Simon Pegg Explains Why ‘Star Trek Beyond’ Failed At The Box Office
Star Trek Beyondwas by no means a box office disaster. It raked in $158 million domestically and went on to have a $343 million total haul worldwide. But compared to its predecessorsStar TrekandStar Trek Into Darkness,Star Trek Beyondfailed to boldly go toward sky-high box office expectations.
So what was the reason forStar Trek Beyond’s box office disappointment? StarSimon Pegghas an explanation: the marketing.
Simon Pegg toldGeek Exchangethat he believed the poor marketing was to blame for the movie’s disappointing box office haul:
I think it was poorly marketed to be honest. If you look at a film likeSuicide Squad, that was around for such a long time before it finally came out and people were so aware of it. Whereas withStar Trek Beyond, it was left too late before they started their marketing push. It still did great business, but it was disappointing compared to Into Darkness.
But Pegg has one specific gripe to pick with Paramount’sStar Trek Beyondmarketing team. The trailers for the film used the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage,” which played a pivotal part in a late-act plot twist. “I was really angry about that,” Pegg said. He continued:
“Because it used Sabotage, which was our surprise moment in the end. It was supposed to be a very fun and heightened twist, and something that was a big surprise and they blew it in the first trailer, which really annoyed me. They also made the film look like a boneheaded action film. And they were scared, I think, of mentioning the 50th Anniversary. It was fumbled as a thing; they didn’t know what to do with it and it’s a real shame. But I came away from it really, really happy and very proud of it.
Star Trek Beyonddid well domestically, but only earned an additional $184 million in international markets. With its$185 million production budget,Star Trek Beyondeasily made back its costs, but not with the soaring numbers that Paramount supposedly expected. By comparison,Star Trekmade $467.4 million worldwide in 2009 whileStarTrek into Darknessmade $385 millionin 2013.
On top of that, the franchise did celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016 — a huge feat for any franchise, especially one as beloved and prolific asStar Trek. But the celebrations from CBS and Paramount essentially amounted to…a fan video? I can see where that can be disappointing for Trekkies and for everyone involved in the J.J. Abrams-rebooted universe. It’s especially a letdown forJustin Lin’sStar Trek Beyond, which actually managed topay a loving homage to the original serieswith its episodically structured plot and scene-stealing new character played bySofia Boutella.
But maybe the future ofStar Trekwill look a little brighter withStar Trek Discoveryand thepossible Quentin TarantinoStar Trekmovie down the road.
