What has the studio's attitude been towards the film franchise?

They've been very deliberate. It is certainly a cash cow. Any time a studio finds a franchise it grabs hold of it and tries to milk it for all it's worth and I think Paramount wisely did that.

They spaced out the number of movies so that there was enough time in between films to build up an audience. They tried to bring in different guest villains to add new freshness to the franchise. And I think it's the the golden goose for them. It has certainly been enormously profitable film franchise for them.

The films ended with sometimes with a cliffhanger. I think they were all very well crafted so that they could become a continuing matinee franchise.

The cult audience of Star Trek, after a movie, would come out, would see it many times. That was one big advantage to the Star Trek series. Just as they would watch the repeats over and over and over again on television they would go and see the movies more than once in each release. So in the interim off years between films I think the audience would buzz and grow more excited about what's going to happen next?