Yes lets trash the new terminator movie.....omg its not rated R!!! Omg, it doesnt have Arnold in it!!!! Omg, it wasnt well written....blah blah blah....

The one thing that seems to be lost on everyone is that fact that Terminator opened against Night at the Museum 2....As movie history has shown time and again, family friendly movies always do better at the box office than anything else.

To say that 56 million over 4 days is something bad......wtf???? Have people forgotten the situation with the economy? How many people can afford to go to a movie theater and watch a movie right now?

Perhaps Memorial Weekend has something to do with it.

Maybe massive suc had something to do with it ?

Poor plot + chalie's angels director = why would anyone want to see warmed over vomit like this ?

PG-13 in a combat movie. Sure, OK. Giant go-bots ? check. No plot - check.

Now why isn't it a hit ?

KTA,

Three-day wknds are usually good for movies since more people have leisure time.

The movie made $56M. How much did it cost to make and market the film?

BTW, did people enjoy it?

I don't know about other people, but I for one can't afford to go see every summer blockbuster that comes out week after week.

Chill out, jpl1976. The article isn't trashing the movie. Warner Brothers spent $200 million making Terminator Salvation and probably hoped they could use it as the starting point of a new trilogy. Once you add the millions of dollars in marketing and distribution costs on top of that $200 million, any big-budget movie that doesn't recoup close to half it's budget in the opening weekend is pretty much a disappointment, as far as the studios are concerned. If $56 million is the best they can do for opening weekend, then they'll be lucky if they can break even.

I, for one, did actually enjoy Salvation. McG did what I hoped (but didn't hold my breath) he would do: prove he doesn't completely suck. Now, hopefully as the weeks go by and most of the haters have a chance to see it (which they'll do very ninja-like, because they don't want to hurt their anti-fan boy reps), the majority of this unnecessary trash talking will dissipate.

Hey Kyle, did you actually go see the movie, or are you just one of those McG haters that is bashing the movie cuz he directed it, cuz no offense dude, but you are painting yourself in that corner with those remarks.

Personally I have not seen the movie yet, cuz like anyone said, I can't afford to go see a movie every week of the month. Bills take top priority.

But I have heard from people who have seen the other Terminator movies and they have said it is a decent film but would have been better if they had kept the original ending in it.

3;
I saw it and I still hated it. I actually really enjoyed the first 45 minutes, up until the point where they introduce Blair Williams. After that it lost all sense of cohesion. Terminator, an action series while it may be, always broke the cliche. Salvation was successful in bringing that cliche back. I mean ffs Sknet actually had a supervillain monologue near the end. And don't even get me started about Williams' spontaneous attraction to Marcus and their incredibly far fetched escape attempt. When I saw that I couldn't help thinking to myself "Man, Imperial Stormtroopers shoot better than these Resistance mooks!" Bottom line: Great setting, great cast, outstanding special effects, but horrible execution. I'd give it a 3 out of 5. It was enjoyable but I don't plan on seeing it again. Honestly, for me, TSCC was everything one could ever ask for in a Terminator setting. It had drama, it had suspense, it had moments that made you think, and it had the one thing that Salvation lacked; emotion. I, like many other people here, am enraged and appalled at Fox's decision to cancel the show. Yes, I know it was several times more expensive than other shows on network television, but that's not the point.

Hey BlakOpal,

I did actually see the movie, and I didn't enjoy it at all.

Everything kind of seemed half thought out, and the action scenes seemed like they belonged in a different movie.

Not to mention that the AI seemed like the dumbest sentient computer I could imagine.

I mean if you were a super-intelligent computer would you build an army of giant robots - or just build enough toxins and nerve gas to kill everyone ?

But that's me - your viewing experience may differ.

For what it's worth I a HUGE fan of the original move and love the series, so I'm probably in the minority here

But i still think this film smells bad all day.

Argent117,

According to boxofficemojo.com the studios on average only recoup 55% of the final gross.

With the incessant tv ads that must be costing them a small fortune, it is difficult to see them even aiming to break even at the B.O. They must view ticket grosses as merely advanced publicity for disc sales?

I liked Terminator Salvation. It didn't have the "cool teens save the world" crap of the last two, and the acting was good. Story had some holes but why nitpick when you can enjoy the ride? TS will become a cult classic eventually. I hope it makes enough for sequels.

While I did mildly enjoy the film, I will not be seeing it again and will have to think really hard about seeing a sequel off of T:Sal. Does that translate to "epic fail"? Maybe not but seeing this film and its direction makes be want T:SCC back oh so much more. What I find funny is that Star Trek haters haven't yet come here to gloat about Trek being third. I guess the holiday has gotten to them.

Kyle747...I hear ya, though I went in trying to rid myself of all expectations the movie was not a perfect sequel by any stretch. I think alot of us Terminator Diehards may sit this one out and that could hurt the box office. As much as these T:S lovers rant, people vote with their dollars.

BTW Thomas Dekker made a T:SCC apreciation video on YouTube. I was made 3 days before word came of cancellation but it was nice to see a star reach out to the fans like that. Its also Thomas in a rather silly mood (There is some mature language). You can catch it by going to "AntFitz4's" page on Youtube and pulling up the video "thanks for trying to save scc!!!!!!"

I will not see this Terminator 4. I have no desire to see it in the theatres or rent or buy the DVD. I'll wait untill it's on cable.

BTW: I saw Star Trek twice already and am taking the whole family to see Night at the Museum 2 tomorrow.

So Kyle747, I suppose your comment about the dumb AI means you hated ALL the Terminator movies, because that complaint holds for the entire series.
For me, the biggest thing that didn't make sense in that vein was why make Terminators with human heads complete with teeth? for the fist movie it made sense because he was impersonating a human, but for those that never looked human, it is silly. But I can deal with that because it is a Terminator movie, people expect to see Terminator robots.
I thought the movie was ok, although I was a bit disappointed in the story. There was no ending. It simply set up the next movie. This movie needed to seriously advance the storyline and I thought it completely failed in that regard.
Oh, and how in heck did that harvestor sneak up on a group of people in a plain with no cover for miles? Nobody noticed a walking building? Were there no lookouts?
I found the movie entertaining, but ultimately disappointing.

I saw it and saved my stubs to send to WB in order for them to save TSCC but wow was it painful to sit through. It is a shame that people will remember the franchise from this film and T3 and not the vastly superior television series.

I was planning on seeing the Terminator movie until the reviews came in, then I lost interest. Might still see it.

Star Trek is still going strong!

Ignoring all the haters, I enjoyed the movie. Was it perfect? No. But it was a good movie. Except for the dates, it did fit in (and did not screw up)the Terminator mythology pretty well IMHO. It was more about Marcus than John Connor.

Kyle 747, if Skynet had done what you suggested, it would have screwed the the Terminator mythology since we know that humans were still alive from the very first movie.

I did like the nod to Arnold even though he didn't film any new sequences.

I'm a fan of the Terminator movies, but I'd much rather see another season of TSCC then this movie. I will probably go see it eventually or watch it on DVD. But at this point I'd rather go see Star Trek for a fourth time. And I can afford to go to all the summer movies if I choose to.

Museum is a popular series but Terminator must have got slammed with the bad reviews. Haven't seen it yet but am still looking forward to Bale and crew.

I agree with you.
Night at the museum is popular.

Ah...Star Trek is still going strong. It has been a long time waiting. I saw Terminator and almost fell asleep. Major disappointment. I was angry I spent the money on this piece of Fast and Furious Battlestar Galactica wanna be.

^ bought time somebody saw the connection between T4 and BSG.... total rip

T4 was created by McG
It sucked.
We puked.
It looked and felt boring.
It was copied off BSG.
And it was "all part of the plan."

lolol

T4 lacked Action that's the only thing that got to me.. unlike T3 this one really didn't have what it needed to stay alive.. and it might barely cover what it costed to make it..and i hope they work the next one better if they even make one.. in what 5-6years?

I loved it. I thought it did justice to the series, and I now cannot wait for the following films

Terminator became popular when two virtually indestructible people faced off to kill each other. So please, I had my doubts when we got an all out action massacre with five explosions per minute. Former Terminator movies had ONE well endowed bad guy, who had a lot of screen time to establish his danger and execute a variety of tricks. When 20 different CGI bots assault you in every other scene, they will not be as cool and dangerous as other Terminators.

T4 is like every other action movie in that regard. So it will perform like any other action movie. There is nothing wrong with that. I doubt I ever want to look at T4 a second time, because by then the next identical action movie will be out and I rather go and see that. T4 is simply not good enough to hold up a second time.

Being a fan of the series that hurts, but on the other hand it's a business. They hired McG to do an action movie with a star, a movie looking good in trailers, attracting people of all ages and getting marketed to hell and back. And McG did just that. If we believed for one second that it was going to be a movie with John Connor in a dystopian urban desert fighting one lonely Terminator, while Skynet is looming on the horizon....

...that might have been the Terminator sequel close to the original, but it would never been approved for the market or been really successful.

Why do people have to insult each other over a movie? It's just a film. Some people like it; others don't.

Why insult each other over a film that most likely no one here had a hand in creating? How does a Terminator movie actually affect anyone here?

The Terminator films are supposed to be about humans uniting to survive. Yet, the opposite takes place here. People are ripping at each other over whether or not they like a film.

Look around you. The world is in terrible shape for many people. Why add to the misery of your fellow sci-fi fans by insulting each other.

There's a horrible recession taking place that is severely impacting people's ability to spend money on luxuries like seeing a movie, which can cost $11 a ticket some places.

Comment on the film. Is it good or bad?

____

I don't plan to see the movie. Can't afford it. Star Trek was the only movie I plan to see this summer. Every nickel counts.

No problem with money for me.i can afford to buy a ticket to a movie but not Terminator 4 becuase i am personally boycotting the PG13 rating of an R Rated franchise i really did enjoy in the past.
and i read in more than one place that McG nevr really shot much extra R Rated scenes.
To bad but I have no time for studios doing this to adult films i love setting themselve up like they are parents to all of us.

i am 53 and have a son.i should of been the one to decide whether to take my child to Terminator.I as an adult wanted to see a violent scifi action film and we all got a kiddie movie.
i wont see this film nor will i pay to rent it when it does come out.

bye bye McG you are a lyer.

I download my stuff off of the net mostly, I didn't do so for Terminator Salvation, I went to theatres here in the Bahamas and I watched it. Awesome movie, I loved it loved it loved it. I loved the fact that it was PG 13, I'll see Moon's boobs when it comes on on DVD, Excelsior!

I supose that after the T:SCC cancellation,the 3.5 millions of fans of the show were angry and decided not to go to see T4.

That's why Night at the Museum surpassed T4.

Having not seen it yet....I think 13 year olds are old enough to see Moon's boobs. Cutting everything out is the reason I'm not going to see it. I loved Rambo 4's most violent movie ever comeback. If they can't crank it up, on some level, like they did at least in T3, then what content is there to get excited about and talk about later on? I haven't heard anyone come back and say "This scene rocked so hard." So I know there is probably nothing memorable about T4, except for Worthington and Bale, which have nothing to do with Terminators, because the'yre just actors. The people who say "It was a good movie" are the type who have no criteria, and just say things. I haven't seen the movie, but I just haven't heard anything good about it, like I heard with Star Trek, and I'm kind of too tired to go see a depressed movie thats lacking the extreme and entertaining scenes from T1 & T2, especially after they cut T:SCC. If its not R and its just a "good movie" I've seen enough of those for my lifetime. Please amp it up!

Well if they make another terminator then thats freakin sweet, if not at least I got one more terminator movie to replace T3. The series lost me half way through when it got boring and hard to follow, and we still got transformers, the surrogates, and hopefully more future cyberpunk adventures from the people who brought you Appleseed, Vexille and the other from the bunch.....

I liked it, it had a lot of action and I liked the main premise. There were some plot holes but all in all it was entertaining and isn't that why we go to the movies? I was hoping to see a tie in with The Sarah Conner Chronicles (mmm... Girl Robots), I really like The Sarah Conner Chronicles I will miss the series now that it is canceled.

I watched T4 (only because my girlfriend bought me the ticket) and all I can say is that I didn't spend my money on seeing it. OMFG..what a horrible waste of time. I heard at least 5 or 6 boos at different points during the movie. This is an utter disgrace to the Terminator storyline. This makes T3 look like the friggin' Godfather. It deserves every bad review it is getting so far..

The 'PG-13' rating did not hurt ‘Terminator: Salvation’ at all.

‘T2’ was rated 'R' more for language than anything else (yes there was some slightly gory violence/ two scenes come to mind right now).

‘Salvation’s story was solid enough… for an action movie! This is what all the ‘Terminator’ films are at heart. Regardless off how emotional or character driven they may get. I was able to take my son to this ‘Terminator’ movie and we both enjoyed it. And we are planning to go see it again today (my son’s choice... he wants to see it again instead of seeing ‘Night at the Museum’)

Yes. I had my doubts about a director named McG! But, come on guys!
The effects were great and, in most places, seamless.
The acting was good.
And the character of Marcus Wright was an awesome addition to the ‘Terminator’ story.

And lets face it: anything is better than T3…

I think the reason that T4 was beaten was a matter of what happen behind the the screen, not the movie itself. Both movies are good for there respected genre. However, when T4 star Christian Bale had that melt down and yelled at that studio crew guy. It reminded me of the Tom Cruise melt down on Oprah (jumping on the couch) and the Scientology interviews, along with the Katie Holms marriage. Mission Impossible 3 was his next project and it tanked horribly for a summer movie. It was even directed by Wonder boy JJ Abrams and hailed by a lot of people as best in the series.
Unfortunately, the movie going public remembered his BS the previous year, and he was slapped down, so much so that Paramount canceled his contract and he has had to rebuild his career.
This may be the situation with Mr Bale, you blow up like that, you will be punished.
It also may be that Museum is a family friendly movie that everyone can go see with little or no problems understanding the plot. T4 as a lot of history and past to know to enjoy. A combination of all of these can be the factor too.

I totally agree with "stealthgear". The little PG-13 rating did hurt this movie. This is the Terminator film us fans have been waiting for..It should've been ultra violent mainly because it's a friggin' war movie..Sure it's sci-fi but a war movie nonetheless. It should've exceeded in the violence from the last 3 films. Sadly it did not. Just the usual run of the mill fiery explosions. What a complete waste of an opportunity.

I don't think it matters if this movie was PG-13 or R. Terminator: Salvation was a great movie. It was a complete reminder of the original film, and it returned us to the horror aspects of the film. T-800s are not good. They are vicious killng machines. Period. Terminator I didn't have eny humor, and this movie reminds people of that factor. T4 was a great film.

Facepalm said

"Terminator became popular when two virtually indestructible people faced off to kill each other."

On the other hand, the two indestructible people in the recent season of Torchwood run at each

other and have a big smootch. It was a change of pace.

SF writers take note.

TM2 you felt horror in this movie?

That is exactly what was missing. There was never any fear of the terminators. When Sarah was crawling through the factory, being hunted, you felt anxious.

When the terminator was walked into the mental hospital and he walked through the bars, it was an exciting moment. How are they going to get away from this thing?

But where exactly did that take place in T4? What was the moment where you where in awe, or had an OMG moment with on of the machines?

This never felt like a terminator movie. Even in the end when john was fighting the machine, you never felt any anxiety. TSCC had way more OMG terminator moments, then this movie.

And is it just me or did John Conner seem to be not as prepared as he should have been.

This is a guy that has been hunted by machines his whole life. How many tapes did his mother make, that he's still searching them for answers ten or so years later? It'd be different if he just wanted to hear her voice or something. Maybe I'm just nitpicking now.

I am completely disappointed and the only reason why I will not personally attack McG, is because of Chuck.

I can't understand how these great premises always get executed poorly. And the rip off of BSG is unforgivable.

I'd like to think that Terminator's "disappointing" opening was due to people like me who no longer have any interest in the film after the cancellation of the Sarah Connor Chronicles. But that's just me. Night at the Museum is just a fun comedy. The people trashing it because it isn't some sort of Shakespearean art - or even Star Trek action adventure - have missed the point utterly.

After just reading an indepth review of the film, I can honeslty see why some people have an issue with it. I'm now having an issue with the film. Even though I enjoyed the film as an action packed/horrorish Terminator, there are some things that come off completely wrong.

(1) When you have a chance to kill your enemy, you pull the trigger right away. You don't hesitate to take action.

(2) Why did Skynet care about what John felt? Why did it care about making an impact by trying to kill Kyle in front of him? Machines don't have any type of emotions. Thus, you can see why my argument stands in #1. Skynet (the machine) should have straight out killed Kyle. Period. Now I understand why people in the theater were yelling, "Kill him!".

(3) According to Sarah's own words, John never told anyone who Kyle was. Why was it common knowledge that Kyle was John's father? How the hell did that happen?

(4) Salvation's original ending was - John was turned into a Terminator. If you think about how it played out on screen, John was turned into a Terminator. McG carried out what he wanted to do, but he didn't reveal it in this movie. Why? Since the original eneding was getting bad heat online, he cut out the revelation earliy in the trilogy. Next film will reveal that John died in this film.

I'm done with the series. Terminator II ended the story from my perspective. Parts 3 and 4 don't make any sense.

Night at the Museum wins by simple multiplication. It's a family film, so there will pretty much always be more people attending as parents bring their kids.

I went to T:S on Friday. Just me. That's one ticket.

I took my kids to NatM on Sunday. That's five tickets.

It's just multiplication.

Terminator was good, but it definitely feels like a part one, which leaves you with an unsatisfied feeling. It had a compelling story and great acting and special effects. I've seen Star Trek twice already and plan to go one more time - it's THE movie of the summer. I don't feel compelled to see Terminator again - not even on DVD really.

saw TS, it lacked character devleopment and was full of cliches something McG does often and which falls flat in the Terminator franchise which has its own cult cliches, witness 'cameron' on tscc. That said, yeah nice FX and for 200million that is to be expected, sadly they seem not to have spent the time developing the part of the plotline that IMO is the draw of the whole T franchise, the place where our humanity lies, where it lies in the AI, where we lack humanity the AIs seem to be on the verge of developing in Cameron in Ahnold in T2, and in Marcus. Bale overplayed John like he overplayed Batman, I loved the young Kyle Reese, see that is the draw, like the Derek Reese and Kyle Reese we were heading into in the new arc in TSCC S3..
Frankly I would far rather have had the 200m from WB for what would be a good 5 yrs of TSCC episodes at 2 mil an epi, than this film which feel flat on writing and directing, same writers as T3 btw....
and letting the series get canceled right before the film opening was frankly stupid, it turned a lot of fans off and they will see it later no doubt which helps kill all the buzza the last 2 episodes of TSCC added to the franchise..
FOX/WB is Teh Stoopid

I saw both this weekend and Night at the Museum was soooooo bad. Then I saw Terminator Salvation, and I really enjoyed it. It's way better than the third one, not as good as the first or second though. What I found funny, is I think I would of liked the origional ending more. They changed it because of fan feedback. T4 was a good movie and I would recomend it to anyone who enjoyed the others.

However, if you haven't seen it and are trashing it, "Get over yourself."

According to the reputable box office site, boxofficemojo.com, Terminator has pulled in 67 mil to Museum's 70 mil. That's only a 3 mil difference. So, I'm not sure how T4's debut can be called a disappointment. And let's be honest, no one can hope to beat such a high-profile family-film, especially when it is a sequel to the smash-hit, blockbuster original. Short of James Cameron returning to direct a new installment of Terminator, kids will beat robots every time. This is an obvious fact so how about we downplay the drama for a change.

I agree with ginaswo/MiM, cancelling Sarah Connor Chronicles was why I didn't bother to see this movie. I'm at the point I don't care what happens in the Terminator universe anymore

so....67 million over 4 days is disappointing? I guess Museum 2 pulling 70 million ove 4 days is disappointing as well.

It is nice that people buy into what the critics tell them.

For those that are commenting on a movie that they have not seen and basing their opinion off of someone elses review of the movie are just silly.

I watched movie and I enjoyed it. Was it the best movie ever? No, it was not......however was it the worst movie ever? Again, no, it was not....I find it interesting that people are bringing up T3 and saying how that was a better movie than Terminator Salvation and what made T3 so much more watchable was the fact that it had an R rating....compared to the movies that are coming out now, go back and watch all the movies and tell me why each of them should have an R rating if they were released today. There is no way in hell T3 would get an R rating (I know I have watched than movie and there was really nothing in it that would make it R rated). The original Terminator and T2, sure lets rate them R.

I SAW T ENEW TERMINATOR AND REALLY ENJOYED IT! The PG13 rating was not noticeable. It had more action than any other movie and the language use is appropriate. SPOILER ALERT... There is only one scene where there is an obvious cut and what they did to make Arnold contribute was both appropriate and one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I think this movie will wind up doing well adn look foward to another sequel.

Kikstad & rohrerbot,

The Trek franchise has always been strong regardless of any of its individual units' strengths. STAR TREK:THE MOTION PICTURE spent 3 weeks at number one at the Box Office and STAR TREK:THE VOYAGE HOME 2 weeks. The new movie doesn't seem anywhere near eclipsing those records.

It entertained me. One does not have to have a hate on to know that it is being overly hyped.

It went over budget. Saying it only cost $150 million to produce is probably kind. Paramount matched that amount in advertising, far in excess of any amount they've spent promoting a Trek, and it is also probably likewise kind to pretend they haven't exceeded that. Studios, on average only recoup 55% of the B.O. gross. That means for this Trek to break even at the B.O. it will have to hit $545 million in ticket sales. It has only now exceeded the number of ticket units sold for STAR TREK III and that with the new movie now playing in a record number of theaters. Even with losing IMAX theaters it still gained another 191 this past weekend.

In the international market ANGELS & DEMONS is number one.

At this point, the only thing going strong for the new Trek is U.S. fan loyalty and that is ebbing week after week as measured in ticket units sold.

If this is "going strong" then TERMINATOR:SALVATION's doing fine with its advertising budget hamstrung in comparison.

Maui, to consider Trek anything other than a huge hit is delusional. Yes, there are costs for marketing, and yes it cost a lot to make, but if you think the "only thing going strong" for Trek is an ebbing loyal fan base you clearly haven't been paying attention.

Huge word of mouth and a *growing* fan base will see this Trek finish at around $250 million in the domestic market alone, double that once you bring in the international market. Add to that the merchandising rights, tv rights, and other ancillary income streams means that this Trek is making a lot of people an awful lot of money.

Nice try though :)

The article isn't misleading, it is talking about the weekend box office. 3 day and 4 day. When you add in Thursday's opening day, Terminator is close in total box office, but again, that is the point. It is an additional day factored in and not the weekend.

Besides, Terminator was supposed to be one of the bigger movies of the summer, heavily hyped and anticipated. So to do worse than Wolverine, Star Trek and Night at Museum on opening weekend, yeah, I think that qualifies as a disappointment. Even without factoring in its huge budget.

I saw Terminator Salvation this weekend and I have to say, I had my doubts, but it was pretty well done.

I read some of the reviews off of this site, and others like Aint It Cool, and standard media reviews. I think the reviews missed the point.

You see, this should have been the story of Kyle Reese.

This was really the one mistake McG made. When this was originally written, John Connor was a ancillary character, and the focus of the film rested on Marcus Wright.

While I understand the need to bring in a fresh face to put a spin on things, Marcus Wright was really not necessary (he was to complete a plot element, but no more).

This shouldn't have been the story of John Connor either , at least not at this time. Or if there was a story about John Connor, then the focus should still have rested on Kyle Reese.

Bale wanted to play John Connor, and he wanted his role to be as rewarding to play as Marcus Wright, which is why the film seemed a bit unbalanced. They re-wrote the film to accomodate for Bale.

Bale was a good choice for John Connor, but really Anton Yelchin nailed Kyle Reese in a way that respected and yet enhanced Michael Biehn's interpretation of Kyle Reese.

But the story should have been built around how Kyle Reese became part of Tech-Com and became part of Connor's unit, which they kind of told, but it wasn't the main goal, which I thought it should have been.

For how disjointed the film seemed to be at times, I do think that McG did pull off what he wanted to do.

If this does go to a sequel, then I think that McG needs to focus on the relationship between Reese and Connor, and focus on the mythological status that Connor has obtained due to his knowledge of the future, which again, I thought was well done in Salvation.

It should also focus on the full scale use of the T-800 model, and the emergence of the T-1000 model (do something with Robert Patrick).

This should be the "all out" war picture with the machines, with the ending on a cliffhanger that is resolved with the final picture dealing with the end of the war and Kyle's trip back through time.

I saw it on Saturday and I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I do think the final scenes were a bit cheesy. I've seen a lot of positive buzz about the movie on other sites so I think we might see this one stick around for a while as the people who were turned off by T3 are convinced that it isn't a total suckfest go check it out. Time will tell, but I want to see the next two installments.

genesisfan,

No Trek has ever matched its domestic gross in the foreign market. And it certainly isn't doing it now with the likes of ANGELS & DEMONS number one with international receipts of $196.5 million versus Trek's $87.5 million.

And all I've done is point out that it is not even going to break even at the B.O. by your own figures with their only getting 55% of the gross which other Treks succeeded in doing and exceeding with the same percentage of their receipts with far more modest advertising and production budgets.

Delving into %s is a dangerous game. But simply put, based on real domestic gross and expectations, Star Trek has been the biggest movie of May so far. It has had better legs than Wolverine, a bigger opening than Terminator and Museum (even with the Memorial Day advantage those films had) and it almost beat Angels and Demons when that movie premiered. So far, Trek has been the biggest positive surprise. Terminator looks like the biggest negative one.

Parallaxmjm,

Perhaps, but that's why I also mentioned ticket units, i.e. actual attendance versus inflated gross dollars.

I was a member of the group that attended the ST:TMP on its release date. We fans back then managed to keep it number one at the B.O. for 3 weeks. This new group of sought after "fans" couldn't even equal that feat and have only recently bested the total attendance of ST III.

You can quibble about percentages but Box Office Mojo is a credible tracking site and he claims the studios on average only recoup 55% of the gross.

That means the gross returns should exceed $545 million in order to break even before the B.O. can start returning a profit which previous Trek movies have manged before merchandising.

Impressive numbers are coming out because impressive numbers went in.

Paramount, had layoffs this year in spite of this apparent fantastic market share.

Now, I'm not saying Paramount hasn't done impressive things with this Trek - actually promoting it, getting it opened in a record number of theaters with a resultant breaking of some attendance records, etc. - only that the bottom line is profit and it's going to take them a long time to get there, if at all, at the B.O.

The Terminator: Salvation reviews are starting to come in, and it looks like Terminator: Salvation is going to be a hit. The reboot film of the Terminator series, starring Christian Bale, is an update on the film series that began in 1984 with the release of the first film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first film was shot for $6 million, and made over $80 million. Salvation is a franchise reboot, as both prequel and sequel, and it's been getting a lot of buzz. It might be worth short term loans to see if the Terminator: Salvation reviews turn out well.