Star Trek Beyond Release Date Pushed Two Weeks. What Does It Mean?

Is it good or bad for the crew of the Enterprise?

After some pre-production drama, the cameras on Star Trek Beyond are currently rolling with the movie set for release next year. While we don’t know much about the film, many have viewed it with trepidation after Roberto Orci “left” the production and his script discarded in favor of a new screenplay crafted by Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, and director Justin Lin. Now, we’ve recently gotten word that the release date for the film was pushed back to July 22nd.

What does the pushed back release date mean?

Well, it could be as simple as a strategic move to get the film the best opening possible. However, originally on July 8th Star Trek Beyond would have been facing Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates and The Secret Life of Pets. Those two films certainly qualify as counter programming, with the family friendly film The Secret Life of Pets providing the biggest threat to Star Trek Beyond‘s potential box office intake.

July 22nd, however, seems more precarious. The previous weekend will have Ghostbusters open, which means if that film is good it may have momentum going into the 22nd. Also, Ice Age: Collision Course and Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur will be opening. While Star Trek is a big brand name, Ice Age is an established franchise that reaches the same audience as The Secret Life of Pets while King Arthur will directly compete for the same audience as Star Trek Beyond.

So, all in all, the movie doesn’t exactly help the film in the box office department.

So, why did they push the release date back?

We’re not entirely sure. Even if they’re having production problems (and there’s no indication that they are), two weeks isn’t likely to make too much of a difference. We could be wrong, however, and those two weeks will be used to ensure that post is finished on time. However, the film is still a little less than a year out. There’s plenty of wiggle room to help correct problems if something goes wrong.

We honestly think this may be studio politics. As to the who, why, and how, we’re not exactly sure. Every so often a release date changes and it’s hard to tell why. July is very much the prime summer movie month and the biggest movie release often falls within a few days of July 20th. It’s possible the studio is trying to make the film seem bigger, though we just aren’t entirely sure.