New screenshots from Star Trek Online has made its way to the internets. Still no release date but the massive multi-player online role playing game is will take place in the Star Trek Prime universe about 20 years after Star Trek Nemesis (and before Abrams' movie). Details are still light on gameplay, cost, and more so in the meantime click here to enjoy the full gallery of screenshots.
The San Diego Comic Con recently ended and Roberto Orci was there as part of the Fringe Panel. He at one point hinted that Star Trek may follow the model of "linking" one movie to the next creating a sort of trilogy set up that can be seen as one continuous story or three separate stories. He elaborated a touch on that idea, essentially pointing out that it’s just part of a normal brain storming session with other Star Trek producers.
We had one meeting on [Star Trek], that’s me, JJ [Abrams], Damon [Lindelof], Bryan Burk and Alex Kurtzman. And in that one fifteen minute meeting we were talking sooo generally and it somehow the idea maybe came up that that maybe, just for a second, we were thinking maybe of the two movies in tranches. Nothing is set in stone, there is no story there really. We are just starting that crazy process of throwing every idea against the wall and see what happens. So there is nothing to report there really.In addition, the question came up on what the theme of the sequel may be and would it be similar to Transformers 2 where the hero (Sam) tried to give up his role of hero but forced to fulfill his destiny.
No…Star Trek is different in that you have a crew that is committed to what they are doing. So that is going to lead you to different storytelling. These people are not reluctant heroes, they are hoping to get out there and do what is right.Click here for a video where Orci answers those questions and talks about Fringe.
Amazon and Best Buy have both posted their pre-order pages for JJ Abram's Star Trek with approximations of the final designs for the packaging. The movie is being released in three basic formats of one disc DVD ($21), two disc DVD ($22), or three disc Blu-Ray ($28), prices will probably change as get closer to release date. The details on the extra features for each can be found here. The movie will be released on November 17, 2009.
In addition to above, Best Buy has their pre-order page up for the Star Trek Limited Edition Blu-Ray Gift Set for $39.99. The set includes the 3-disc Blu-ray edition and four replica Starfleet Division badges. I have a feeling that Best Buy will not be the only store that will have their own exclusive sets so personally I am going to wait on pre-ordering anything but if you do, feel free to use the links above to help a blogger out.At the San Diego Comic Con "Wrath of Con" party, Star Trek and Transformers writer Robert Orci teased a new idea for Trek fans that sounds like they may try to duplicate the trilogy concept of Star Trek 2-4 where each is a standalone movie also provides a connection to the next.
I know there was a meeting about Star Trek a little while a go, have there been any more additional meetings at all? Any little update you can give us about the next film?
Roberto Orci: Nothing was decided [at the last meeting]. It was really about, hmmm. You know what, I'll give you a tidbit. [They said to us] 'We thought maybe you could do that as like 2 and 3.'
Ryan Church, concept artist for Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, has posted two images he did for Trek that are just stunning to behold. The first is a gorgeous and sleek image of the Enterprise and the second is Spock's Jellyfish that helped him go back in time to stop Nero. Even more art from his other projects can be found here.
In a newly discovered letter from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, apparently Spock's "look of the devil" might be "particularly provocative to women." Roddenberry refers to Spock as "Spoke" in the 1973 letter which was auctioned last Saturday in London. In relation to that Lemon Drop asked the inevitable question - is Mr Spock the Perfect Boyfriend? I am thinking most women wouldn't be able to get past the hair style.
Paramount has finally released the details on JJ Abram's release of Star Trek to Home Video. The movie will be released with two DVD editions and one Blu-ray edition on November 17th, 2009. The retail prices are $29.99 for one disc DVD, $39.99 for two disc DVD and $39.99 for the three disc Blu-ray edition. Below is the portion of the press release with details on the extra features for DVD and Blu-ray. Overall it’s appearing the Blu-ray edition packs the most goodies which have become the norm for the format.
To pre-order from Amazon:
DVD:
The STAR TREK two-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles. Special features are as follows:
Disc 1:
In a new article from Variety, it examines the changes made to various movies advertising campaigns from region to region in an effort to sell a movie in the age of worldwide launches. It use to be a "one size fits all" effort as pretty much the same trailers were used worldwide with text and subtitles added on. Now the campaign is altered to highlight specific themes, characters and beliefs specific to the audience in the area. Star Trek was used as an example of this new age of worldwide openings but the entire article is worth a read.
In the U.S., a one-sheet featuring the U.S.S. Enterprise was enough. But Paramount also had to interest overseas auds that haven't warmed to the franchise in the past. So the studio circumnavigated the globe with splashy premieres, some before the movie's U.S. debut, including the worldwide [premiere] in Australia.
And while the film is a reboot of a popular sci-fi franchise, that isn't the way it was sold in other territories.
In Mexico and Russia, for example, the pic's poster features a huge column of fire coming down from the sky near the Golden Gate Bridge. In other territories where human drama is the appeal, the character of Captain Kirk was featured front and center, flanked by the characters of Spock and Uhura.
In Japan, the romance in a film is always played up, even when it's a big tentpole like "Star Trek, since the demo known as "office ladies" is considered crucial to a film's performance. (That's why Sony's campaigns for "Spider-Man" always featured the characters of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.)
"These women in Japan are between 20 and 40 years old, and they go to the movies by themselves, after work. That's why a movie like 'Titanic' goes bananas. These office ladies are the holy grail," one international marketing exec says.
The Japanese campaign for Disney-Pixar's "Monsters Inc." focused on the emotional relationship between Sully, one of the two monsters, and Boo, the little girl, rather than the comic interplay between beasties Sully and Mike Wazowski, which was the main selling point everywhere else around the world. The pic was a huge hit in Japan.
Par's international approach for "Star Trek" seems to have worked. "Star Trek" has grossed $125.2 million at the international B.O., by far the biggest gross of any film in the franchise.
The flurry of global premieres worked for "Trek," but there are risks involved. While Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge" has grossed north of $310 million at the international B.O. to date, the press junket didn't click with some local media.
South Korean reporters walked out on helmer Michael Bay's Q&A session, offended that he'd arrived late for both the Seoul preem and the junket. Bay later apologized for "traveling from another country and not allowing enough time for airport delays, city traffic and hotel check-in."
In an interview with Starland.com, Leonard Nimoy talks working on Star Trek 2.0, about his future with his character Spock "Prime", progression of Spock through the years and more. Below is snippets of the interview but its worth reading the whole thing here.
DM: Do you feel a sense of completion with the Spock character after this film or is this the beginning of a new era for you and Spock?
LN: Both! I don’t know about me and Spock. It certainly is the beginning of a new era for Spock! It is impossible to predict about me and Spock. I have no idea where they want to go next and I feel very comfortable either way. I feel very gratified that I have been able to have some kind of closure. If this is the closure, then I am very comfortable with it. I was not happy at all with the closure that was imposed on the Spock character some years ago when Spock was just simply abandoned and Kirk was killed all in one fell swoop! I felt both were great losses to Star Trek. There was no reason to kill Kirk and there was a neglect of the Spock character. It seemed intentional. It seemed as if someone was saying, “Well, we have to put a stop to that and start with a whole new era here.” Having had this movie and this experience as Spock and seeing Zachary Quinto in the role now, I feel the character has a potentially wonderful, new life and certainly the success of the movie is just so terrific! It is so wonderful to see this happen and to see Star Trek have a chance of a reinvention and a revival. It was certainly in need of a revival.
DM: Was this movie a “make or break” for the franchise? In other words, Star Trek was beginning to lose some of its popularity over the last several years – was this film, and the way it was done, absolutely essential to the future health of the Star Trek franchise and its ability to continue as an ongoing entertainment franchise?
LN: Yes, I believe that is true. It is very clear now that the movie is a gigantic success and there is a whole new generation of fans coming onboard. I think we are going to find a very interesting surge in sales of the original series because a lot of fans who are seeing this movie will say, “Gee, I’d like to go back and see what this was all about to begin with.” So the original series, which is now out on Blue-ray, will get a wider audience. I just got the discs a couple of days ago and haven’t had a chance to look but I understand that they are beautiful! I believe there will be a tremendous interest in the original series again and I think that is wonderful.
DM: Do you think Gene Roddenberry would be happy with the state of Star Trek these days?
LN: Oh, I am sure he would enjoy what is happening today. I believe he would enjoy it a lot. It is just too bad that he and Majel are gone and can’t see this amazing revival of their original idea.
DM: I assume as well that you are very open minded to appearing as Spock again should they ask you?
LN: I have no illusions on whether or not they need me. They decided that they wanted to make this film using Spock as kind of an anchor for the story, which I think worked very, very well. They don’t have to do that again. If they decide they have a role for me to play I would be very interested in talking to them about it. But I have every reason to believe that they have established a whole new set of characters and they can sail very well without me and that’s fine. Either way is good with me. I am very gratified that this has happened.
PocketBooks has announced its 2010 plans for Star Trek novels including four for the new Star Trek 2.0 universe created by the recent movie. I tend to geek out on these books, owning most and read almost all of them so looking forward to the new novels. It appears that the movie has provided an injection into publishing plans as the number of books had dropped over the years from 1 to 2 a month to about 1 a quarter. The new plans returned the volume back to what it used to be with about one book a month, each covering various eras of Trek history.
Four novels, about one a month from June to September 2010 will be set in the Star Trek 2.0 universe with the Enterprise embarking on new mission of exploration that will be independent of any sequels plans that Abrams and company may be devising.
Five planned books will cover various gaps in Trek history. One will involved the relationship between James Kirk and Carol Marcus (Inception, 2/2010), another will give background on the Orions during Captain Pike's era (The Children of Kings, out 4/2010), and another will give additional background on Saavik (Unspoken Truth, 5/2010) who eventually marries Spock in some of the non-canon books.
In addition, four more novels will cover the "Typhon Pact" which is events set in the post Star Trek: Nemesis era before events of Abrams's Trek that sent spot back in time. The events take place after an armada of Borg nearly wiped out the Federation (but killed billions along the way) in the "Destiny" series of books (fantastic reads). Those events led to the creation of the "Typhon Pact" which is a kind of anti-Federation agreement between the Romulans, Tholians, Gorn, Breen, Tzenkethi, and Kinshaya) which has the unspoken goal of breaking the Federation.
For more details on each of the novels, writers and more head to TrekMovie.com.
I am a huge fan of the Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel so happy to hear when another program I am fond of, Star Trek, will get some love from the program. According to one of the Mythbusters, Grant Imahara's Tweet, "YesssssKirk!!! It’s official. #Gorncannon is a go for next season’s Viewer’s Special. Thanks to all fans 4 your help! :)"
Good news, bad news for Star Trek at the box office after this weekend. The good news is the movie earned another $1.7 million (domestic total $249.8) so on the cusp of passing the $250 million mark, something few thought it would achieve. Once include an international total of $125.1 the movie has made a worldwide total of $375 million. The bad news is the movie has dropped out of the top 10 by placing at 11th and unlikely to return so its run in theatres is coming to a close. Overall, not bad for a franchise most believed was dead.
Simon Pegg, while promoting Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinsaurs, indicated to Zoo Magazine (not safe for work) that he thinks a sequel to Star Trek could be ready as soon as 18 months from now.
I know the writers are busy thinking about it. I don’t really know anything about the story, or if I’m in a bigger role, but I’d imagine we’ll be back this time next year. That’s not official, but I reckon it’s probably about 18 months away from being in the cinema.That time table would put a release around Christmas 2010. Considering the success the movie had in May, more than likely the movie would be set for a May 2011 release. Besides, even if Trek writers Orci and Kurtzman do manage to get a final approved script done by the end of the year it leaves a very short schedule to big budget film together. The problem wouldn’t be the shoot itself; the problem would be having enough time to get the CGI elements completed. It's doable, just difficult. A summer release would provide plenty of breathing room.
Alan Dean Foster has signed on to write a sequel novel to Abram's Star Trek that is tentatively titled Star Trek: Refugees for release in October. He spoke with Wired about the plans:
I signed the contract, so that’s a go. At least the first step is a go. The second step is for Pocket Books and Paramount to approve the outline. They wanted an outline. Sometimes when I’m asked to do a book, I just get a book contract for two books or three books or whatever. Sometimes they’ll ask for a very brief synopsis of what the general idea is. Not even so much for the editor. The editors are generally satisfied at this point that I’m going to do what I say I’m going to do. But they have to present something to marketing so that marketing has something to promote from the get go. So marketing will want a description. It’s obviously different with a novelization where you have a film studio involved, sometimes somebody else, like in this case, Hasbro. They want to know what you’re going to do with their franchise. There is a lot more riding on it than just a book by me that’s going to be published. So I did a fairly extensive outline for the book which has the tentative title of “Star Trek: Refugees” which I can’t explain without giving anything away. I mean, I just signed the contract. But hopefully the outline will be approved since the book is due in October.In addition, TrekMovie has a summary of the various Star Trek (all eras) novels planned for the rest of the year for Voyager, Vanguard and more. Of note is the Enterprise novel may actually tell the story of the war with the Romulans that was inferred to have occurred way back in the Original Series but never chronicled. Click here for more information.
As a way to clear up the front page, putting all the posters, trailers and TV spots that I could find. To my knowledge there is 1 teaser, about 3 theatrical trailers and 15 TV spots but sadly not able to find all of them as users either pulled some of them down or Paramount had them yanked and just generally didn't make it easy to create a "collection" of all the spots so people could view them which strikes me as a wasted opportunity with the DVD and Blu-ray editions of the movie. Whoever works for Marketing at Paramount really should create a YouTube channel that makes it easy to find and distribute their advertisments in HD format. Aksi below are the links found as part of the promotional campaign that may or may not work.
Trailers and TV Spots Playlist
