Star Trek is a brand that has influenced the world of science fiction for decades. They've helped create and influence other franchises for years. Due to this, some franchises and films have popped up that took the Star Trek formula and gave it their own twist. The most recent iteration of this trend is The Orville, a show some of you may be quick to tie to Star Trek.
Yet, before there was the Orville, there was Galaxy Quest. If The Orville is a show that is telling untold stories from within the Star Trek universe, but with a comedic twist, then Galaxy Quest is about the lives of those actors.
Starring Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith, a William Shatner stand-in, the movie follows the cast of Galaxy Quest, a show that ended its run some 20 years before the start of the film. The show is still beloved all this time later, leading to aliens believing the show was real, and recruiting the actors to help them in an intergalactic war.
It is genuinely hilarious, it lovingly pokes fun at gimmicks that Star Trek made famous and celebrates the fans of the franchise by making them a key component of the action. It's a beautiful love letter to sci-fi and its fandom. Yet, it failed to find its foothold in 1999.
And now that we're 25 years out, we thought we'd touch on the 'why' of it all. Why did the film fail, specifically?
Well, the film debuted in theaters on Christmas Day, 1999. That's usually not a good sign that the studio has faith in you. What also didn't help was competing at the box office against The Talented Mr. Ripley, Man on the Moon, and Any Given Sunday. All three films opened within four days of one another.
If that wasn't bad enough, Stuart Little, Toy Story 2, and The Green Mile were still tracking in the Top 10 of films seen at the time. Galaxy Quest went up against a Murder's Row of opposition. On a holiday we usually don't see a lot of fans in the theaters.
Poor timing and a monster lineup of films led to Galaxy Quest not getting the attention it deserved. Not only that, but it didn't try to work with Star Trek at all to try and get the one fanbase it was made for to be invested in the film. Owned by Universal and Dreamworks, the film made little effort that we're aware of to work with Paramount and the Star Trek brand. Doing so would've created some synergy and would've helped attract the one fan base that could've lifted it to a stronger debut.
Sadly, that didn't happen and despite debuting at No. 4 for its opening weekend, it quickly fell to No. 6 the next week. Still, its budget was tight enough that they were able to make a nice profit off of the film, with the film reportedly costing just $45 million and earning in about $90 million.