The Star Trek film series is the cinematic branch of the Star Trek media franchise, which began in 1966 as a weekly television show on NBC, running for three seasons until it was canceled in 1969 because of poor ratings. Reruns of the series proved to be wildly successful in syndication during the 1970s, which persuaded the show's owner, Paramount Pictures, to expand the franchise.
Paramount originally began work on a Star Trek feature film in 1975 after lobbying by the creator of the franchise, Gene Roddenberry. The studio scrapped the project two years later in favor of creating a TV series, Star Trek: Phase II, with the original cast. However, following the huge success of Star Wars and Close Encounters, Paramount would change its mind again, halting production on the TV series and adapting its pilot episode into the 1979 Star Trek feature film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Five more films featuring the entire original cast followed. The cast of the 1987–1994 spin-off series Star Trek: The Next Generation starred in a further four films. A reboot to the original television series, simply titled Star Trek, was released in May 2009, and a sequel has been announced as in development.
The Star Trek films have received critically mixed reviews, and received 14 Academy Award nominations (winning one in 2010). Four of the previous films had been nominated mainly in the areas of makeup, music, set design, and sound design.
The early Star Trek films were originally released on VHS; competitive pricing of The Wrath of Khan's videocassette helped bolster the adoption of VHS players in households.[1] Later films were also released on LaserDisc as well. For those films that did not receive an initial DVD release, Paramount released simple one-disc versions with no special features. Later, the first ten films were released in two-disc collector's versions, with The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan branded as "director's cuts", followed by later box set releases. The films are now available on Blu-ray high definition discs.
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Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first suggested the idea of a Star Trek feature in 1969.[2] When the original television series was cancelled, he lobbied to continue the franchise through a film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on a feature film in 1975.[3] A series of writers attempted to craft a suitably epic script, but the attempts did not satisfy Paramount, so the studio scrapped the project in 1977. Paramount instead planned on returning the franchise to its roots with a new television series, Star Trek: Phase II. The box office success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind convinced Paramount that science fiction films other than Star Wars could do well at the box office, so the studio canceled production of Phase II and resumed its attempts at making a Star Trek film.
Principal photography for Star Trek: The Motion Picture commenced August 7, 1978[4] with director Robert Wise helming the feature. The production encountered difficulties and slipped behind schedule. Paramount had approached Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra to handle the film's optical effects, but each was busy or unwilling.[5] The production instead went with Robert Abel and Associates,[6] who proved unable to handle the film's large amount of effects work. Trumbull was hired and given a blank check to complete the effects work in time;[7] the final cut of the film was completed just in time for the film's premiere in Washington, DC. The film received mixed reviews from critics; while it grossed $139 million, the film's price tag had climbed to about $46 million due to costly effects work and delays.
The Motion Picture's gross was considered disappointing, but it was enough for Paramount to back a sequel, though with a reduced budget. After Gene Roddenberry pitched a sequel to The Motion Picture in which the crew of the Enterprise goes back in time to ensure the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he was "kicked upstairs" to a ceremonial role while Paramount brought in television producer Harve Bennett to craft a better—and cheaper—film than the first feature.[8] After watching all the television episodes, Bennett decided that the character of Khan Noonien Singh was the perfect villain for the new film. Nicholas Meyer became director after he finished a complete screenplay in just twelve days. Meyer did everything possible within budget to give The Wrath of Khan a nautical, swashbuckling feel,[9] which he described as "Horatio Hornblower in outer space."[8] Upon release, the reception of The Wrath of Khan was highly positive;[10] Entertainment Weekly's Mark Bernadin called The Wrath of Khan, "the film that, by most accounts, saved Star Trek as we know it".[11]
Meyer declined to return for the next film, so directing duties were given to cast member Leonard Nimoy for the third film. Paramount gave Bennett the green light to write Star Trek III the day after The Wrath of Khan opened.[12] The producer penned a resurrection story for Spock that built on threads from the previous film and the original series episode "Amok Time".
Nimoy remained director for the next film in the series. Nimoy and Bennett wanted a film with a lighter tone that did not have a classic antagonist. They decided on a time travel story with the Enterprise crew returning to their past to retrieve something to save their present—eventually, humpback whales. After being dissatisfied with the script written by Daniel Petrie, Jr., Paramount hired Meyer to rewrite the screenplay with Bennett's help. Meyer drew upon his own time travel story Time After Time for elements of the script.
Shatner was promised his turn as director for Star Trek V.
Both the sixth and seventh film acted as transitions between the films featuring the original cast and those with the cast of Next Generation with the sixth focusing on the original cast and the seventh focusing on the TNG cast. (See Films below.) The Next Generation cast made four films over a period of eight years, with the last two performing only moderately well at the box office.
After the financial failure of Star Trek Nemesis and the cancellation of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the franchise's executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriter Erik Jendresen began developing a new film,[13] entitled Star Trek: The Beginning, which would take place after Enterprise but before The Original Series.[14] J. J. Abrams, the producer of Cloverfield and creator of Lost, was a Star Wars fan as a child and confessed that the Star Trek franchise "disconnected" for him.[15] In February 2007, Abrams accepted Paramount's offer to direct the new Star Trek film, having been previously attached as producer.[16] Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote a script that impressed Abrams, featuring new actors portraying younger versions of the original series cast. The Enterprise, its interior, and the original uniforms were redesigned. While the film was ready for a December 2008 release, Paramount chose to move the film's opening to May 8, 2009.[17] The film earned over $350 million worldwide (from a solid $75.2 million opening weekend, higher than 1996's Star Trek: First Contact), and surpassed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as the highest grossing film in the series. The sequel was greenlit even before the first one opened, and Paramount plans to release the film (the twelfth in the franchise) May 17th, 2013.[18]
The reboot also has the distinction of being the first film in the franchise to win an Academy Award. It won for Best Makeup in 2010.
| Name | Release date[19] | Budget | ||||||
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| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | December 7, 1979 | $46,000,000[8] | ||||||
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The feature film introduced an upgrade to the technology and starship designs, making for a dramatic visual departure from the original series. The starship Enterprise was "refitted" with a modernized design, both exterior and interior. Many of the set elements created for the earlier aborted "Phase II" television series were adapted and enhanced for use in the first feature film. The plot concerning a sentient massive energy cloud advancing toward Earth borrows many elements from two episodes of the original series: "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Changeling". |
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| Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | June 4, 1982 | $11,000,000[8] | ||||||
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Synopsis: Khan quests for revenge against Kirk who frustrated his plans to seize control of the Enterprise fifteen years earlier (in the episode "Space Seed"). Both the first and second films have television versions with additional footage and alternate takes that affect the storyline. (Subsequent Trek films tended to have shorter television versions.) Especially notable in The Wrath of Khan is the footage establishing that a young crewmember who acts courageously and dies during an attack on the Enterprise is Scotty's nephew. |
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| Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | June 1, 1984 | $17,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: Concerned about McCoy's unstable condition since Spock's death, Kirk learns that in his final moments, Spock transferred his katra, or spirit, to the doctor. To reunite Spock with his soul, Kirk must violate a quarantine law and steal the Enterprise to retrieve Spock's body from the rapidly dying Genesis planet. The first film to be a sequel to the previous Trek film. |
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| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | November 26, 1986 | $27,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: Kirk and his crew head for Earth to stand at their court martial for the theft of the Enterprise, and its subsequent destruction, when they find Earth under siege by a giant probe transmitting a destructive signal—intended for the extinct humpback whales. Kirk takes his crew back to the late 20th century to retrieve some whales so they can respond. The second through fourth films loosely form a trilogy, with the later plots building on elements of the earlier ones. The third film picks up within several days of the conclusion of the second, the fourth three months after the third. The third and fourth films were both directed by Leonard Nimoy (also co-writer of the fourth) best known as the actor playing Spock. |
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| Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | June 9, 1989 | $27,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: Exiled from Vulcan, Spock's emotional half-brother Sybok believes he is called by God and hijacks the partially retrofitted Enterprise-A to take it to the Great Barrier at the center of the Milky Way to meet his maker, while an ambitious young Klingon captain sets his sights on Kirk. The fifth film was written and directed by William Shatner who plays Captain Kirk but was less well-received than the Nimoy-directed ones. |
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| Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | December 6, 1991 | $17,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: After their homeworld is wracked by an environmental disaster, the Klingons attempt to make peace with the Federation though many on both sides are opposed. Just before the summit conference, Kirk and McCoy are arrested for the murder of the Klingon chancellor. Primarily a film with the original cast, this film is both a sendoff to the original crew and transitions to the events of Next Generation featuring one Next Generation cast member, Michael Dorn, as the grandfather of the character he normally plays, Worf. Marks second and last film directed by Nicholas Meyer and last script co-authored by Leonard Nimoy. |
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| Star Trek Generations | November 18, 1994 | $35,000,000[20] | ||||||
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Following seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the next Star Trek film was the first to feature the crew of the Enterprise-D along with a long prologue sequence featuring three members of the original cast. |
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| Star Trek: First Contact | November 22, 1996 | $45,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise-E pursues the Borg back in time as they threaten to prevent first contact between Humans and Vulcans, thus destroying the Federation before its founding. One of the most popular films and the next one following Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to be a direct sequel to a specific episode in a television series. |
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| Star Trek: Insurrection | December 11, 1998 | $58,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise aids a rebellion on the Baku homeworld against Picard’s superior officer, Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe), who wants to relocate the Baku to gain possession of the medicinal cosmic radiation that floods their planet. |
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| Star Trek Nemesis | December 13, 2002 | $60,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: Captain Picard confronts the villainous new Reman leader Shinzon, a younger genetic clone of himself who kidnaps Picard to replenish his own DNA and uses an earlier prototype of Data to spy on the Enterprise while plotting to destroy Earth. |
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| Star Trek | May 8, 2009 | $150,000,000 | ||||||
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Synopsis: A "reboot" of the franchise, which sets up an earlier "alternate timeline" (containing an older Spock from the original timeline) to the story arc of the original series, with much younger actors playing the roles of Kirk, Spock, etc. The first film (or television production) to feature an entirely different cast of actors playing roles previously established by other actors, (although the older Spock is still played by Nimoy). Directed by J. J. Abrams who also produced it (with Damon Lindelof) and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, this production attracted wider audiences, positive reviews and a number of nominations, and won one Oscar. |
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| Star Trek 2 | May 17, 2013 | TBA | ||||||
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Star Trek 2 is an upcoming sci-fi action film directed by J.J. Abrams and is a sequel to the 2009 film, which is based on the TV series of the same name. |
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Fans commonly considered the films to follow a "curse" that even-numbered films were better than the odd-numbered installments.[21][22] The tenth film, Nemesis, was considered the even film that defied the curse.[21][23][24] The failure of Nemesis and subsequent success of the Star Trek reboot is considered to have broken the trend.[25][26] The curse is well-known enough that it has been mentioned often in pop culture. One of the best known occurred in a 1999 episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, where it was referenced by Tim Bisley, played by Simon Pegg: Pegg, quite conscious of the irony,[27] played Scotty in the reboot film.
Various composers have lent their musical talents to the eleven films. This table displays the eleven Star Trek films and their respective composers over the years.
| Film | Release date | North American gross | Gross when adjusted for inflation[28] |
Box office rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | December 7, 1979 | $82,258,456[29] | $266,312,055 | 4[30] | |
| Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | June 4, 1982 | $78,912,963[31] | $184,000,684 | 6[32] | |
| Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | June 1, 1984 | $76,471,046[33] | $165,457,526 | 9[34] | |
| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | November 26, 1986 | $109,713,132[35] | $220,007,452 | 5[36] | |
| Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | June 9, 1989 | $52,210,049[37] | $94,965,529 | 25[32] | |
| Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | December 6, 1991 | $74,888,996[38] | $122,676,347 | 15[39] | |
| Star Trek Generations | November 18, 1994 | $75,671,125[40] | $113,755,291 | 15[41] | |
| Star Trek: First Contact | November 22, 1996 | $92,027,888[42] | $131,404,433 | 17[43] | |
| Star Trek: Insurrection | December 11, 1998 | $70,187,658[44] | $95,372,974 | 28[45] | |
| Star Trek Nemesis | December 13, 2002 | $43,254,409[46] | $53,652,847 | 54[47] | |
| Star Trek | May 8, 2009 | $257,730,019[48] | $268,703,540 | 7[49] | |
| Star Trek 2 | May 17, 2013 | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
| Total grosses | $1,013,325,741[50] | $1,716,308,678 | |||
The Star Trek films were the first in a franchise to be released on DVD. The first nine films were issued in "vanilla versions", with their trailers being their only special features. They were released in reverse chronological order except for Insurrection, which was after The Final Frontier and before The Voyage Home.
In 2001, Paramount Pictures released the first film on DVD, which was redone with new computerized special effects to better satisfy the vision of Robert Wise. The Director's Edition was an enormous success and Paramount released the rest of the films on 2-disc special edition DVDs. The second and sixth film in these special editions were slightly extended. The cinematic versions were only on the basic DVDs.
The films were released on Blu-ray, with the original cast's films (I-VI) and The Next Generation's released in separate collections.
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