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Ryan Coogler’s 2025 film Sinnershas proven to be one of the biggest hits of the year so far since its release in April. As of June 24, the vampire flick has been overshadowed by a 46-year-old Star Trekmovie, with a 51% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Per FlixPatrol,Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) is now in the No. 7 spot in the iTunes Top 10 movies in the U.S., with Sinners now in the No. 8 spot. Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, Materialists, Final Destination Bloodlines, Ballerina, and Thunderbolts* make up the top six spots, respectively.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the franchise’s first foray into the feature film world and was directed by Robert Wise and written by Harold Livingston and Alan Dean Foster. It featured the return of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the original Star Trek series, including William Shatner’s James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock,...

Make no mistake—audiobooks are more popular than ever. Readers of all ages enjoy listening at home, in their car, or during their spare time. Audible is an especially popular app, with more than 130 different genres that subscribers enjoy across the globe. This includes Star Trek audible books, from fiction to autobiographies. If you’re looking for something new to satisfy your Trek appetite, here are 4 titles available from Audible.

1. Lost to Eternity, by Greg Cox (Tos)

This novel ties in with Gillian Taylor, who you may remember from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. A curious podcaster delves into her disappearance, which then extends to 2 separate eras in the future—one that takes place during Enterprise’s first 5-year mission, and during the time of Enterprise-a. In the latter, a new alien race, the Osori, wants to make contact with humans, the Romulans, and the Klingons, but when a shocking murder occurs,...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"It was not a good working situation." That's how associate producer Jon Povill described the situation behind-the-scenes while working on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in the book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years." Director Robert Wise was told he had control over the film. Creator Gene Roddenberry was also told he had control. What Paramount had was a long-awaited movie adaptation of a wildly popular TV show. On paper, that was a good thing. In practice, it was messy in every way.

The end result was both a box office success story and a financial blunder that only served to disappoint fans. It also allowed "Star Trek" to thrive as a franchise in all new ways for years to come, including...

Most Trekkies know that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) kept a pet lionfish in a globe-shaped aquarium in his ready room. Only deep-cut Trekkies know, however, that the fish was named Livingston. Some have assumed it was named after Harold Livingston, the screenwriter of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," but the fish could also have been named after the Scottish football team, for all we know. No information has been given about Livingston the lionfish. 

Indeed, no one knows if the fish was Picard's personal pet, or if lionfish were merely standard-issue in-office animals in Starfleet. It seems likely it was the former, as the latter seems too exploitative for the life-respecting Federation; no 24th-century bureaucracy would wrangle thousands of fish merely to install them as background critters in captains' ready-rooms. 

In the episode "Chain of Command, Part I", Captain Picard was transferred off the U.S.S. Enterprise-d and replaced...

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is seen as one of the "bad" movies starring the original cast. On its 40th anniversary, it is unquestionably a classic Star Trek installment that should be beloved. It was also a triumph of low-budget filmmaking from "novice" director Leonard Nimoy.

Among fans of Gene Roddenberry's science fiction universe there is a saying about the feature films: "the even ones are good, the odd ones are bad." At least, when it comes to the films starring the original cast. However, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is unfairly tainted by this belief, and 40 years after its debut, it's a better film than it gets credit for. The unlikely journey the crew of the USS Enterprise took from Star Trek: The Original Series, its cancelation in 1969, to leading a feature film a decade later is historic.

Paramount, seeing the successes rival studios...

It's pretty well known among Trekkies that Robert Wise's 1979 feature film "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" came about after the proposed 1977 TV series "Star Trek: Phase II" never quite made it off the ground. "Phase II" was meant to be the initial "Star Trek" spinoff series, but various behind-the-scenes decisions eventually saw the project mutating to fit the big screen. "Phase II" characters were changed to be part of "The Motion Picture," and several ideas for "Phase II" scripts made their way into future episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which debuted in 1987.

Trekkies will also tell you that Paramount was unimpressed by the box office numbers for "Motion Picture," a film that "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry was heavily involved in. Harold Livingston is the credited screenwriter, but Roddenberry aided in the story and served as producer. Because "Motion Picture" was a relative dud, Roddenberry was pushed out of the sequel.

From the moment Star Trek began, Spock was a character who captivated fans' imaginations. However, actor Leonard Nimoy was the member of the original cast most reluctant to return in future projects. So much so that before Paramount decided to make a feature film, Star Trek: Phase II was going to replace Spock with a new Vulcan character named Xon.

In between the creation of Star Trek: The Animated Series and The Motion Picture, Paramount couldn't decide what they wanted to do with the show. In the years since it went off the air, Star Trek: The Original Series only grew more popular in syndication. Paramount knew there was money to be made by bringing it back. Yet, they couldn't commit to how to do it. There were a number of attempts to find a feature script that worked, including the Star Trek: Planet of the Titans movie. Eventually, rather than make a low-budget film,...

Ten years after Star Trek was unceremoniously canceled by NBC, The Motion Picture hit the box office. It was a hit financially, but audiences, critics and even the cast felt the film wasn't the universe at its best. However, the hunt for a Star Trek movie was long and fraught, with the studio giving up and going back to television. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was born from the ashes of a pilot episode for the Phase II series that would've brought the Enterprise back to the small screen.

Paramount long wanted to launch its own broadcast network, which it eventually did with its failed United Paramount Network. Still, like Enterprise tried to do, the studio wanted its most profitable franchise to anchor its programming. Thus, series creator Gene Roddenberry was brought in to create Star Trek: Phase II. Other attempts to make a movie failed, like the infamous Star...

Of the four films starring the cast of The Next Generation, the Jonathan Frakes-directed Star Trek: First Contact is widely considered the best. Spanning nearly 60 years, the franchise's fans can't even agree on what entries are "good" or "bad." However, the showdown in the past against the Borg feels like this crew at their best. However, in James Cromwell's Zefram Cochrane, First Contact may have created an unintentional homage to Gene Roddenberry.

At its core, Star Trek is a saga made for television. Yet, after successful series, films starring those crews were almost all profitable hits. Only Star Trek: Nemesis failed to make its budget back at the box office, but fans and critics alike would argue only a handful are "great" sci-fi movies. First Contact is definitely one of those, debuting at the height of the franchise's second wave. Deep Space Nine and Voyager were airing new episodes,...

Ask any fan of the six Star Trek films starring the cast of The Original Series is most "fun," and the answer will likely be The Voyage Home. The fourth film in the series was a time-travel romp with a heavy environmental message. However, it was also a rarity in that the typically troubled Star Trek movie sets were free of all arguments -- except about which animal to save from the past.

In the special features interviews for each film and documentaries like The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek, the cast and crew speak about their difficulties. During the making of The Motion Picture, screenwriter Harold Livingston's fights with franchise creator Gene Roddenberry often delayed production. Once Harve Bennett took over, problems with visual effects, budgets and other moviemaking concerns made filming a chore. However, The Voyage Home was Nimoy's second turn as director in a row.

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review of the new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version of 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the first film of one of the most successful film franchises in movie history, spun off from the original breakthrough sci-fi TV series of the 1960s. Beam me up.

What is 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray? Well, compared to the picture quality of a regular Blu-ray disk, it has a resolution Four Times the pixel value, creating a spectacular in-depth picture experience.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Ten years after the original series left the TV airwaves, the crew of the Starship Enterprise – Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Weapons Officer Chekov (Walter Koenig). Communications Officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Helmsman Sulu (George Takei) – are reassembled under a new commander, Captain Decker (Stephen Collins). Before he can launch the reconditioned ship, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) brusquely comes aboard and relieves Decker of his command.

Harold Livingston, an American novelist who wrote the screenplay for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979, died early Thursday morning, Bobby Livingston confirmed to Variety. He was 97.

“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was Livingston’s most famous writing credit, and he also wrote for several TV shows, including “Mission: Impossible,” “The Six Million Dollar Man” and more.

“Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster, who penned several “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” novels, also contributed to the story and script development alongside Livingston. The 1979 film was the first movie in the “Star Trek” franchise, and it starred the original TV series cast members, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins.

The film was successful at the box office, earning 139 million worldwide from a 44 million budget, and Paramount ordered a follow-up, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan...

On Dec. 7, 1979, Paramount’s Star Trek — The Motion Picture hit theaters and launched the franchise on the big screen. The film, which reunited the cast of the NBC series, went on to earn three Oscar nominations (for art direction, original score and visual effects) at the 52nd Academy Awards. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

No mistake about it, Star Trek is a big movie — big in scope, big in spectacle and, most important, big in entertainment values. Trekkies will be pleased to know that almost all of their favorite characters are back in their original roles (with the welcome addition of voluptuous Persis Khambatta as the Navigator); while the Enterprise itself, which had apparently been in drydock these many years, has now been rebuilt and enlarged to an unimaginable vastness — unimaginable except, of course, by producer Gene Roddenberry and the special effects teams assembled by Douglas Trumbull...

Back in the ‘70s, plans for a “Star Trek” movie were underway by creator Gene Roddenberry. In a new excerpt from the book, “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek – The First 25 Years” by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, previous scripts by Roddenberry had Captain Kirk fighting against Jesus and even stopping the JFK assassination.

Ultimately both ideas were rejected by then Paramount boss Barry Diller and the studio continued to pursue new storylines. The Hollywood Reporter posted an excerpt from the book where author Michael Jan Friedman gave more detail of Roddenberry’s script.

“Gene was — and still is — one of my heroes, for God’s sake, no pun intended. As he had already left the land of the living, this was a unique opportunity to collaborate with him. But when I read the material, I was dismayed. I hadn’t seen other...

This year marks the momentous 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise, which started in 1966 with creator Gene Roddenberry's beloved TV series. The franchise celebration will include a new big screen movie Star Trek Beyond, along with a 50th Anniversary convention in New York City later this year. Last week, a new book was published entitled The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek - The First 25 Years from Thomas Dunne Books, with the second volume, covering the last 25 years, debuting August 30. This book by journalist Edward Gross and television writer/producer Mark A. Altman features amazing new information about plot details that didn't quite make it into the first Star Trek movie, 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The original TV series only ran for three seasons between 1966 and 1969 before it was canceled, but reruns in syndication were bringing in huge ratings, which lead...

Ryan Lambie Dec 7, 2019

Massive cost overruns, script rewrites and an angry Leonard Nimoy. Star Trek: The Motion Picture didn't have an easy road.

This article originally appeared on Den of Geek UK.

After years in limbo, the rush to make a Star Trek movie suddenly began in earnest on March 28th, 1978. That day saw a lavish press conference arranged by Paramount president Michael Eisner, chairman Barry Diller, and the entire cast of the original Star Trek series. Eisner announced to an assembled group of reporters that a film spin-off from the cult Trek TV show was finally going to be made. Its appropriately grand title - Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The director, Eisner continued, would be Robert Wise - an industry veteran who was not only a safe pair of hands (he’d directed such hits as West Side Story and The Sound Of Music), but also had a...

Ryan Lambie Oct 19, 2017

Massive cost overruns, script rewrites and an angry Leonard Nimoy. Ryan charts the battle to make the original Star Trek movie...

After years in limbo, the rush to make a Star Trek movie suddely began in earnest on the 28th of March 1978. That day saw a lavish press conference arranged by Paramount president Michael Eisner, chairman Barry Diller and the entire cast of the original Star Trek series. Eisner announced to an assembled group of reporters that a film spin-off from the cult Trek TV show was finally going to be made. Its appropriately grand title - Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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The director, Eisner continued, would be Robert Wise - an industry veteran who was not only...

There was once a rumor, for an upcoming movie titled "The Empire Strikes Back," that Han Solo -- not known for his lightsaber skills -- would find himself in a duel with Darth Vader. During this duel, the two combatants' lightsabers would become fused, with an end result of Han and Vader's "life forces" combining -- creating quite the conundrum for Luke Skywalker. (If Luke kills Vader, then he would also kill his friend Han.)

There was also another rumor about "The Empire Strikes Back": Mick Jagger would compose the score.

Obviously, those outlandish rumors never happened -- but they are the kind of crazy development story that one might find on the Internet today. If you don't believe me, maybe go back and check out some of those "The Dark Knight Rises" rumors. In the late 1970s, however, there was no Internet to accelerate or decelerate unfounded rumors such as the examples above.