STAR TREK: NEMESIS

Star Trek: Nemesis

Just before the release of Star Trek: Nemesis, Viacom Entertainment Group Chairman Jonathan Dolgen said he was proud of the film, not because of quality, but “because it only cost $65 million.“ Paramount financed the tenth Star Trek entry and scheduled the pic just before the crowded end of the year holidays on December 13. In addition to an expensive domestic marketing spend, Paramount partnered with Valpak, where the company sent out over 10 million Star Trek envelopes and additional promotional tie-ins were with Activision, McAfee software, Safeway Stores and the fast-food chain Del Taco. Franchise fatigue saw Nemesis open to a so-so $18,513,305 — placing #2 at the box office behind the generic rom-com Maid In Manhattan. Star Trek: Nemesis posted one of the biggest second weekend drops on record at 76.2% to $4,415,081 when The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers opened and ruled the weekend. The pic declined a small 8.2% over the busy christmas frame to $4,054,107 but it was too little, too late. The film sputtered out of release with $43,254,409 which would be troubling since up until this point in Star Trek releases, most of the films pulled in about 65% of its box office from the domestic market and Nemesis was the lowest grossing Star Trek feature. The poor $24 million overseas cume was largely comprised of $8.2 million from Germany and $7.6 million from the UK and most markets pulled in less than $1 million. Paramount would see back about $37 million after theaters take their percentage of the worldwide gross, which would not even cover P&A costs. So much for the successful even-numbered sequels theory. Future installments were canceled after the movie’s dismal performance and later rebooted to much more success in 2009.