JJ Trek 3 possible director and writers

With Star Trek Into Darkness almost on home video, what’s happening with the third Star Trek theatrical release from the new “JJ ‘verse” timeline is foremost on Trek fans minds. There are multiples sources that say Paramount has a contender for the director’s seat, while J.J. Abrams will produce.

Multiple sources report that the director of GI Joe: Retaliation, Jon M. Chu, is slated to direct. As we know J.J. Abrams would be too busy with the next Star Wars movie in 2015 to jump right into the 3rd Trek movie in 2016.

Director Jon M. Chu attends the "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" Los Angeles Premiere at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on February 8, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

It’s assumed that he’s the pick since he managed to get the GI Joe franchise back on its feet. One of the first sources to report this is Latino Review, who have a good track record when it comes to Trek, they were one of the first (if not the first) to call out Khan as the next villain well before other news sites did.

Latino Review

Also, as most assumed, it looks pretty certain that the writing duo of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are back to pen the third movie.

orci_kurtzman

There were rather bogus rumors of other writers being paraded through the Bad Robot and Paramount offices a few weeks back.
The Hollywood Reporter

 

Remember that all of this considered rumor until an official press release from Bad Robot and/or Paramount is issued.

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Was GI Joe even any good, though? This isn’t going to be another Stuart Baird situation, is it?

I hope this doesn’t signal another movie of glued together action set pieces, aka fist fights in front of forgettable cgi.

How about a real story about exploration with real focus on the characters… and stop trying to plug plot holes with throw-away lines and after-the-fact explanations that don’t really work.

Bien Por quedarte para la siguiente pelicula Orci ;) Saludos.

What have you done JJ, walking away from ST whilst marketing ITD pretty much stole the thunder from the actual release of the film and now instead of finishing what you started, we are looking at a director who brought us GI JOE. Had Chris Nolan handed over directors duties to another director for the 3rd Batman movie what would have happened??

Although I enjoyed the first 2 movies, I’m ready to move past the action/adventure and get back to a Roddenberry-esque Star Trek.

It used to be Star Trek fans wanted more information and Star Wars fans wanted more toys. Now its like we’re all heading for the toy department.

After looking at Jon M. Chu’s resume, not a good idea.

Christopher Nolan, Joss Whedon, they I would trust.

Perhaps Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow so there can at least be a woman director for a Star Trek movie instead of just the series.

@#2 Rupert Wyatt sounds more reasonable based upon his resume.

I’m free to direct.

Chu has already denied it.

Jon M Chu. Known for “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never”, “Step Up Revolution”, “Step Up 2: The Streets”…

Go home, TrekMovie. You’re drunk

Rupert Wyatt FTW!!!!!!!

Wow, I really hope that Chu is NOT the director and we can get Rupert Wyatt! Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a smart, action-filled, emotional, hard-core scif-fi movie. I absolutely loved it and really hope we can get Wyatt to treat Star Trek with the same respect and care he did with the Apes franchise.

Really disappointing news that we are not getting new writers for the next installment.

Any other news pales next to it.

ST3 is really low on my anticipation list now.

Hopefully they will surprise me. It’s the perfect opportunity to do so.

I still don’t think this writing duo has what it takes to write a coherent Star Trek story. Some moments in their story may be good, but when the overall story tries to be about something, it just falls apart. And they take an iconic villain like Khan and essentially reduce him to a mere plot device rather than a character, something is way off. It doesn’t take much to see how lackluster his character is in the film when every single action he takes are all based on assumptions that are completely wrong. That’s not a competent villain, that’s a running gag.

I thought Khan was really good in Into Darkness Benedict played him very well. that is just my opinion.

I know that it’s really difficult to write compelling stories. But honestly, can we do this one thing, just for kicks: Let the fans submit a storyline and see what sticks. I know that legally and logistically, this is a nightmare. In fact, in TOS, there was only one known instance of a fan-submitted story’s having been produced, as I recall.

But, since there is a strong segment of Trek population that believes we should move on from the current writing style, can we not break out of the corporatethink that dominates modern Hollywood and bring on some new contributors? Not that Messrs. Orci, et al., aren’t good; they are. But perhaps they can collaborate with others and share just a tiny bit of credit and remuneration. I’m not going to pretend that this would be easy for them to agree to. It isn’t.

Heck, let’s not even talk about a spec script or fan submissions. How about if we involve people like Dayton Ward, the well-known Trek lit author? Why do we even bother having Trek lit if no Trek lit author is ever in contention for the bigger leagues?

I’m looking for the latter-day Dorothy Fontanas of the world. Is Hollywood too big for that kind of thing? Heck, why not consider Ms. Fontana as a collaborator? What’s happened to Trek that we can’t think outside the box?

No comment on Mr. Chu as a possible director. I’m more interested in the writing, plot, and theme for the next sequel.

(And most interested in an actual official development announcement, dammit.)

See also my postings in the open discussion thread for more of my personal thoughts (and/or whines) about the State of Trek.

Really glad that Bob and Alex are still on writing duties. As much as I loved the classic movies, they were all journeymen (apart from Roddenberry) that worked on them. Bob is one of us. Can’t wait to see the new movie.

Congratulations to Bill Shatner on the Stratsford Legacy award:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/08/06/stratford-shatner-legacy-award.html

I saw Into Darkness opening weekend (three months ago?), and honestly I barely remember it. Seems that way with most of Kurtzman/Orci movies. Forgettable plots and jumbled incoherent messes. Bring back Nicholas Meyer, then you’d have a winner.

Better yet…he’s too good for JJverse trek.

@17 Bob is a paranoid conspiracy nut. Not exactly ‘one of us’.

I might also add that Harve Bennet produced Treks II – V, Nick Meyer co-wrote II, IV and VI and Ralph Winter worked on III, IV, V and VI. There are a number of others who were on board for most of the movies. Not exactly journeyman productions.

As for the next movie we’re going to get more of the same, unfortunately. I don’t know if these guys know how to write more than 10 pages of dialogue beofre something explodes, crashes or takes a punch. Hopefully a solid director can reign in the script and knows how to pace a film.

THR also notes that INTO DARKNESS still hasn’t broken even. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of budget Paramount and Skydance are willing to move forward with.

We were in this together, and then he was gone.

JJ has to come back.

He must… he must…

@23

I think JJ is done. This is not his franchise, characters, or even his dream project. If he has to spend a couple of years on something, I think he would rather spend it on something that he can truly call his own or something that he really enjoys more than Star Trek.

2 Mr Anonymous, I hope your source is right. PLEASE, GOD.
3, Cmdr R, Everything you said – I agree SO MUCH.

We need heart, soul, and exploration, both philosophical and scientific – not just another ACTION ACTION RELENTLESS ACTION VIOLENCE oh yeah a character bit ACTION ACTION VIOLENCE RELENTLESS ACTION – with #6, Bones’, Toy Department apparently always in mind.

PLEASE Paramount, JJ, I’m begging you.

And please NO KLINGON WAR unless there’s a real philosophically reasoned surprise in there.

Betting Chu has denied it b/c of the sh*tstorm of protest and criticism of his past, uh, work.

15, princess, I will say that Cumby acted the hell out of his character. And he [and other primo actors in the film] give us an idea of how hard good actors have to work to “sell” certain silly ideas.
But the idea of making the character Khan was stupid and a non-sequiter to younger folk who’d never heard of Khan and an annoying, stupid “plot device” – that added nothing to the plot – for those of us older fans who knew about Khan. The silliest thing was the “reaction” of Kirk and Spock to this Momentous News that “I am Khan” – absolutely none – why did Lindelof make the writers shoehorn Khan in there? The film would’ve been better served if they’d kept him John Harrison.

16, HatRick, In addition to the fine “Tholian Web,” I’m also remembering a script submitted to ST TNG by a fan … one Ronald D. Moore : )
Yes, it’s an idea beset with problems from the get-go [I’m thinking about some folks who post some really crazeee ideas on this board], but might yield some gold.
“Not that Messrs. Orci, et al., aren’t good; they are. But perhaps they can collaborate with others and share just a tiny bit of credit and remuneration.”
And your idea of D.C. Fontana’s participation is STERLING. She would be a fabulous contributor, with heart, a more adult perspective [see “The Ultimate Computer”] and an interest in cultures-other-than-Earth’s that is rather badly needed. Also, many of her ideas percolated thru Orci/Kurtzman’s work, especially those about Spock and his culture.

21, Dennis C, Are the relentless action scenarios what make Orci/Kurtzman popular writers, or is it that the studios demand that of them b/c it helps to make a buck off the teenaged “tentpole” audience [and thus guarantee O/K work so well for them]?
They’d make a lot more money off of me if they quit with some of the violence and action and as I said above, go back to the heart and soul of Science Fiction, philosophy and exploration [albeit with some Awful or Scary Surprises Resulting in Action for the explorers, just NOT for the majority of the film please].
In contrast to many who post here, I found the “discussion” of Cheney-esque politics and manipulation of good-willed people by Adm. Marcus quite interesting, it’s just that it got swallowed up in all the action.
A lot of people have to see the films multiple times just to make some sense of the plots, probably an intentional thing on the part of Bad Robot/Paramount [frown]. I’d rather see it multiple times because I’m intrigued by more of the ideas.

Let us hope OFFICIAL (and ‘original’ ;-) news beams down sooner rather than later.

Respectfully, it’s “Star Trek XIII,” not “Star Trek 3.”

They should go after Bryan Singer. He will be will be done with X-Men within the next year. He likes Star Trek and has an eye for action. I would go after him. I believe he’s already said he would be open to it.

As if STID wasn’t already stupid movie, Damon Lindelof revealed in an interview that he has another dumber idea for STID climax !!

“But there were earlier story iterations where the Klingon Fleet was simultaneously heading for Earth to get retribution, only to be turned around via diplomatic intervention by Uhura. We dropped it pretty early on, as it didn’t feel intimate, cool, or earned.”

http://www.blastr.com/2013-8-6/damon-lindelof-reveals-bigger-ending-his-star-trek-sequel-almost-had

wow, only a heavenly intervention by the The Almighty Uhura could have saved Earth from those filthy Klingon !!!!!!!

I’m not sure if this is the right place to mention this, but the first new thread is about conjecture of the next movie, yet no mention of the passing of Michael Ansara? Just wondering. . .

5. jed – August 6, 2013
What have you done JJ, walking away from ST whilst marketing ITD pretty much stole the thunder from the actual release of the film and now instead of finishing what you started, we are looking at a director who brought us GI JOE. Had Chris Nolan handed over directors duties to another director for the 3rd Batman movie what would have happened??

T’Cal: I never thought I’d say this but I wish someone else had taken the reigns onThe Dark Knight Rises. Batman begins was excellent and The Dark Knight was even better, but TDKR had huge plot holes, weak writing, soft characters, and sluggish pacing. It had a few good moments but not enough to save it. If JJ wants to walk away to focus on something else, let him and get som eone who wants to be there.

…and I really liked Star Trek ’09 and STID even more so.

@21

I think you’ve nailed it. They have a formula that make studios a buck and director’s like Michael Bay and JJ Abrams go along for the ride without putting their own stamp on the material.

For me that was part of the problem with STID: It was formulaic, hitting the beats for a summer blockbuster and rushing through one set piece to the next.

“The Dark Knight” and “Skyfall” should have set the tone for other writers, both proving that you can have a movie that delivers the thrills and a solid story that’s given time to unfold.

SO, yeah, count me among the disappointed that Orci and Kurtzman will write another Star Trek movie. My hope is that a new director will take a more nuanced approach to the material.

Although the problems with G.I. Joe Retaliation were not necessarily with the directing, it was more the writing, but I still would rather Chu not direct it. Rupert Wyatt would be a good choice, I think.

My ideal writing team for the next Trek would be Ronald D. Moore and Jane Espenson, although maybe Moore could write with Kurtzman and Orci. Basically, if Klingons are involved, Moore needs to be in there somehow!

Good lord, the same writers?
Another cut and paste job coming up then. How bloody depressing.

Bring in Manny Cotto.

#30 – I’m wondering that, too. Four days later and still no mention of the passing of a well-known Trek actor; instead, we get a story about the third Abramsverse film? Not cool.

5 Jed, “marketing STiD29” in Europe indeed took too much attention away from the US. Not to mention all of JJ’s talk of SWars. He should have said, “No comment” and marketed the movie he was there to market.

29 Ahmed, The central tenet of negotiation is Communication. As established in the AU, Uhura is a master. They probably dropped the idea b/c of its possible unpopularity with teen boys and the patriarchal tradition of “tentpole” films.

33 Dennis C, ” My hope is that a new director will take a more nuanced approach to the material.” Yeah, mine too, if indeed a director has control over the material. I suspect that in this dollar-grabbin’ era of look-alike “tentpole” films, it’s more the producers’ say. I could be – and hope I am – wrong.

34 Platitude, It might be fun for Moore to turn all that “Klingon honor” stuff on its ear. I got a little tired of it, and felt the Romulans got ripped off in TNG and its iterations, b/c in the TOS days, Klingons were without honor and Romulans were Starfleet’s “honorable opponents” as in “Balance of Terror”.
At any rate, I would love for a third and even fourth writer to join the team and come up with more Scifi ideas than facile explanations that retcon some poor plot points. I did enjoy ST09 and STiD, but oy, the plot holes.

@ 38. Marja – August 6, 2013

“29 Ahmed, The central tenet of negotiation is Communication. As established in the AU, Uhura is a master. They probably dropped the idea b/c of its possible unpopularity with teen boys and the patriarchal tradition of “tentpole” films.”

I’ve to disagree with you here. Being a communication officer doesn’t mean that you can do serious diplomatic negotiations with an enemy fleet.

It is like saying that a senior communication officer in a US nuclear submarine can negotiate with the Red Army during a crisis. it is just absurd & ridiculous idea. I can believe it if the Captain or the XO is handling such negotiations but not the Comm officer.

@ 37. Martin J. Pollard – August 6, 2013

“#30 – I’m wondering that, too. Four days later and still no mention of the passing of a well-known Trek actor; instead, we get a story about the third Abramsverse film? Not cool.”

The owner of the site, AP, is not around to run the site. We should be thankful that Matt is keeping the site running. Beside, you can’t expect Matt to do everything by himself.

If Jon M. Chu directs the third Star Trek movie, you can kiss this franchise goodbye.

Okay, I’ve got an idea for the director of the next Star Trek movie. But let me make a quick comment about Jon Chu and his G.I. Joe sequel. It was a better movie than the first one because Chu knows how to stage action scenes. They made sense. That being said, the movie was only as good as its writing. So the G.i. Joe sequel wasn’t that good. Chu’s wikipedia biography demonstrates an upcoming talent. And he’s Chinese, Chinese American. Help with the burgeoning Asian market? Don’t get mad, I’m also Chinese American. But it won’t matter to me if he’s Chinese or not and I think the Asian moviegoer won’t care either.

There is one directorial candidate who is available that would wow every Trekker on the planet. (I made this idea on another thread. ) He’s done a thoughtful film about aliens. He’s done a heartwarming movie about an alien. And to get it out of his system, he’s directed a bomb about pirates. Oh, yeah, he won an Academy Award for directing.

Cue the E.T. music. ….

GET STEPHEN SPIELBERG. There are multiple reports saying that Spielberg is available and looking for a project. Link. Give Spielberg the keys to the Enterprise for the fiftieth anniversary of our legendary science fiction franchise.

@ 41

Oops. Forget the Slash Film link. Spielberg is available.

http://www.slashfilm.com/steven-spielberg-will-not-direct-american-sniper/

It’ll be Brian Singer

As far as the lastest installment for the GI Joe series, the movie was a flop. What are the other credits for the proposed director?

Well, hopefully they make a decision soon because at that point the sky would be the limit for getting this movie fast tracked.

HAS ANYONE MENTIONED NICHOLAS MEYER?

Happy for JJ to go.
Star Trek Into Darkness lost tens of millions after intrest for the first film died from being delayed waiting for JJ’s Magic touch & He clearly was more into the upcoming Star Wars & Stole Star Trek’s promotional thunder by announcing & talking about Star Wars 7 instead of Star Trek Into Darkness.

& the Writers cannot write sequels.
The first Transformers & first Star Trek were great but the sequels were retarded- they get so hung up on the first films they can’t do a sequel.

Transformers Dark of the Moon was great, Star Trek 3 can be great too with new writers who can actually write a story about the mission, Strange New Worlds not side strepping the mission to fight some Villan of the week.

Ok, so good chance of no more of those blasted lens flares.

Now we need an original story. With all due respect to Bob and Alex, what are the chances of an original story?

If Paramount wants a bigger box office, you need a better story. Who ever decided to re-tell the Khan story erred big time. The movie grossed pretty much what it was worth. I seen the first one 3 times. I seen Dearkness once. I might borrow Darkness from the library, but definetly will NOT buy it.

There are so many stories waiting to be told.
Here’s some. Why is the Federation not allowed to cloaked their ships? Explain how the neutral zome came into effect.

Paramount needs to change the formula. Perhaps new writers to go with a new director.

I’d still like to see a film with the Klingons as uncomfortable allies, fulfilling the ideas put forth in Day of the Dove in TOS. Especially now considering we’ve lost Michael Ansara…. his Kang… is exactly what Klingons would have, should have, could have been. (OK, Worf was a worthy successor of Kang, and Martok close…. but you get my point.)
.
For Kirk and Kang to have to put aside Federation/Klingon conflicts to work together to stop some ‘unstoppable object’ would be dramatic, and have no true moustache-twirling villain… particularly if the object were Doomsday Machines, or Vejur, or something akin to that.

@Marja (25), thanks for your nice comments. Ronald D. Moore is one of my favorites in the Trek production world and he was one important reason that DS9 was such a great success with many who valued intricate storytelling.