Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: film, HRL, Paramount Pictures, Star Trek Beyond

Simon Pegg Blames Bad Marketing for Star Trek Beyond's Mediocre Box Office

Published Mon, 26 Mar 2018 14:11:28 -0500

Star Trek Beyond is one of the best Star Trek movies we've gotten in years. It was a ton of fun that took established characters in directions that were just a blast to watch. The problem was that it didn't do that well at the box office — or at least it didn't do as well as the previous movies. On a budget of $184 million it grossed just over $343 million when all is said and done.

However, that initial budget doesn't include marketing, which can be factored in by taking the budget, cutting it in half, and adding it back in. In this case Star Trek Beyond needed to make $277 million before it broke even, so it wasn't as big of a success as it could have been.

One person who absolutely thinks the movie could have done better Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the film and was a member of the cast. While speaking to GeekExchange Pegg put the blame on bad marketing for the mediocre box office take.

"I think it was poorly marketed, to be honest. If you look at a film like Suicide Squad, that was around for such a long time before it finally came out and people were so aware of it. Whereas with Star Trek Beyond, it was left too late before they started their marketing push. It still did great business, but it was disappointing compared to Into Darkness."

That bad marketing included spoiling the reveal that they used the song 'Sabotage' in the trailer when the reveal in the movie proper was a lot better. That trailer had fans angry, and Pegg was one of the first people to speak up and agree with them.

"I was really angry about that, because it used 'Sabotage,' which was our surprise moment in the end. It was supposed to be a very fun and heightened twist, and something that was a big surprise and they blew it in the first trailer, which really annoyed me. They also made the film look like a boneheaded action film. And they were scared, I think, of mentioning the 50th Anniversary. It was fumbled as a thing; they didn't know what to do with it and it's a real shame. But I came away from it really, really happy and very proud of it."

There were rumors that a fourth movie was going to happen and bring back Chris Hemsworth as Kirk's father, but there hasn't been any movement on the project. Now there is a script being worked on by Quentin Tarantino of all people, who is looking to take the series in a whole new direction.

"There's a script that's been written, and there's also the story of Quentin Tarantino coming and chatting with J.J. about an idea that he's had for a long time. That idea is going into the writer's room to be looked at. I think it might take something like him to restart it. It's an interesting proposition, although I don't know if that means everybody will be blowing each other's heads off with phasers and calling Klingons motherfuckers, but, who knows, that could be fun."

It'll be a real shame if Paramount decides not to go ahead with this cast. Star Trek Beyond felt more like a beginning than an ending, and it'll feel like a wasted opportunity if we don't get to see this cast together again.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!