offer up a staple in Trek films and timetravel from the very end right back to the beginning to start anew.
Great efforts were made to not alienate the existing husk of a fanbase and remind you that this is not the geeky Trek you were afraid to give a chance after seeing that awkwardly twitching pimple faced nerd offer you a “Live Long and Prosper” instead of a handshake.
The overall encouragement is that they are aware that the Trekkies are not their target audience, but they do not want to alienate them either. I have faith that they are making every effort to make this epic.
i think it looks great,I’m not i star trek fan at all I’m a dedicated star wars guy and i didn’t like star trek at all but this movie has sparked my interest because it look like more of an alien action epic which i think makes a great change
I agree, the new Star Trek movie should appeal to a wider range of people just out of curiosity if nothing else. People will or at least should be interested in seeing how they intend to revive this genre’.
I for one am very excited and this movie is number one on my list for viewing this year.
For me, who was only ever a casual Next Generation viewer, this is the first Star Trek movie that seems like a real cinema event, instead of a glorified TV movie. I think its because it doesnt comprise of a crew straight out of the show, and is depicting the original iconic crew, who are the only ones that really made household name status, outside of sci-fi fans houses.
Pessimists? I only can’t stand a movie when I go see it and I’m in a bad mood beforehand and can’t get into it.
I’m looking forward to watching this movie more than any other this year. the trailers do look incredibly good and I truly hope that this is the kick in the ass that this franchise has needed for a long time now. Karl Urban as McCoy……Brilllliant.
If they hadn’t made this new attempt to revive the franchise then the franchise would have died. That would have been the end of it. there wasn’t a chance or interest in making a another Next Generation and since Kirk was killed in his last outing, he couldn’t come back. So either we leave the series for dead or let them atempt a reboot. If it sucks it’ll be the final nail in the coffin. If it’s good the franchise lives longer. What do we have to lose? Give the ting a chance.
The Star Trek fanbase didn’t die out - Paramount killed it by putting Rick Berman at the helm. I won’t lay as much of the blame on Brannon Braga, who apparently has some modicum of talent (he’s one of the people behind this excellent season of “24″).
A fanbase alone isn’t enough to make a movie a success, it has to attract the average person as well. That’s actually my worry about Watchmen, based on what I’ve been reading recently.
Vic
I dont care what disease caused it, but hte fanbase died.
Trek Conventions are very few and the largest one in Canada had one Trek actor at it and I didn’t know who it was. Now that convention is called Polaris and its just a SciFi con simply because its more about sci fi than just trek anymore.
Its dead Jim… er Vic.
i actually hope this film does horrible so they will kill off the franchise forever, but thats just me, ive never liked the star trek franchise ive seen every film to try and spark interest but it just doesnt do it for not even this film looks any good
They have a ways to go if they are trying to rope in non-Trekkies. The trailer got laughed at when I saw it in the theaters a couple of weeks ago. I was stunned that there was such a negative reaction. I’m no Trekkie, but I’ll see this movie, if only for Simon Pegg.