Wednesday, April 20th 2016
I got a call today from Tommy Kraft or Star Trek: Horizon. Tommy was called by CBS who suggested he cancel the Kickstarter he was planning and drop plans to make the sequel to Horizon. According to Tommy, this news came from Bill Burke, CBS Consumer Products chief, who also said other productions would be getting calls.
This is ominous news for Star Trek Fan Films.
The fact that Horizon got the first call is no surprise, however.
Horizon is a feature film and the sequel, titled Federation Rising, was also going to be a feature film. It’s clear to us this is the # 1 thing that Paramount/CBS has an issue with when it comes to fan film productions.
The Hollywood rumor mill is running in overdrive about the reported problems swirling around Star Trek Beyond. “Industry insiders” say Paramount is worried about the performance of their Star Trek movie this summer.
Whether those rumors are true or not, the first trailer for Beyond was widely panned and necessitated apologies from director Justin Lin and writer Simon Pegg – not the way you want to launch a major summer blockbuster.
Then there were the reshoots. Once they were announced, publicity around Star Trek Beyond slowed to a trickle and is now almost non-existent. And earlier this month, at the high-profile CinemaCon event, a trailer for the Star Trek Beyond was conspicuously absent, despite appearances by Simon Pegg and JJ Abrahms. You can read about that here.
So is Paramount is concerned about Star Trek Fan Films potentially showing up their Star Trek movie this summer? Possibly.
Of course, taking the time to call or email fan film producers with an explanation of what the studios’ concerns were could have had us all on the same side. It’s too bad CBS and Paramount don’t seem to realize what an asset a vibrant fan base can be to a 50 year-old franchise.
Alec
…yep, boborci and the rest are shi**ing their pants over that steaming pile of nu-trek! =P
(can’t have the fans making us look bad!) …yeah, *that’s* it (eyesroll) 😉
Paramount… and what about CBS?
Look at this:
TNG
– “Encounter at Farpoint” – 27 mln. viewers
– average TNG rating – 20 mln. viewers
– “All Good Things…” – 17.4 mln. viewers
DS9
– “Emissary” – 34 mln. viewers
– average DS9 rating (upped by first two seasons) – 17 mln. viewers
– “What You Leave Behind…” – 5.39 mln. viewers
VOY
– “Caretaker” – 21.3 mln. viewers
– average VOY rating (again upped by first season) – 7 mln. viewers
– “Endgame” – 8.8 mln. viewers
ENT
– “Broken Bow” – 12.5 mln. viewers
– average ENT rating – 2.5-3 mln. viewers
– “These Are Voyages” – 3.8 mln. viewers
So, if that trend will be continued… (And: remember about controversial All Access formula, remember about the boycott. I don’t know if even Fuller with Meyer can save them…)
huh? what’s your point, dude?
r u saying that Star Trek was headed into the crapper anyway, and nothing can save it??
even CBS-Trek can’t save it? and *THAT* somehow makes it ok for nu-trek to *SUCK*??
…pretty delusional trolling, if u ask me =(
Hello. I’ve followed the news on this site quietly for months but thought to add just a few words. I’m not in the industry by any means but have always enjoyed Star Trek. Over Star Wars. There I said it.
Star Wars isn’t about exploring or imagining a better future it’s simply about heroes and good vs evil. They have all their tech so no big deal if there’s a planet in need. Star Trek is an idealogical future where people work together to accomplish things. Pretty simple but that’s my perspective.
…ok, so if fan produced “feature films” are problematic:
(in addition to scrubbing out all nu-trek IP) …how ’bout re-formatting Axanar into two-part episodes of a “made for TV movie”…?
I think the TV format is a much better arena for Star Trek anyway (and a better fit for Axanar IMO), and it will make it a better fit for partnering with CBS! (…and maybe airing on CBS-All-Access?) 😉
…or if it’s (assumedly) in three acts: how ’bout making Axanar a three-part mini-series? =)
(you could probably make “episode one” with the money that’s left, no?)
STC is TV episodic, and *THEY HAVEN’T BEEN SUED* or C&D’d… (?)
When fans develop better products that stay true to the very core of the franchise, while the big ‘professional’ companies try to milk the franchise for all it’s worth regardless of the fact that they’re mutilating everything that is Trek, it’s pretty obvious they couldn’t care less about Star Trek other than it being a cash cow.
Compounded by the fact that they are pretty much alienating the core followers of the franchise by quite literally telling them to **** off instead of embracing the celebrations of the Star Trek franchise in the form of fan creations, is just mindboggling to me.
When they feel that their near 200 million dollar budget movies are being threatened by low-budget fan creations, they need to take a good hard look at themselves. And maybe, just maybe, ask themselves the question as to why this is the case. Than again, self-critisism is hardly a widespread aspect of Big Business nowadays.
The trailer they released was just laughable at best, cringeworthy at worst. If anyone told me it was a trailer for some random action flick starring vin Diesel, Steven Seagal or any other over-the-hill action movie actor, I would’ve believed it.
The problem is, people are dumb enough to buy into their premise. The two nu-Trek movies had a world-wide box office more than twice the production budget. As long as this holds true, Paramount et al can and will do whatever the hell they like with the Star Trek franchise. Regardless of how fans feel about it. Regardless of how it completely misrepresents the franchise. Regardless of they are basically molesting Roddenberry’s ideas and subverting the moralistic ideas behind Trek stories in favor of “moar ‘splosions, women in lingerie & lens flares!”.
To me, the ‘official’ Star Trek franchise is already dead and buried. It purely caters to the lowest common denominator instead of boldly going where no man has gone before. It is only projects such as Axanar and Horizon, that harken back to the real feeling of the franchise, that keep me from moving on completely. If those are taken away, I wouldn’t care less if Star Trek would officially die out. Rather that than watching one of my favourite franchises be molested by greedy bastards with no regard of the Star Trek franchise itself.
…sorry for the rant. Haha.
…oh yeah,
and JJ getting that award from (hipster? – blech) Simon Pegg at CinemaCon? what a *JOKE*! =D
JJ is an “entertainer” like P.T. Barnum! (…there’s one born every minute!) =P