News ARCHIVES 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009| 2010

______________________________________________________________________________________

12th May, 2009 - Star Trek XI The Opening Week
Star Trek has galactic $US76.5m opening
11 May 2009, 10:18am - AEST
Tell a friend
Star Trek beamed itself up to the top of the box office, earning $US76.5 million ($A101.36 million) in its opening
weekend.
Paramount Pictures had estimated that the movie would make about $US50 million ($A66.25 million) for the
weekend, but figured that strong reviews helped carry it to the bigger opening.
Director JJ Abrams' reboot of the beloved sci-fi franchise made $US72.5 million ($A96.06 million) from Friday
through Sunday, plus $US4 million ($A5.3 million) just in pre-midnight screenings Thursday, the studio said on
Saturday. That cumulative figure includes a record $US8.2 million ($A10.86 million) in IMAX showings.
Star Trek, which reveals the back stories of Captain Kirk, Mr Spock and the rest of the crew of the USS
Enterprise, is an unusual blockbuster that pleased critics, too, receiving 96 per cent positive reviews on the
Rotten Tomatoes website.
"Last year The Dark Knight and Iron Man both were embraced by critics as incredible filmmaking as well as big
action-adventure movies. This one has been even better reviewed," said Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore.
"You look at the level of critical response and the audience reaction, we definitely feel like the movie is set to play
into Memorial Day and into the summer."
Moore said he expected the movie, which had a $US140 million ($A185.49 million) budget, should gross over
$US200 million ($A264.99 million) total this summer, even with competition like Terminator: Salvation coming on
May 21 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arriving in theatres July 15.
Abrams got it right, he said, by appealing to both hardcore Star Trek fans as well as moviegoers who may not
have been familiar with the 1960s television series and the many movies and TV spin-offs it spawned. It stars
Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, and features an appearance by Leonard Nimoy as an older
version of the half-Vulcan, half-human Spock.
"It just shows you how talented he is and what a great movie he made," Moore said.
Star Trek also beat the $US6.3 million ($A8.35 million) record The Dark Knight set in its opening weekend on IMAX
screens last year.
"The DNA of this movie and the DNA of the Star Trek franchise work perfectly together and are very much a
complement to what IMAX has accomplished," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed
Entertainment.
"IMAX was a company that had a sort of older-school, older-fashioned approach to things and we hipped it up
and reinvented ourselves, if you will. That's precisely what JJ Abrams and Paramount did with Star Trek."
The fact that the Star Trek haul improved from $US26.8 million ($A35.51 million) on Friday to $US27.4 million
($A36.3 million) on Saturday is a good sign, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.
"Sometimes you will see a movie drop bigtime," Dergarabedian said. "What this Star Trek is going to have is legs,
a rare commodity in this world where every week there's a new blockbuster."
As expected, last week's top film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, came in at No.2 with $US27 million ($A35.77 million).
The prequel to the X-Men franchise, starring Hugh Jackman as the mutant who slices and dices his enemies with
his metal claws, has made nearly $US129.6 million ($A171.71 million) in two weeks.
"It's the same weekend drop as (X-Men: The Last Stand), the last one. That tends to be what fan-based movies
do," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox. "To have $US130
million ($A172.24 million) in the first 10 days is sensational. We think we withstood the attack of Star Trek, if you
will, and will settle into a long, successful run."
The week's other new wide release, the stoner comedy Next Day Air, came in at sixth place with $US4 million
($A5.3 million).
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres are according to Hollywood.com.

______________________________________________________________________________________

10th May, 2009 - Adventures of the President
Hi guys,
Currently I am traveling overseas and have organised a couple of surprises for the club. Coming up - Exclusive Interview with; Robbie McNeil, Ethan Phillips, and more to be announced soon. These are a new bunch coming up for the club that will be recorded so you can watch all the time. Also coming up will be club video tours of some of the shooting locations of Trek from over the years.
Stay tuned for more news!!!
Locky - President

______________________________________________________________________________________

26th January, 2009 - Sad Days
We would like to pay our condolences to the families of Majel Barrett Roddenberry and Ricardo Montalban, it seems we are slowly loosing the family of actors associated with this great franchise, but life goes on for the rest of us. May they find peace and happiness where ever they are, and we (who would like to think of our selves as part of the Trek family) send them off with much gratitude, for giving us the gift of there lives and talents. We hope they lived well and prospered.

We hope those that attended the Xmas feast all had a great time, I know those on the committee did. We had a good turn out so I hope this tradition continues.

Check out the events page for this years meetings and away missions, don't forget that the February meeting is on the second week of February not the first week, we had to do it this way because Starwalking could only have there's on the first week and we where able to change ours. Don't forget to check the events page regularly because we're always adding away missions.

Lastly this years Summer BBQ was on there was a little mix up to where we were going to meet but there seemed to be an average turn out, fun was had.

______________________________________________________________________________________

For the latest Star Trek news direct from the US check out www.trektoday.com

______________________________________________________________________________________