Star Trek films Films . " The Original Series " films . Films which feature the cast of . " The Next Generation " films . Films which feature the cast of . Unlike the preceding TOS films , these did not carry sequel numbers ( " Star Trek VII , " " Star Trek VIII , " " Star Trek IX " or " Star Trek X " ) except in pre - production . However , the numbers do appear on newer disc covers . Alternate reality films . Films which feature a different version of the TOS characters portrayed by a new cast , and set in an alternate reality from earlier films and series . Summary . ( 1979 ) reunites the TOS cast aboard the original , refurbished after its five - year mission as documented in the television series . The story was originally conceived as the pilot episode of the aborted " " series , in which the now - Admiral Kirk and crew must engage with a powerful , threatening force that is heading directly towards Earth . In ( 1998 ) , Picard and crew discover a covert effort by Starfleet , in co - operation with the belligerent Son ' a , to relocate the inhabitants of a " fountain of youth " planet . Standing by his morals , Picard must take up arms against the Federation to save paradise . The sequel ( 2013 ) picks up a year after the first film of the new timeline , where the crew is tested as they are sent to apprehend John Harrison , a traitor and mass murderer , and uncover corruption and a conspiracy to militarize Starfleet from within . Future . In a " Wired " article discussing the recent popularity of s on film , Paramount Motion Pictures Group president Marc Evans acknowledged the possibility of spin - off films . He said , " " I often think about the areas of the " Star Trek " universe that haven ’ t been taken advantage of . Like , I ’ ll be ridiculous with you , but what would " " look like ? Where is the of the " Star Trek " universe ? That fascinates me . " " Performance summary . Domestically , combined and not taking inflation into account , the " Star Trek " features have grossed over US $ 1 , 624 , 963 , 755 . Prior to the release of , had grossed more than the other films , coming in at US $ 109 , 713 , 132 , while had the largest - grossing opening weekend of all the films . surpassed both of these records , but was itself surpassed by . Using the figures in the above tables , a " Top 5 " worldwide performance record for the movies as of 2016 is summarized in the table below , which hold a few surprises . The costs are , as expected , in accordance with the sequence the movies were produced in , with " The Motion Picture " , being the sole exception due to . A bit surprising is that the best received movies are not always also the highest grossing , " The Voyage Home " being the most consistent one . However , the biggest surprise in this regard , the bad press the movie received – among others by the studio itself , who considered the movie a failure at the time – in the 1980s and 1990s notwithstanding , is that " The Motion Picture " as one of the worst received movies , is concurrently also one of the highest grossing , as well as one of the most profitable movies in the franchise . The table shows that the TNG movies were the least successful ones of the franchise in critical and financial terms , " Star Trek : First Contact " being the sole positive exception , the " apparent " profitability of " Generations " ( see that movie ' s footnote above ) notwithstanding . In terms of gross profitability , the six " Original Crew " movies remain to date the most successful ones by far . Yet , while there is a correlation between costs and profitability , the real surprise lies in the recent lack of positive correlation between gross revenues and profitability . That " Nemesis " and " Insurrection " occupy the first and third place respectively in the worst profitability ranking is hardly a surprise , considering their poor performance at the box office . But a break occurred in the correlation with the alternate reality movies , which were the most successful in terms of box office revenues of the franchise by far , but which also rank among the least profitable ones , making it appear that the more successful a movie is at the box office , the worse its profitability becomes . The significant jump in production budget of 29 % ( over ten times the official inflation rate for the period 1996 - 1998 ) between the movies " First Contact " and " Insurrection " , validated Adam Lebowitz ' s assertion that the technique of computer generated imagery ( CGI ) for producing , which was used almost exclusively for the latter film and contrary to popular belief , is " not " cheaper than the traditional way of producing these . " " A lot of people say , ' CGI is a lot cheaper , isn ' t it , ' but the way I like to think of it is that CGI is not cheaper necessarily , but you get a lot more for your money and you can tweak it a lot more . " " , Lebowitz has stated . ( ) If anything has exemplified Lebowitz ' s assessment , then it must have been the number of staffers Industrial Light & Magic had employed on their " Star Trek " projects ; whereas " The Search for Spock " " only " needed 42 staffers , the staff - count for " Star Trek " ( 2009 ) had burgeoned to no less than 315 , virtually all of them working as digital specialists . " Star Trek Into Darkness " marks the first time that a " Star Trek " film performed better in the foreign markets than the home market , confirming an industry trend that has started in the early 2000s . Gross " vs " net profitability . It should be understood that when box - office earnings surpass the direct production budget ( thereby achieving gross profitability ) , it does not automatically mean that a Hollywood studio has gone " into ( net ) profit " , " i . e . " meaning that the studio has now funding available for investments , dividend disbursements to shareholders , executive bonuses , royalties and the like . Aside from the direct production costs , " aka " the production budget , the studio also needs to cover costs which , for legal as well as practical reasons , can not be directly assigned to a particular motion picture production and which are commonly referred to as " indirect " or " production overhead " costs , in parlance usually abbreviated to " overhead " . The most obvious overhead elements consist of , The traditional Hollywood rule of thumb of determining the point when a motion picture production becomes net profitable for a studio , has been the application of a multiplier to the direct production budget , or as Gerrold has further explained , " ( . . . ) " a film has to earn two to three times as much as it costs to make , before it " breaks even " . Otherwise , you have lost your shirt . " " ( " " , issue 30 , p . 37 ) Applying an average multiplier of 2 . 5 to the above listed figures , or achieving 250 % of the production budget in box - office takes , reveal that two of the " Star Trek " movies have barely broke even ( unsurprisingly including " The Final Frontier " , but surprisingly the 2009 blockbuster outing as well ) , whereas the last two " Next Generation " movies , as well as " Star Trek Into Darkness " and " Star Trek Beyond " have actually lost the studio money . Still , it should be noted that , while the rationale behind the net profitability determining methodology is valid , the methodology itself has proven to be susceptible to figures manipulation , leading up to the infamous " " phenomenon , possibly explaining the recent and apparent lack of profitability of the alternate universe films . ( for a more detailed treatise on the phenomenon , " see : Paramount Pictures , Footnotes " ) It should concurrently be noted that additional revenues , derived from later merchandise , television rights and home media sales , are traditionally discounted by Hollywood studios in their public performance assessments for a movie , meaning that even loss generating productions have the potential to turn net profitable in the long run .