Patrick Stewart’s Best Star Trek Movie Is Climbing The Streaming Charts
Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard was one of the best parts of Star Trek: First Contact, the most successful Star Trek feature film and currently a top movie on HBO Max.
Patrick Stewart and Star Trek pretty much go hand in hand. The 82-year-old actor, who doesn’t seem to age, made his first appearance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation and its subsequent films. One of those movies, Star Trek: First Contact, is currently climbing the streaming charts.
According to Flix Patrol, the 1996 feature is currently #9 on HBO Max, ahead of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. First Contact is the eighth film in the movie series, and the second to star Patrick Stewart and the rest of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Directed by Jonathan Frakes from a screenplay by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, the picture was a critical and financial success for Paramount Pictures when it arrived in theaters.
The film takes place in the 24th century, where the Borg have spread across the galaxy with one sole purpose: to assimilate and conquer all races. Under the command of their seductive and sadistic Queen, the cybernetic species is headed to Earth with a devious plan involving time travel to alter history. Meanwhile, Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.
When Braga and Moore were tapped to pen the script for Star Trek: First Contact, they wanted the plot to be heavily centered around the Borg, however, producer Rick Berman desired a story involving time travel. The writers ended up combining the two ideas, shifting the initial setting of the film during the European Renaissance to the mid-21st century. After two better-known directors passed on the movie, Jonathan Frakes, who plays the character William Riker in the movie, was brought on board to helm the project to ensure the task fell to someone who understood the series.
The decision turned out to be a smart one, as on Rotten Tomatoes, First Contact sits with strong scores from professional critics and everyday viewers alike. From critics, the film has a fresh score of 92 percent off 65 reviews, and from audiences, it has a score of 89 percent off over 100,000 ratings. While Patrick Stewart and gang were second fiddle to Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Generations, both critics and viewers praised First Contact for putting a newfound focus on the new crew.
Not only is First Contact widely regarded as one of the best films in the wildly popular science fiction franchise, but it’s also one of the highest grossing. The movie opened at number one, earning $30 million in its debut weekend. It ended up earning nearly $150 million globally against a budget of $46 million, and it’s Patrick Stewart’s highest earning Star Trek feature to date.
In addition to Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes, Star Trek: First Contact stars Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Michael Horton, and Neal McDonough. The hit film is currently streaming on HBO Max, along with several other movies in the Star Trek franchise.
