All 13 Star Trek movies officially ranked
Star Trek Beyond
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Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
Production Budget: $185,000,000
Worldwide Box office: $335,802,233
Total Profit: $150,802,233
Return on Investment: 81.5%
The third, and current last, entry in the Kelvin Timeline series, Star Trek: Beyond was the first of this new series of movies to be directed by anyone other than JJ Abrams, instead being helmed by lifelong Star Trek fan and veteran of the Fast & Furious franchise, Justin Lin. It garnered a respectable return of 81.5%, but ultimately fared poorly on the home video release market and has so far lead to somewhat of a stall in the franchise.
From the beginning of pre-production with the promise of “a return to Trek”, after the disappointment many fans had with the previous entries in the series having more of an action/adventure feel with characters jammed into the wrong spots as fan service or big twist reveals. The script was co-written by another lifelong Star Trek fan and current face of Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, Simon Pegg.
For the most part Star Trek: Beyond managed to pull off the more episodic beginning, as if this was just another day aboard the Enterprise, which happened to culminate with a major event, and did so in a clever way by showing Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) as having been tired of the episodic nature of his life over the first three years of command of the ship.
While the movie succeeded in many ways it was ultimately left to a major action movie battle set, by design and nature, to a rock soundtrack that glossed over the ‘more Trek’ part of finding the solution and focused more on the action and the carnage of the battle. It was good for what it was, but made the third act feel a little more like the previous entries then promised.
Fortunately for fans there was quick news afterwards that a sequel would be forthcoming, but so far the process has stalled as key actors have yet to commit, and several directors seem to be in competition for which will be bringing the next Star Trek to the big screen.