Star Trek

After a five month release delay the new Star Trek movie makes its much anticipated debut. I for one am very much looking forward to it. In fact I will be seeing it tomorrow night. No not at midnight either. Most theaters seem to be playing it starting at around 7pm. I'll be at one of those showings. Midnight showings have never been my thing. I'd rather just wait for the next day to see it. Now 7 or 8pm showings, that is different. And no I can guarantee I will not be dressed in costume. I have never done that and I never will. I don't feel the need to play out some fantasy and dress up as a Starfleet Officer.

Star Trek was originally supposed to debut back in December of 2008. Apparently the suits saw dailies of the filming. They immediately realized this movie had the potential to be a big summer hit. One that could appeal to Trek and non Trek fans alike. I could not agree more. I have friends who never watched Star Trek growing up. Yet they want to see the movie. I even have friends who prefer Star Wars. They too want to see the franchise reboot. With this in mind, the suits decided to push the release date of Star Trek back to the summer months. They figured the movie would make a lot more money with a summer release.

In this situation I have to disagree with the suits. If a movie is good, the release date does not matter. It will still make tons of money. The first four Harry Potter movies were released in November. They have made a fortune for Warner Bros. The same can be said about The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They were released during the winter. We all know how much money they made. In fact I believe releasing Star Trek in the summer will eat into the profits.

The summer months bring out all the big blockbusters. That leaves too much competition among films. In today's climate no one wants to spend money to see three big blockbusters in one month, let alone all summer. People have to pick and choose the films they go to see. Some of the audience that would normally see Star Trek won't spend the money to see it. They may have spent the money to see X-Men: Wolverine. Or they may wait a week to see Angels & Demons. That is money taken from the profits of one movie and deposited into another.

The suits should have kept the original release date in December. Star Trek would have had no big blockbuster competition. If the movie does have that wide appeal the suits think it has, people would have flocked to see it. Filmgoers would have been less likely to spend money on the typical holiday schlock. They would have spent it to see a potentially great movie called Star Trek.

This new movie will be successful. This new movie will make a profit. This new movie sacrificed it's profit margin with a later release date. Let us hope the next Star Trek movie will have a better release date. Come on, don't act surprised. After all, the main actors have been signed on for two more films.

I'll end with this. Reboots seem to be the in thing these days. In about thirty years George Lucas may not be with us anymore. Will we see a Star Wars reboot at that time?