The Movies
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Released December 7th, 1979 and directed by Robert Wise, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the third-worst and by Metacritic as the second-worst of the series. I personally liked the movie for its actual continuation of the boldy go where no man has gone before theme and especially liked its slow pace. Well, and its Director’s Cut has been indeed an improvement.Domestic Box Office: $82,258,456
Worldwide Box Office: $139,000,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $283,480,334
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $479,000,000
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Released June 4, 1982 and directed by Nicholas Meyer, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the third-best and by Metacritic as the fourth-best of the series. Fun and fast-paced with a great Ricardo Montalban.Domestic Box Office: $78,912,963
Worldwide Box Office: $95,800,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $232,175,887
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $282,000,000
Star Trek: The Search for Spock
Released June 1, 1984 and directed by Leonard Nimoy, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the sixth-worst and by Metacritic as the fourth-worst of the series. Any scene with the crew is among the best but anything is of little interest, Christopher Lloyd notwithstanding.Domestic Box Office: $76,471,046
Worldwide Box Office: $87,000,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $196,867,417
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $224,000,000
Star Trek: Voyage Home
Released November 26, 1986 and directed by Leonard Nimoy, considered both by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic as the sixth-best of the series. A crowd-pleaser and the first with a message.Domestic Box Office: $109,713,132
Worldwide Box Office: $133,000,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $252,717,820
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $306,000,000
Star Trek: The Final Frontier
Released June 9, 1989 and directed by William Shatner, considered both by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic as the worst of the series. While it has its share of desastrous ideas, to me it is on par with The Undiscovered Country. The Final Frontier was the better Star Trek movie while The Undiscovered Country is the better movie.Domestic Box Office:$52,210,049
Worldwide Box Office: $70,200,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $113,187,196
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $152,000,000
Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country
Released December 6, 1991 and directed by Nicholas Meyer, considered both by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic as the seventh-best/worst of the series. It has a great story, excellent effects and other production values, but it sucks in dialogue and so many small details, that it makes me cringe even thinking about it. (But I want that phaser Valeris shot in the kitchen. Imagine shooting at Deanna and only her uniform disappears!)Domestic Box Office: $74,888,996
Worldwide Box Office: $96,900,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $153,992,542
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $199,000,000
Star Trek: Generations
Released November 18, 1994 and directed by David Carson, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the fourth-worst and by Metacritic as the fifth-worst of the series. It was cool to finally see the crew of the Enterprise-D on the big screen but its story was awful and would have been a mediocre filler episode on the show.Domestic Box Office: $75,671,262
Worldwide Box Office: $120,000,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $159,875,563
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $254,000,000
Star Trek: First Contact
Released November 22, 1996 and directed by Jonathan Frakes, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the second-best and by Metacritic as the third-best of the series. My favorite movies in the series, with a good story, a frightening villain, great ideas abound etc. etc.Domestic Box Office: $92,027,888
Worldwide Box Office: $150,000,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $179,893,955
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $293,000,000
Star Trek: Insurrection
Released December 11, 1998 and directed by Jonathan Frakes, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the fifth-worst and by Metacritic as the sixth-worst of the series. Insurrection shares the same problems with Generations, notably its mediocrity, but with a better director.Domestic Box Office: $70,187,658
Worldwide Box Office: $117,800,000
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $127,817,512
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $215,000,000
Star Trek: Nemesis
Released December 13, 2002 and directed by Stuart Baird, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the second-worst and by Metacritic as the third-worst of the series. To me Nemesis was the nadir of the series: a movie made for money, for ego, for contractual obligations (whatever) - without any heart at all, by the numbers.Domestic Box Office: $43,254,409
Worldwide Box Office: $67,312,826
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $64,211,450
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $100,000,000
Star Trek
Released May 8, 2009 and directed by J.J. Abrams, considered both by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic as the best of the series. A good cast and beautiful cameo by Leonard Nimoy can not make up for a bad script and even worse direction. But its success breathed life into the franchise.Domestic Box Office: $257,730,019
Worldwide Box Office: $385,680,446
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $297,248,626
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $445,000,000
Star Trek Into Darkness
Released May 16, 2013 and directed by J.J. Abrams, considered by Rotten Tomatoes as the fourth-best and by Metacritic as the second-best of the series. A huge improvement over its predecessor, enjoyable. But I still don’t like J.J. Abrams as a director.Domestic Box Office: $228,778,661
Worldwide Box Office: $467,381,584
Inflation Adjusted Domestic Box Office: $243,411,484
Inflation Adjusted Worldwide Box Office: $497,000,000
Star Trek Beyond
Released July 22, 2016 and directed by Justin Lin, considered both by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic as the fifth-best of the series. What it lacks in a good villain it more than makes up by a better director.Domestic Box Office: $158,848,340
Worldwide Box Office: $336,398,312
Not yet inflation adjusted.
The Verdict
Looking at the box office globally and inflation adjusted you get Star Trek Into Darkness as the winner with almost half a billion dollars in today’s money, closely followed by Star Trek: The Motion Picture with only 18 million dollars less. Star Trek’s 2009 reboot comes third. The remaining list (from highest to lowest global box office results) is as follows: Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek: The Voyage Home, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Adjusted for inflation the average worldwide box office per movie is about 291 million dollars.Domestically the 2009 reboot (Star Trek) takes the top spot with almost 300 million of today’s dollars, followed by Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek: The Voyage Home on second and third places, respectively. The remaining list (from highest to lowest domestic box office results) is as follows: Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Adjusted for inflation the average domestic box office per movie is about 190 million dollars.
What is noteworthy for any analysis of Star Trek’s box office history is the fact that the early movies played mostly to an audience in North America which is most remarkable for Star Trek: The Search for Spock: only 12% of its global box office came from international markets while Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond took 51% and 53% of its box office from international markets.
As for its critical appreciation I turn to Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic: both agree on Star Trek (2009) as the best movie in the series, followed by Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek: The Voyage Home, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek: Nemesis, and with Star Trek: The Final Frontier as the worst Star Trek movie ever, something both websites agree upon as well.
The Internet Movie Database is a good source for the public appreciation: IMDb’s voters agree with the critics and like Star Trek (2009) best, followed by Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: The Voyage Home, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek: Nemesis, Star Trek: Insurrection, and with Star Trek: The Final Frontier as the least liked.
And finally here’s my personal ranking of appreciation: my favorite is Star Trek: First Contact, followed by Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: The Voyage Home, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek (2009), and Star Trek: Nemesis.
Sources:
The Internet Movie Database - TMP, WOK, SFS, TVH, TFF, TUC, GEN, FCO, INS, NEM, STR, IDA, and BEY. © 1990-2017 IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
The Numbers Star Trek - TMP, WOK, SFS, TVH, TFF, TUC, GEN, FCO, INS, NEM, STR, IDA, and BEY. © 1997-2017 Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
Wikipedia - Star Trek film series. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
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