Corona | Coming Attractions

 I think everything you commented on was valid, but I don't think the movie/story failed at all. I think it makes perfect sense, honestly.

Yes, they are captializing on the most-loved of the original films, but there's something more. I think, between this and the 2009 film, Abrams and his story-telling crew are also addressing the issue of destiny.

In the 2009 film, Pike goes and drags this going-nowhere punk of a kid, raised by his stepdad that cared more about his car than the kid, into Starfleet because he feels he can be great. In the original universe, Kirk was inspired by his father, wanting to be more like him after being raised and supported by George. In the new timeline, George is dead, and his heroic sacrifice - rather than being a life-long inspiration - is used almost as a dare against Kirk. Two vastly divergent childhoods lead to one point - Kirk joins Starfleet.

In the original, Kirk worked his way up through the ranks. He was commisioned, stationed aboard one ship, then came back as an instructor before being assigned to a second starship, and then finally earning "The Chair" as commander of the Enterprise, meeting a Vulcan first officer who has himself come up through the ranks. The captain and the Vulcan have a few bumps early in their association, but quickly became fast friends. In the new stream, he was still a smart-mouth, carousing punk that was on academic suspension - because of a certain Vulcan instructor - and only got aboard a starship through trickery on the part of McCoy. Through a series of events, he goes from "should be in the brig" to "acting first officer" to "exiled annoyance" to "captain" with his Vulcan psuedo-antagonist as his first officer. Again, two WILDLY divergent paths that lead to the same end result - Kirk was always destined to be the Enterprise's captain, with Spock as his first officer.

Which leads us to STID. Originally (in TWOK, not Space Seed), Kirk's crew was threatened by Khan, and through taking over a Federation starship, Khan was able to put Kirk in position where his entire 'family' - the crew - would perish. The only resolution was something that would solidify the connection that Kirk had with his first officer and would lead to a sacrifice. In the new timeline, the same thing happened. Khan forces the issue that makes both Kirk and Spock realize how important one another is to the other. Different paths, same destination (and we didn't have to suffer through Saavik helping through puberty in the ressurection this time!).

I understand your concerns that this film seems to just be phoning it in to give fans what they think the fans want. But I think it's far, far deeper than that. I think they are, as they did in 2009, showing that it wasn't just a fluke that threw this crew together. There is NO WAY that the "top seven" of the Enterprise should have wound up together as they did, but it was destined to happen. The universe NEEDED it to happen, so things twisted around them to make the pieces come together.

Maybe I'm too forgiving of the story. Maybe I'm giving credit where it's not due, but I can't imagine this team of writers just sat down and said "How can we squeeze Khan into this?" I fully believe they knew exactly what they were doing, and I feel they did it incredibly well.

 So I've thought about this for a bit, and it all sounds great but for one thing:

Where does this leave Thanos?

With the post-Avengers clip and then adding GotG to the line-up, it seems to be a perfect set-up for the big purple Titan to play a key role. 

I'm not saying I'm worried. Not yet. Marvel's done things so well up to know, and with trust in Joss Whedon, I'm eager to see how they piece it all together.

Abrams seems to work pretty quickly. Star Trek Into Darkness didn't start filming until January of 2012. Even if post production runs right to release date, that would give them a pre-production start date in May of this year (and if they're locking in a director, they've probably already got a tight story - if not a script - they're happy with). So, you figure from May to January for pre-production with Disney resources. That's around 8 months of pre-production, followed by filming - Trek 2 ran from Jan-May 2012 - so then you'd have about year or so for post production.

I don't know, it might seem fast, but it seems like how Abrams works, too.

 I'm not sure, I'm not an expert in box office trending, but I don't think this means Arnie and action can't carry a box office. I think the fact that it came out in mid-January, when Oscar buzz is a big driving factor, is far more of a contributing factor.

If The Last Stand opened, say, between late April and early June (beginning of the summer season), I think the result would have been different. Not stellar, maybe, but better.

 Khan had an accent, Mitchell didn't.

Alice Eve getting all that screen-time, though, could be Elizabeth Dehner. 

As for the glowy-eyed thing, that's not anything to get worked up over, because this is just a trailer and they don't want to give away too much.

 Wahlberg is too old for this role. Case is supposed to be early-to-mid 20s. However, if they get the movie made, and if it's made well, I'll forgive this oversight.

 Thomas Jane has all that Hung money now. He should just self-finance the next movie and do it the way HE wants to!

 I think it's going to be bad. I think people are going to be freaking out and ALL BO numbers for this weekend and several to come are going to suffer. Some of it is fear, I've seen some people say they aren't going "out of respect" to those hurt and killed (not sure the logic there, personally).

It doesn't matter, though, how rational the fears are, well-founded, stupid, idealistic: If they stay home for WHATEVER reason, then the dollars still aren't there.

I don't know how that might figure into WBs decision to release or not release the numbers, but I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to see if I'm right.

 Sounds like a good step for Avengers Phase Two to me....

 A story with a lot of Wolvie, originally. Keep an eye out for any Hugh Jackman casting announcements....