
The 2009 Star Trek movie was a huge win, bringing in $385.7 million worldwide on a $150 million budget. It broke records in the US, becoming the highest-grossing Star Trek film ever domestically with $257.7 million. The film also earned the franchise its first Oscars, winning four awards at the 2010 Academy Awards for Sound Editing, Sound, Visual Effects, and Makeup. At a time when Star Wars films weren’t being released, Star Trek—with its cast and distinctive visual style, including frequent lens flares—became the face of sci-fi in the 2010s. The story involved time travel and a villain altering a key moment in Star Trek history, so director J.J. Abrams created a separate timeline for the film, independent of the original TV series. This new timeline became known as the “Kelvin Timeline,” named after the USS Kelvin, the ship carrying James T. Kirk’s father, George Kirk (played by Chris Hemsworth), during his final mission.