The Box Office of Star Trek

The business and box office of movies do interest me, as it is sometimes very interesting to compare the box office gross with not only the budget the film companies spent on making the movie, but also with the general critical reception of the films.

Some films are runaway successes at the box office yet panned by the critics.

Also it is a n unwritten rule that the budget for the film contains production costs which include pre and post production, but not the marketing and advertising budget. Normally Hollywood studios spend roughly the same again as their budget in advertising. So a film has to really gross double it’s budget in order to be a success.

Paramount Pictures have had a gold mine on their hands with their highly successful Star Trek TV series which spawned 4 spin off shows from the original 1960s show, as well as comic books, animated shows and merchandise.

But what of the films?

Well here is some info on their budget and gross. I have left out critical ratings, perhaps you can go have a look at Rotten Tomatoes (even though personally I think that they have some very odd ratings for well established classic movies).

Film	Year	Budget $m	Gross $m
Star Trek: The Motion Picture	1979	46	139
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan	1982	11	97
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock	1984	16	87
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home	1986	21	133
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier	1989	33	63
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country	1991	27	97
Star Trek: Generations	1994	35	118
Star Trek: First Contact	1996	45	146
Star Trek: Insurrection	1998	58	112
Star Trek: Nemesis	2002	60	67
Star Trek	2009	150	385

The general consensus for the Star Trek movies is that the very best were The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home and First Contact, with The Final Frontier being the worst.

The original 1979 movie is always slagged off for being dull and boring, but I actually love that movie as I think it represents the original show which was always about big ideas and much more than space opera ray guns. And you can see it certainly made a good return for its money.

These figures do not take into account inflation, which is always to be remembered when discussing or comparing a film’s box office gross.

The next instalment of the franchise comes this summer with Star Trek Into Darkness.