[Strucky]

I've been reading on wikipedia that the new trek film is going to cost between 130-150 million dollars...That is close to the amount they spent on the previous three films COMBINED.I hope the movie earns at least 150-200 million(domestic) just to help it break even.

Star Trek 11- $130-150 million


Nemesis- $60 million
Insurrection- $58 million
First Contact- $45 million
Combined total- $163 million

[HRH The KING]

So far the budget is the only thing that concerns me.

To break even, it will have to be the most successful Star Trek movie of all time.

[Strucky]

I agree,it will have to do as good as Transformers if it hopes to make a profit.

[Elizadolots]

Movie budgets are bigger now, though....this budget is somewhat bigger than TMP, but I suspect if you do a comparison based on dollar value, this one is going to be cheaper (in fact without that conversion it's close...didn't TMP cost $145million?)...face it, this one is being done so far away from the previous ones it doesn't have some of the "cheap outs" available to the other movies.... Both Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock co-opted footage from TMP (sometimes flipping the film over for the "shots from space") to get the job done..

[Saquist]

Intresting I saw a 200 million dolar estimate from another member...
I thought that was a bit high.

[Strucky]

Originally Posted by Saquist

Intresting I saw a 200 million dolar estimate from another member...
I thought that was a bit high.

If you add in marketing it might cost 200 million,but the actual cost of the film itself is stated at 130-150 million.

[HRH The KING]

Movie budgets are like skyscrapers.

There's no real need for them to be so big, but the motivating factor is based on one company trying to outdo the other for ego-related reasons.

[wayne1701]

I think they will make there money back easily. Take ST 4, that cost 35 million but grossed around 100 million. Then you take into acount DVD sales, Merchendise and books and your looking at a break even or a profit

[Zardoz]

A movie is considered a sucess if it nreakes even, or a runaway hot if it grosses more than projections.

[notlad]

The rule of thumb is that a movie must gross double it's cost to break even. Of course that does not take DVD sales into account.

In the last ten years the dollars earned overseas from American films has increased greatly and that is part of the justification for the larger budgets as they believe they will earn it back from overseas performance. Used to overseas grosses were just an afterthought, a little exra. Now on "big tent" films like the James Bond series, Harry Potter, etc the overseas gross can be more than the North American.

It is true that the new Star Trek film must perform well to make a profit but I believe in this case the old saying that "You must spend money to make money" is true. Star Trek has all of the elements to be a blockbuster. It just need the creativity and budget to propel it into that league and I believe JJ is doing just that.