Box Office Column

The biannual Star Trek picture opens this weekend and will easily take the top spot. However, it will be hard pressed to match the total of the last installment, First Contact. It just looks like another episode of the show. Granted the last two did as well, but they at least dealt with significant aspects of the Trek universe (Kirk's death, the Borg). Also, the marketing campaign is terrible (and reminiscent of that Kurt Russell bomb, Soldier) with it's awful techno music, cheesy effects, and emphasis on the action. They're really resting on their laurels with this one, apparently thinking that the fact that it's Star Trek will be enough to make people want to see it. Certainly the hard core fans will eat it up, but there won't be enough gains in other demographics to make it a blockbuster.

Meanwhile, Jack Frost, the latest entry in the "what the hell were they thinking" genre, continues Michael Keaton's downward spiral. Frankly, the premise is too morbid to lure the kids, and the treatment too sugary to lure any adults. Chalk up yet another bomb for Warner Bros.