Not one, but two newStar Trekmovies are being developed by Paramount. We’ve known for a bit now that the studio was working on at least a couple of different newTrekrelated projects, but now Paramount head Jim Gianopulos has confirmed that two different movies in the franchise are in active development, news that was announced duringCinemaConin Las Vegas this past week. Unfortunately, he didn’t dish any additional details, but this makes for an interesting confirmation, considering what we already know.
Starting with the more recent development, it came to light in December that Quentin Tarantino is working on aStar Trek Moviewith J.J. Abrams. ThePulp Fictiondirector pitched the idea to Abrams and the duo then took it to Paramount. The studio then assembled a writer’s room to flesh out the idea and, ultimately, Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) was hired to pen the screenplay for this proposed movie. Reportedly, Tarantino wants it to be R-rated and, if he likes the way the script turns out, he may even direct it. First, he’s going to focus onOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, which shoots later this year, leaving the studio time to develop the script.
When this news first broke, it raised a lot of questions, beyond the fact that it was genuinely surprising for many to hear that Quentin Tarantino was working on and very well may direct aStar Trekmovie. He’s not a franchise guy and controls his own creative destiny. But the biggest question was how this would affectStar Trek 4, the sequel to 2016’sStar Trek Beyond. Updates on that movie have been slim and it seemed possible that the studio would abandonStar Trek 4in favor of Tarantino’s idea.
It now appears that both the TarantinoStar Trekmovie andStar Trek 4are happening somewhat simultaneously. After the news that two differentStar Trekmovies were in development, it was announced thatS.J. Clarkson will directwhat is officially being known asStar Trek 4. This has made franchise history, as she is the first female director to ever work on the series. She is known for helming recent episodes of Marvel’s Netflix seriesJessica Jones. Clarkson started her career directing several episodes of hit U.K. TV series’DoctorsandEastEnders, before heading across the pond to direct episodes ofLife on Mars,Heroes,Ugly Betty,House,Dexter,Hunted,Banshee,Smash,Bates Motel,The Bridge,Hostages,Turn: Washington’s Spies,Orange Is the New Black,Dig,Jessica Jones,Vinyl,Love, Nina,The Defendersand all four episodes of the Netflix mini-seriesCollateral, which debuted last month.
This all raises a lot more questions with very few answers, but it would mean the current,cinematic version of the franchise is expanding in scope. What we do know is that a script forStar Trek 4has been turned in and that the idea being kicked around is for Chris Hemsworth, who made a brief but memorable appearance in the 2009Star Trekreboot, to come back as Kirk’s father. How that will be made possible remains to be seen. A new version of the script is currently being worked on by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are set to return, and it seems likely that the rest of the main cast will be back as well, including Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban as Bones, John Cho as Sulu and Simon Pegg as Scotty.
Currently,no release date is setfor either of theseStar Trekmovies.Star Trek Beyondunderperformed at the box office, bringing in $343.5 million worldwide, working from a very high $185 million production budget. That likely caused Paramount to rethink their strategy with the franchise moving forward. There are still a ton of unanswered questions, but Paramount is doubling down onStar Trek. Will both movies being worked on actually see the light of the day? That may be the biggest question of all. We will be sure to keep you up to date as more details are made available. This news comes to us courtesy ofThe Hollywood Reporter.
