Why Star Trek: Nemesis Bombed At The Box Office
The five sci-fi movie flops that changed this genre forever reflect how precarious it can be trying to launch movies based around both the cosmos and laser guns. True, many of the world's biggest movies at the box office are sci-fi titles like the "Avatar" adventures or various "Avengers" installments. However, a deluge of catastrophic sci-fi box office misfires like "John Carter" and "Battlefield Earth" are cautionary tales that relate how this genre takes as much as it gives. Not even the Star Trek franchise was immune to how precarious this genre can be, as seen by the 2002 flop "Star Trek: Nemesis."
Before this installment, only one Star Trek movie ("The Final Frontier") had made under $70 million domestically. "Nemesis," though, crashed and burned with only $43.25 million in North America and $67.3 million worldwide on a $60 million budget. It was the kind of dud that immediately sends a franchise spiraling and inspired Paramount Pictures to embrace a bold new take on Star Trek with the saga's 2009 reboot. What happened, though, with "Nemesis" and its staggering failure? This was a film rooted in the "Next Generation" cast and lore, both of which have proven enduringly popular. Why, then, did a film focusing on them plop so badly?
"Star Trek: Nemesis" bombed at the box office for some key fatal reasons, including a rotten release date. These elements ensured even a sturdy brand like Star Trek could produce a mighty sci-fi flop.
That terrible release date
The final two months of 2002 were stacked in terms of new releases. November 2002, for instance, belonged to "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and a new Bond flick, "Die Another Day." Then there was December, when "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" would drop and become the de facto big movie at multiplexes everywhere. Part of the complicated history behind "Treasure Planet," Disney Animation's biggest flop, is that it got caught in the chaos of this beefy release slate. "Star Trek: Nemesis" was just another title that also got crushed by all this late 2002 competition, especially since it was opening a week before "The Two Towers" premiered.
Granted, this release date choice wasn't totally inexplicable. Out of the original Star Trek films, from the worst to the best, seven of them launched in either November or December. All three previous "Next Generation" movies had debuted in the holiday season, so Paramount just stayed the course and kept "Nemesis" scheduled for December 13, 2002. However, December 2002 was way different than, say, December 1991 (when "Star Trek VI" premiered). "Lord of the Rings" was clearly taking off as a massive property that belonged to a new generation of film geeks. Something rooted in an older TV show, like "Nemesis" was, couldn't hope to compete.
Thus, "Nemesis" got its box office numbers crushed by opening in a crowded holiday frame that Star Trek used to dominate, what a tragic downfall.
The Next Generation crew had overstayed their welcome
The 30 best "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes alone will ensure that Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his "Next Generation" crew will never be forgotten by countless Star Trek devotees. However, all seven seasons of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had finished airing in 1994. By the time "Star Trek: Nemesis" hit movie theaters, the show had been off the airwaves for nearly a decade. True, major movies like "Star Trek: First Contact" had kept this particular corner of Star Trek lore going with new stories. However, the immense gap between the "Next Generation" series finale and "Nemesis" spoke to a problem that this movie couldn't overcome.
For many audiences, these characters were no longer super relevant. Between "The Next Generation" ending and "Nemesis" debuting, all seven seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager" had aired. Meanwhile, "Star Trek: Enterprise" had already begun a little over a year before "Nemesis" premiered. Returning once more to Picard's adventures, especially given that it had been four years since the last "Next Generation" movie, just felt like retreading incredibly familiar ground.
It was long time to move on to new Star Trek characters — or at least build radically new visions of familiar Trek figures, as the Kelvin timeline reboot films would offer. In trying to bring the "Next Generation" crew into 21st century cinema, "Star Trek: Nemesis" just reaffirmed how this cast of characters had overstayed their welcome.