BREAKING NEWS: Star Trek Pushed To May 2009

[DrWho42 13]

Variety is reporting that Paramount has pushed the release of the new Star Trek movie to May 8, 2009. Apparently the reason is to go for bigger box office during the summer season. Variety quotes a studio insider saying “Star Trek has the potential to gross more in May than in December.”

 

 

The move is part of a larger reshuffling of schedules coming in the wake of the end of the writer’s strike.

UPDATE: Trek move part of larger reshuffling at Paramount

Apparently this is all part of a larger plan on the part of Paramount and the decision was likely made by new Film Division Head John Lesher. Here is more from Variety’s Blog.

John Lesher is starting to make his imprint felt at Paramount. (And make no mistake, he’s still overseeing Vantage too.) Paramount is changing a number of release dates on their 2008 and 2009 skeds, moving J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek from Christmas, 2008 to May 8, 2009. David Fincher’s Brad Pitt-starrer The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will move from November 26 to December 19, 2008.

 

DreamWorks Pictures’ comedy Tropic Thunder, originally scheduled for July 11, will now be released on August 15 by DreamWorks-Paramount. And Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, originally announced as a DreamWorks-Paramount release, will now be distributed by Paramount Vantage. Which makes perfect sense; who better to handle it as an Oscar contender?

UPDATE 2: Nothing to do with script

The Hollywood Reporter also notes that Paramount’s reshuffling of six films was due to a rethink after the strike and that in the case of Trek it was not related to the script.

Dramatically underscoring the need for movie-side execs to review slates following the long writers strike, Paramount on Wednesday bounced six films to new dates and moved two unslotted films to next year’s calendar.

 

Other distributors were scrambling to complete similar reviews of their upcoming productions to determine what can or can’t be delivered on scheduled dates. In some cases, films will move because of talent issues, but many film projects have been frozen in time when script rewrites weren’t completed before the 100-day scribe walkout.

 

“Star Trek” arguably was the biggest film moved, with the intended Christmas Day release now set for the first prime date in the following summer boxoffice season: May 8, 2009. But “Trek” appears something of an exception in the mix of itinerant pics, with its shift unrelated to script or cast considerations.

 

” ‘Star Trek’ is moving to summer because its has so much boxoffice potential,” Par spokesman Michael Vollman said. “It does not need any script tweaks. They’re two-thirds of the way through shooting, and we would have delivered a great movie at Christmas.”

Summer a better move?

Although winter release films can make a lot of money (like the recent Lord of the Rings films and last years Bond film), the biggest film’s tend to come out in the Summer. Due to the writer’s strike, the summer of 2009 will be a bit lighter than 2007 and 2008. Right now there are no movies slated for the 8th of May 2009, although the week before is X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the week after is Angels and Demons (ironically this sequel to The Da Vinci Code was originally slated to come out the weekend before Star Trek in December 2008). As for Christmas this year, Star Trek was one of three films being released that day (although the other two were likely more aimed at different markets).

 

The move could be to help fill Paramount Dreamworks 2009 line-up after 2008 which already has a number of strong entries (Spiderwick, Iron Man, Indy 4, Madagascar 2, The Love Guru, Benjamin Button, etc.). The only other big films currently slated for Summer 2009 are Transformers 2 on June 29th and G.I. Joe in August.

 

As more details emerge, TrekMovie.com will report them.

 

Source: Star Trek Pushed to May 2009

Edited February 14, 2008 by DrWho42

[A l t e r E g o 9]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Gummy 0]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I concur.

[MrPsychic 1]

As I see it, the push back could actually help. They have extra time to get everything right.

[Gummy 0]

And it also means having to wait FIVE MONTHS LONGER. <_<

[stvoyagerfan 1]

that stinks. i was looking forward to it coming out this year..

[trekz 7]

As I see it, the push back could actually help. They have extra time to get everything right.

As much as I want to see this movie, I concur. I'd rather wait 5 months for a stronger movie, with the possibility of rewrites and ad libs, more time to film extra scenes and carefully edit, plus polishing special effects.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

no surprise at all. I knew that it would probably be pushed back. The original Star Wars promised to be released on Christmas but wasn't released until the summer of the following year. This stuff happens, and the reception becoomes bigger and better. I'm all for the wait

[Kor37 9]

DAMMIT!!!!..... <_<

[ussvwbeetle 0]

AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <_< I have to wait that much longer. This is wrong to do!!

[star_rose 0]

I expected this news.

Since the beginning of the strike of the screenwriters, there were a lot of problems in Hollywood...

<_<

[Itchygomba69 0]

I hope I'm still alive by then <_<

[TJ Phaserman 2]

DAMMIT!!!!..... <_<

 

 

you see what they did? they pissed kor off. lol.

[robjkay 0]

It just might be the best thing that happened for Star Trek XI, being it gives them more time to get things right! This way they do not have to rush anything, they can slow down a little bit and like I said get things just right! :spacecraft:

[recycle 0]

I saw that look in today usa today on line they got trek in there..Picture of the old crew and it tells about the movie USA Today

Edited March 8, 2008 by Takara_Soong

[UKstartrek 0]

When i first heard the news i was really upset but then thinking about it whats 5 months ? a long time i know . Hopefully it will be well worth the extra wait.