‘Star Trek Beyond’: Reasons It Failed, The End Of The Franchise — Why Is No One Going To See It?

Star Trek Beyond has received some of the highest scores and most positive reviews for any film in the franchise in a very long time. It is being seen as the best of the new batch since J.J. Abrams took over, and rightfully so. The only problem is that it could end up hurting the franchise as a whole because it is really not making any money at the box office, and it’s in real danger of losing money.

On July 22, 2016, Star Trek Beyond made its domestic release in theaters and pulled in an impressive $59.25 million for its opening weekend, as per Variety. It absolutely dominated that weekend, but it has failed to do much of anything since then and that is not a good sign.

Critics have given Star Trek Beyond rave reviews, and it currently has an 84 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 219 total reviews in. 83 percent of fans who rated it on the site (more than 57,000) liked the film.

Unfortunately, the numbers simply aren’t there to really call it a success.

Since its opening weekend, it has only moved its domestic total up to $139.67 million, and its worldwide total up to $211.27 million, per Box Office Mojo. Star Trek Beyond has only opened in 34 percent of international markets, so there will still be more money coming in, but it is very slow moving.

In order for Paramount Pictures to pretty much break even, the movie would have to make somewhere between $340-350 million. That number is quite possible, but J.J. Abrams and the studio were really hoping for something other than just making their money back on a budget of $185 million.

Star Trek Into Darkness from 2013 has been seen by many fans as the worst movie in the history of the franchise, but it ended up making $467 million worldwide. Abrams ended up telling Rolling Stone that he figured out what the problem was with the film.

“… There were too many nods to ‘[Star Trek II]: The Wrath of Khan.’ I’ll cop to that.”

Variety reported that sequels are only going to be likely from this point on if Star Trek Beyond is a hit with foreign audiences. The domestic audience simply wasn’t looking for live-action remakes and sequels this summer like it has in past years, and that is hurting Abrams’ latest release.

Even though critics and the fans that have seen it have liked the film, Grunge believes that the majority of the fans simply don’t care. There was not a ton of hype around Star Trek Beyond before its release, and it just sort of landed in theaters with a bit of a thud.

Taking J.J. Abrams out of the director’s chair certainly didn’t help matters any as he is the producer, but fans knew he had moved his attention onto the Star Wars franchise.

Abrams has already teased fans about the fourth Star Trek film in the new branch of the franchise, and even said that a character from the past would return. That was all said when things were still looking good, though, and it now seems as if there may not be a next movie.

While nostalgia is huge right now, some people just aren’t turning to it, and it is causing some big-time projects to fail. Ghostbusters received good reviews from critics, but there were some huge obstacles it couldn’t overcome and it has essentially put an end to that franchise.

Now, Star Trek Beyond is another film that has been with a lot of positive reviews, but the longtime franchise may finally come to an end due to poor financial performance. It may very well be the last of the Star Trek movies until someone else decides to breathe new life into the franchise down the line.

There is still plenty of time for Star Trek Beyond to not just break even, but to also make a profit and come out ahead. Some work needs to be done and it will still open in a number of international markets, but people just aren’t heading out to theaters to see it. J.J. Abrams definitely has plans for further sequels, but if the international box office doesn’t bring in some bigger numbers, it is possible this could end the franchise.

[Image via Paramount Pictures]