Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Kelvin Enterprise You Need To Know
2. Star Trek Into Rihanna's Face
A notable issue with the Kelvin Timeline films was their less-than desirable merchandising and promotional tie-ins.
Playmates Toys (once highly regarded for their prolific run of Star Trek action figures in the 1990s) produced two lines of poorly sculpted toys for Star Trek (2009), considered duds upon their release in stores. Burger King produced a line of souvenir cups that continue to crop up at low, low prices on eBay. And Intel produced tie-in products that... were a thing.
Further merchandising opportunities for the franchise continued to decline over the release of Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond's marketing and commercial products were nearly nonexistent, much to the detriment of that film's box-office performance.
One thing that Star Trek Beyond did have going for it, though, that the previous Star Trek films did not? A tie-in music video.
Produced by and starring Rhianna (apparently a huge Star Trek fan herself), the music video for "Sledgehammer" premiered the week before Star Trek Beyond and featured Rhianna singing and dancing in a spacey environment, surrounded by Krall's swarm ships.
The reason we're talking about this music video is because it heavily featured Star Trek Beyond's redesigned USS Enterprise in several unique VFX shots. While many of the beauty shots of the Enterprise were modified sequences from Star Trek Beyond, several others were created specifically for "Sledgehammer" – the most notable of which is a scene in which the Enterprise slowly makes its way into Rhianna's face.
If you love Star Trek starships and catchy electropop, seriously check out Rhianna's Star Trek Beyond music video, "Sledgehammer":