May
12Spock Turns Back the Clock
The $100 million B.O. results and fawning reviews for the new “Star Trek” will surely provide even further reinforcement for that new genre, the prequel. All those studio execs who wasted their time devising sequels about “what comes after” must feel stupid for not focusing on “what went before?”
The sequels from the old studio system were finally abandoned because they ran out of plot. Clearly the Andy Hardy series, for example, should have taken Mickey Rooney back to infancy.
The prequel formula thumbs its nose at certain basic cinematic precepts. The audience doesn’t need to worry whether Spock will survive his mission because we see multiple generations of Spocks in the movie. The time-traveling Spock the Elder even advises his younger self, “Put aside logic. Do what feels right.” He might have added, “Put aside suspense. It all ends right.”
The recurrent speeches about “feelings” and the emotional repression among Vulcans makes the “Star Trek” opus occasionally seem like a sci-fi version of the HBO show “In Treatment.” But with a $106 million worldwide opening weekend, J.J. Abrams and his crew doubtless will feel no inhibitions about launching yet another sequel. Or prequel.
Meanwhile, there will be a lot of second-guessing about the opening numbers. The first weekend is usually the territory of the kids, but 65% of the “Star Trek” audience was 25 or older. “Wolverine” rolled up an $85 million opening weekend in the U.S. – vs. $79.5 million for “Star Trek.” And “Star Trek’s” foreign total of $35.5 million fell far short of “Wolverine’s” $73 million, not to mention “Iron Man’s” $90 million last year.
So even though the folks at Paramount are exchanging high fives, there’ll still be some marketing anxiety before we get to see Spock’s baby pictures.
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Like Leah, Laura is isolated from the rest of the world, not so much because of shyness but because she is physically crippled and that has given her a sort of inferiority complex. ,
Posted by: GanjaBoy10 | 10/22/2009 12:37:42 PM