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stated that Kirk was 49, but Shatner was unsure about being specific about
Kirk's age. [9] Bennett remembers that Shatner was hesitant about portraying a
middle-aged version of himself, and believed that with proper makeup he could
continue playing a younger Kirk. Bennett convinced Shatner that he could age
gracefully like Spencer Tracy ; the producer did not know that Shatner had
worked with Tracy on Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and was fond of the actor.
[10] Meyer made sure to emphasize Kirk's parallel to Sherlock Holmes in that
both characters waste away in the absence of their stimuli; new cases, in
Holmes' case, and starship adventures in Kirk's. [9] Khan's pursuit of Kirk is
central to the film's theme of vengeance, and The Wrath of Khan deliberately
borrows heavily from Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick . [53] To make the parallels
clear to viewers, Meyer added a visible copy of Moby-Dick to Khan's dwelling.
[9] Khan liberally paraphrases Ahab, with "I'll chase him round the moons of
Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition's flames before I
give him up!". Khan quotes Ahab's tirade at the end of the novel verbatim with
his final lines: "To the last I grapple with thee; from Hell's heart I stab at
thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." [53] [54] Release [
edit ] The film's novelization, written by Vonda N. McIntyre , stayed on the
New York Times paperback bestsellers list for more than three weeks. [55]
Unlike the previous film, Wrath of Khan was not promoted with a toy line,
although Playmates Toys created Khan and Saavik figures in the 1990s, and in
2007 Art Asylum crafted a full series of action figures to mark the film's
25th anniversary. [56] In 2009, IDW Publishing released a comic adaptation of
the film, [57] and Film Score Monthly released an expanded score. [58] The
Wrath of Khan opened on June 4, 1982, in 1,621 theaters in the United States.
It made $14,347,221 in its opening weekend, at the time the largest opening
weekend gross in history. [59] It went on to earn $78,912,963 in the US, [60]
becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1982. [61] It made $97,000,000
worldwide. [4] Although the total gross of The Wrath of Khan was less than
that of The Motion Picture , it was more profitable due to its much lower
production cost. [59] Reception [ edit ] Critical response was positive. [62]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 73 critics have given
the film a positive review, recording an average score of 8.1/10. [63] After
the lukewarm reaction to the first film, fan response to The Wrath of Khan was
highly positive. The film's success was credited with renewing interest in the
franchise. [14] : 250 Mark Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly went further,
calling The Wrath of Khan "the film that, by most accounts, saved Star Trek as
we know it"; [64] it is now considered one of the best films in the series.
[14] [64] [65] [66] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called the film "wonderful
dumb fun." [67] [68] Gene Siskel gave the film three and a half stars out of
four, calling it "a flat-out winner, full of appealing characters in engaging
relationships in a futuristic film that has a delightfully old-fashioned sense
of majesty about its characters and the predicaments they get into." [69] The
film's pacing was praised by reviewers in The New York Times and The
Washington Post as being much swifter than its predecessor and closer to that
of the television series. [70] [71] Janet Maslin of The New York Times
credited the film with a stronger story than The Motion Picture and stated the
sequel was everything the first film should have been. [70] Variety agreed
that The Wrath of Khan was closer to the original spirit of Star Trek than its
predecessor. [72] Strong character interaction was cited as a strong feature
of the film, [73] as was Montalbán's portrayal of Khan. [74] In 2016, Playboy
ranked the film number four on its list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than
The Originals . [75] Popular Mechanics would later rate Spock's death the
tenth greatest scene in science fiction. [76] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-
Times and Derek Adams of Time Out complained about what were seen as tepid
battle sequences [74] and perceived melodrama. [71] [77] While Ebert and TV
Guide felt that Spock's death was dramatic and well-handled, [74] [78] The
Washington Post ' s Gary Arnold stated Spock's death "feels like an
unnecessary twist, and the filmmakers are obviously well-prepared to fudge in
case the public demands another sequel". [71] Negative reviews of the film
focused on some of the acting, [71] [79] and Empire singled out the "dodgy
coiffures" and " Santa Claus tunics" as elements of the film that had not aged
well. [80] Christopher John reviewed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in Ares
Magazine No. 13 and commented that "By not taking itself so seriously – that
is, realizing the film should be an action adventure with elements of pathos
and philosophy gently added – The Wrath of Khan succeeded brilliantly. For
those who loved the series, it was a dream come true (to such an extent that
many refuse to acknowledge the existence of the first film as part of the Star
Trek epos)." [81] The Wrath of Khan won two Saturn Awards in 1982, for best
actor (Shatner) and best direction (Meyer). [82] [83] The film was also
nominated in the "best dramatic presentation" category for the 1983 Hugo
Awards , but lost to Blade Runner . [84] The Wrath of Khan has influenced
later movies: Meyer's rejected title for the film, The Undiscovered Country ,
was finally put to use when Meyer directed the sixth film , which retained the
nautical influences. [9] Director Bryan Singer cited the film as an influence
on X2 and his abandoned sequel to Superman Returns . [85] The film is also a
favorite of director J. J. Abrams , producer Damon Lindelof , and writers
Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , the creative team behind the franchise
relaunch film Star Trek . [86] [87] [88] Abrams' second entry in the
relaunched film series, Star Trek Into Darkness , drew significantly from
Wrath of Khan . [89] [90] Home media [ edit ] Paramount released The Wrath of
Khan on RCA CED Videodisc in 1982 and on VHS and Betamax in 1983. The studio
sold the VHS for $39.95, $40 below contemporary movie cassette prices [91] and
it sold a record 120,000 copies. [91] The successful experiment was credited
with instigating more competitive VHS pricing, an increase in the adoption of
increasingly cheaper VHS players, and an industry-wide move away from rentals
to sales as the bulk of videotape revenue. [92] [93] Paramount released The
Wrath of Khan on DVD in 2000; no special features were included on the disc.
[94] Montalbán drew hundreds of fans of the film to Universal City, California
where he signed copies of the DVD to commemorate its release. [95] In August
2002, the film was re-released in a highly anticipated [96] two-disc
"Director's Edition" format. [97] In addition to remastered picture quality
and 5.1 Dolby surround sound , the DVD set included director commentary , cast
interviews, storyboards and the theatrical trailer. [98] The expanded cut of
the film was given a Hollywood premiere before the release of the DVD. Meyer
stated that he didn't believe directors' cuts of films were necessarily better
than the original but that the re-release gave him a chance to add elements
that had been removed from the theatrical release by Paramount. [99] The four
hours of bonus content and expanded director's cut were favorably received.
[98] [100] [101] [102] The film's original theatrical cut was released on Blu-