Star Trek Into Darkness

J.J. Abrams’s 2013 film is the second of the restarted series and an unusual technical mixture. Dan Mindel combined anamorphic 35 mm with fifteen perforation IMAX cameras; roughly thirty minutes were captured in IMAX, with some passages on eight perforation 65 mm. The 3D was not shot but added by conversion afterwards. The consequence shows up on home formats, where the aspect ratio shifts partway through and the frame grows and shrinks from scene to scene. The second point is about how audiences split, and it can be measured. The film took four hundred sixty seven million dollars worldwide, the highest total the franchise had reached at that time. Yet that August, attendees at the Creation convention in Las Vegas voted it to the bottom of their ranking. Because the parody Galaxy Quest was eligible, the result was reported as thirteenth out of twelve, with Galaxy Quest seventh and the 2009 reboot sixth. Newcomers and long term followers land on opposite sides. Abrams later said it would probably have been smarter to state from the start who the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch really was. Worth it if the aspect ratio shifting mid film reads as an IMAX bonus rather than a distraction. Not worth it if you came for the exploration and negotiation the series is known for.