Star Trek is not exactly known for extravagantly budgeted projects. In fact, several of its series found a home on secondary TV channels in the U.S., which undoubtedly reduced the investment capacity of its creators and heightened their imagination to create some of the most original stories in the genre. However, one day it also became one of the most expensive movies ever made.
For this story, we must travel back to the late 1970s when the blockbuster success of George Lucas’ Star Wars sparked greater interest in developing new space-themed films for the big screen, including Star Trek. After its original series was canceled, and after a few failed attempts to relaunch the franchise, Paramount Pictures set out to bring the science fiction saga to the cinemas with a grand project.
The iconic crew of officers from Kirk and Spock’s Enterprise was going to be reunited, with the fiction’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, and a hefty budget. Everything needed to turn Star Trek into a cinematic experience worthy of its name. However, it soon became clear that doing so was easier said than done, and the production descended into chaos that possibly wouldn’t meet its December 1979 release date.
Star Trek could not afford a delay, so Paramount gave them a blank check to finish on time
Delaying it was not an option. As reported by SYFY Wire, Paramount Pictures had sold the exhibition rights of the movie to several theaters in exchange for upfront cash, a common practice at the time that allowed Star Trek: The Motion Picture to have “earned” over 30 million dollars months before its commercial release. Sounds good, right? As long as you could meet the announced deadlines.
![STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE - The Director's Edition 4K UHD [Blu-ray] [Region A & B & C]](https://gamezznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1727794673_623_original.jpeg)
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE – The Director’s Edition 4K UHD [Blu-ray] [Region A & B & C]
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The movie cost twice as much as The Empire Strikes Back
Otherwise, the studio could have been embroiled in a lawsuit that would have disrupted their entire business, which is why Paramount Pictures made a decision: Star Trek would arrive in theaters by Christmas one way or another; or in other words, they would spend as much money as necessary to speed up its development. A blank check of 42 million dollars turned Star Trek: The Motion Picture into one of the most expensive movies in history. For example, Star Trek: The Empire Strikes Back only cost 18 million dollars.
Along the way, they hired the best special effects supervisor available in Hollywood at that time, Douglas Trumbull, with credits in Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey, who admitted in a recent talk the hell of problems he lived through developing this film, something that was expected from the start: “We knew it right from the beginning. It was going to be a titanic task [to finish it], a 24-hour job for seven consecutive months“.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture made it to theaters on the scheduled date, although sending its copies to theaters practically hours before its premiere, and the movie performed quite well at the box office and, beyond its many narrative flaws, it can be said that visually it was a delight. However, for its sequels, Paramount became more rigorous, and no installment of the classic saga exceeded the spending of the original 1979 release.
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