Disinterested movie audiences may have succeeded in accomplishing what armies of Klingons could not -- the destruction of the Star Trek enterprise. Speaking with reporters during a junket to promote the upcoming X-Men 2, Patrick Stewart, who portrayed Jean-Luc Picard in the Next Generation TV series beginning in 1987 and in the theatrical features since 1994, said "I've probably said goodbye to Picard forever now." He added that he doubted that the Next Generation cast would perform together again and seemed to cast doubt on the future of the Paramount franchise entirely. Reporting on Stewart's comments, Entertainment Weekly observed on its website Monday that Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing had concluded following the failure of the recent Star Trek: Nemesis that the franchise's "fan base has in some way shrunk." [Newsday recounts Stewart's "worst encounter with a Star Trek groupie" when, he said, he went onstage in Shakespeare's The Tempest "only to find two people sitting in the front row in Starfleet uniforms, and I wanted to hurt them."]
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
But hark! What's that light through yonder window breaks? Methinks 'tis this thread about to be transported elsewhere. . .
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
If the profit margin is small enough, when all is said and done, and the DVD's are out, then they will stop making movies.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, they'd certainly retool the basic concept of a Trek film. But because Star Trek is a franchise, the individual financial success or failure of any particular film is not the only metric the studio is concerned with.