Fifty years ago, the bridge of the starship Enterprise was written and cast to suggest a multinational diversity as wide-ranging as the United Nations.
Now, the newest Star Trek film will need to navigate deftly toward such multinational appeal, especially needing to engage audiences in such large markets as Asia and Latin America.
That’s because Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond, the 13th film in the franchise, fell off significantly from the domestic debuts of its two immediate J.J. Abrams-directed predecessors.
Paramount’s Star Trek Beyond opened to $59.6-million in North American theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates — more than a $10-million drop from Star Trek Into Darkness, which debuted to $70.17-million three years ago, and more than a 20-percent plummet from Abrams’s 2009 reboot of the franchise (which opened to $75.2-million, not adjusted for inflation).
In other words: With a reported $185-million budget, Star Trek Beyond is boldly trying to succeed where so many live-action blockbuster sequels must now do to avoid commercial disappointment, studio write-downs or even becoming a franchise killer.