If you’ve been watching the pre-publicity for J.J. Abrams upcoming “Star Trek” re-boot and noticed it felt a bit targeted at a younger, less-“Trek” aware demographic, then Paramount is doing exactly what it wants to do.
According to Variety, a recent survey of movie-goers under the age of 25 shows that only 44% of that group plans to see the movie on or around the opening weekend on May 8. However, the number of those who indicate they want to see “Wolverine” on opening weekend jumps to 67%.
Because of that, Paramount is targeting younger viewers in an attempt to revive the “Trek” franchise. Part of that goes back to the earliest stages of planning for the film–Paramount wanted and got J.J. Abrams as a producer. The name-recognition of Abrams helped propel last year’s “Cloverfield” to a solid opening weekend and a good run in theaters and later DVD. Paramount wanted something similar with “Trek” and even pursuaded Abrams to take a greater interest in the film by pulling out the director’s chair for him.
Now with the film just weeks away, Paramount is aggressively going after younger audiences. Ads on television proclaim this to be “not your father’s ‘Star Trek’.” The ads are also being run during shows that have the demographic Paramount wants–“American Idol” and Spike TV’s wrestling programming. A tie-in with Abrams’ “Lost” is planned in coming weeks similar to a campaign that tied into “Heroes” for “Cloverfield.”
The push to reach younger auds is also evident in the types of promotional partners Paramount has enlisted for “Star Trek.” Burger King, considered among the edgier of the fast food chains, will go after younger males with “Trek”-themed TV spots, while eSurance — the preferred insurer for recent grads — is also onboard and has altered its ads to mirror the movie’s space setting.
“With the early teaser trailers, they had to be sensitive to old-school fans; there had to be a credibility check in the beginning of the campaign,” says a marketing exec who has worked on a number of the studio’s releases. “But as Paramount confronts the reality that they have a franchise that they want to build several films off of, they are turning to the mass audience. Now, you’re seeing less spaceships and more of the film’s young stars.”
However, this doesn’t mean the studio is assuming the built-in audience for “Trek” will be a given. A few weeks ago, the studio had a special sneak screening in Austin, Texas. The presentation was under the auspices of being a new print of “Star Trek II” but instead turned out to be the new movie. The showing, arranged and overseen by Ain’t It Cool News’s Harry Knowles, was a huge success and generated a lot of positive reviews and good will for the movie among a group of hard-core “Trek” and movie fans.
Either way, the overtures to the under-25 set seem to be essential given the uphill battle Paramount marketing execs also face selling the film abroad. The “Star Trek” film franchise has never translated as well overseas as other tentpoles, grossing far less internationally than domestically. Paramount is hoping to turn this around, the way that Warner Bros. has done with its reboot of the “Batman” franchise.
“Star Trek: Nemesis, the last film in the franchise, earned $24.1 million internationally when released in 2002, compared to $43.3 million domestically. “Star Trek: Insurrection,” released in 1998, grossed $42.4 million overseas and $70.2 million domestically.
