Dubai The wait is over. Sci-fi flick Star Trek Beyond, which was filmed in Dubai, will hit cinema screens in the UAE on Thursday and around the world on Friday.
If initial reactions from a special press screening in Los Angeles last week are anything to go by, the film is headed for a massive hit.
TrekNews.net contributor Laura Sirikul, who attended the LA screening, tweeted “#StarTrekBeyond is what the Trekkies have been waiting for from the three movies. This was great.”
Critical acclaim
“The word is given!! #StarTrekBeyond is a blast! Great fun, action, humor! A throwback to The Original Series!” tweeted Access Hollywood film critic Scott Mantz. Critic for the Guardian and host of Engage: The Official Star Trek Podcast Jordan Hoffman tweeted “STAR TREK BEYOND does something magical: has big, bold action but puts these characters in, basically, a TOS episode. For me it was a dream.”
While all that sounds rather exciting for fans of the 50-year-old franchise, or Trekkies or Trekkers as they are called, there is a special reason why the film is, or should be, dear to every Dubai resident or the whole of UAE for that matter.
No, it’s not because a major part of it was shot in the emirate depicting it as a ‘vertical’ city on an alien planet, nor because it has over 200 UAE residents cast as extras. But because the film signifies Hollywood’s acknowledgement of Dubai’s architectural feats and its giant strides toward the future. The makers of the film who were scouring the planet for a futuristic locale found it in Dubai.
The next frontier
“We came searching for the future and found it in Dubai. It represents the future of what the next frontier would be like in our film,” said executive producer Jeffrey Chernov at a press conference in Dubai in September 2015 ahead of the 20-day shooting.
At the same press conference Chris Pine (who plays Captain Kirk) said: “This is such a stunning city. I woke up this morning, opened up the blinds and looked out. It looks like whatever tomorrow will be. It’s ‘futureland’.”
Co-star Zachary Quinto (Commander Spock) has called Dubai “the city of the future”.
So every Dubai resident has a reason to feel proud of the fact they live in a city which the so-called advanced worlds look up to as ‘the future’. So one way or another, the film is a tribute to this city, and to all the workers who have built it brick by brick and above all – to the vison of its leadership.
