Paramount's campaign to make Star Trek a more viable franchise internationally appears to have paid off. Star Trek Into Darkness opened strongly in seven key territories this weekend, where it earned $31.7 million -- a whopping 70% improvement over the 2009 reboot's international debut.
The fact that Into Darkness was also released in higher ticket-priced 3D certainly helped its performance, but there was a larger decision at play both creatively and marketing-wise to divorce Into Darkness from past Trek movies.
"I guess less Trekkie, more action might be the short story,” Paramount’s head of international distribution Anthony Marcoly told TheWrap. “But since I arrived here 18 months ago, a primary part of my mission has been to make sure this movie succeeds at the overseas box office the way it will domestically, and our team has done a great deal to make sure that happens. ... Basically, it was more action, more of the adventure elements and less of the real Trekkie stuff.”
Marcoly's candor may only further upset those Star Trek fans who feel like Abrams' rebooted Trek is basically Star Trek in name only and more of a Star Wars imitation. That Abrams' Trek has succeeded as well as it has with mainstream audiences and now internationally is inarguable; the question for fans is whether they will continue to support and accept a Trek franchise that is less like the one they fell in love with almost 50 years ago.
Star Trek Into Darkness opens stateside May 17.
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