Karl Urban Says Cast Is Keen To Return For ‘Star Trek 4’ – Wants It To Explore McCoy’s Family

Karl Urban – aka Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy in the Kelvin movies – made an appearance at The Continuing Voyage Convention in Chicago on Saturday, and TrekMovie was there. The actor talked about his hopes for another Star Trek movie, a rejected idea for McCoy in Star Trek Beyond, and how he missed out on being James Bond. He also had a visit from TNG’s Brent Spiner.

Urban and cast “keen” for Star Trek 4 – wants to see McCoy’s family

Of course, during the Q&A, a fan asked Urban about the next Star Trek movie. Urban didn’t offer any news on progress on the project, but he did discuss how he and his fellow actors are ready to go, saying:

We will be blessed if we could get to make another one, we really would. And we would all be very, very keen to do so because we have so much fun making these movies. I tell you, the challenge literally is to stop laughing before the cameras start rolling. We are a tight family.

Urban’s comments are similar to those reported by TrekMovie two months ago from his appearance at Star Trek Las Vegas, where he said everyone was waiting on Paramount to make a decision about the future of Star Trek on the big screen.

Karl Urban talks to fans at Continuing Voyage Tour Chicago 2017

Responding to the question on what he might like to see for his character for a possible fourth feature film, Urban said he would like to get more into McCoy’s family:

Perhaps it would be interesting to see something of McCoy’s family. His ex-wife and daughter and that dynamic.

Urban’s Kelvin timeline version of McCoy was established to be divorced in the 2009 Star Trek movie. The notion of McCoy having a daughter shows how much of a fan Urban is, as that was something only mentioned in the TOS writer’s bible and eventually on the animated Star Trek show from the 1970s.

Karl Urban complains about his ex-wife in Star Trek (2009) – would like to see his family addressed in next Star Trek feature

Urban wanted McCoy to deal with taking a life in ‘Beyond’

Urban also talked to fans about an idea he wanted involving McCoy having a moral dilemma about taking a life in Star Trek Beyond, but the notion was ultimately rejected.

There is something that I really wanted to do in Star Trek Beyond, that didn’t didn’t quite make it. The template is sort of set up as McCoy joined Starfleet as a doctor to save lives. And I was very interested – because until this point in the series we had never seen him have to defend those sets of principles and values that he was signed on to uphold. I thought it would be very interesting to see him wrestle with his conscience about him having to take a life as opposed to save a life, particularly when Spock and McCoy were stranded down on the planet. However, it didn’t quite transpire that way in the final cut. To me I thought that would be an interesting existential place to go in.

Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto in Star Trek Beyond

Urban talked to Bond producers about playing 007 before Daniel Craig

Karl also talked about another iconic role he may have taken on a decade ago. The actor was asked if a report on the Internet was true, that he was offered the job of playing James Bond before it was offered to Daniel Craig. Urban clarified that the report was not entirely accurate, noting he did have a meeting but wasn’t able to audition:

What happened was while they were casting [for the new Bond] I had been to a preliminary meeting with [Bond films producer] Barbara Broccoli, which went fantastically well. When it came around to doing the auditions and screen tests unfortunately I was filming a movie at the time and I couldn’t get out to do the screen test. That being said, I am glad because I think Daniel Craig is a superb Bond.

Urban was shooting the films Doom and Out of the Blue around the time Casino Royale (the first Bond film with Daniel Craig) was in development. Less than a year after Casino Royale was released, Urban signed on to play McCoy in Star Trek.

Urban in Doom and Craig in Casino Royale

Spiner crashes panel

One of those fun con moments happened during Urban’s panel when Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brent Spiner took to the Q&A mic to ask “Mr. Irving” a question about his Into Darkness co-star, “Benedict Cucumber.” Somehow the interaction ended up covering the Beatles and then even got a bit racy on the “cucumber” theme.

Brent Spiner has some questions for “Mr. Irving”

You can watch the interaction below via this video (courtesy of Tyler Ninness)

 More from Continuing Voyage Chicago

Last night TrekMovie reported on a Star Trek: Discovery spoiler revealed by Jonathan Frakes at this event. We should have more coverage of this convention coming up.

Karl Urban takes a selfie with a fan on stage at Continuing Voyage Tour Chicago 2017

 

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Well, if we can’t have another movie, how about adapting the Frontier Doctor comic into a miniseries or something? A medical series with McCoy going around treating aliens? I’d watch that, if only to see Urban continue in the role.

There’s nothing I’d like more than Urban & Co. to return in another ( perhaps slightly retooled ) Kelvin Universe movie. I suspect though that sadly, the ( star ) ship may have sailed.
It’s be great to have Urban somehow appear in DSC in a later season, with a bit of cgi magic to make him look age-appropriate.

It’s so silly whenever people claim there won’t be another film with that cast. Of course there will be. Come on, man.

I’d definitely love there to be. I just don’t have much faith in the Hollywood system – if they see something as underperforming, they’re often ready to drop a franchise like a hot potato instead of thinking “Well, this was recieved really well even if it didn’t meet our monetary expectations – let’s give it another shot”.

That’s why I feel if the movie series continues ( which I sincerely hope it does ), it may be a quasi-reboot ( I’m thinking more along the lines of TWOK from TMP ), either with new actors, or less likely now we have the upcoming DSC – completely new characters and setting.

@Arg — the current business environment at Paramount and Viacom doesn’t support it. They don’t even have financing to produce the films that have a proven track record. When Trek comes back to the big screen, it won’t likely be with this cast, or producers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Paramount actually cooperate with CBS for change, especially if DISC proves to be a huge hit.

My feeling is that there probably be another one, and how Discovery performs may go a long way to settling that question. But Paramount’s financial woes make the prospect more uncertain than it might be otherwise, which is why I’m especially glad CBS picked up the ball. As to the KT films, I’d be less than honest if I said the prospect of not getting more was keeping me awake nights. I like the cast, but Bad Robot had three opportunities to connect with me as a fan of TOS and never quite made it. I wish it were otherwise.

I agree. I think if Discovery is a hit they may piggy back off the success, capitalizing on the name being a hit, and work with CBS to promote.

If I were them, I might even do a tie-in episode featuring Quinto as Spock, or even a full blown crossover with the movie timeline for an episode.

Paramount is a publicly-traded corporation and its executives have described Trek as one of their three tentpole franchises. You don’t outright lie if you’re in that position. Whether that means they plan the next Trek feature with the Pine/Quinto/Urban cast, who knows.

It isn’t silly at all. I enjoyed them but I also doubt there will be another Kelvin film. No one cares about those films at the moment. The focus is all on Discovery. If it’s a hit, then no one will care about the Kelvin timeline. If it flops, that’s the end of the whole franchise.

They made Star Trek 1 through 3 already? SERIOUSLY?

The issue is simply going to be whether it’s profitable. It only pulled in $343M… not a bad haul in a vacuum, but they spent a lot to make and promote it.

Its not silly. You are just looking at it as a consumer and a fan, not as a business person who has to justify the spending to do it. The fact is while I like the films, none of them has been runaway hits. The first two made money but barely given the production and marketing budgets. Beyond was the first to lose money, which is a bad bad sign.

And the other reality is that these films biggest market, America, every film has made less money than the other. Beyond was the first one that made under $200 million. Thats not a great trend thinking long term.

Now that said, maybe they will figure out how to make another one for a bit cheaper. But the silence from Paramount is telling, especially after they ‘green lit’ another film before Beyond even opened.

I like to see a fourth one but I’m not holding my breath at this point.

They don’t need to be runaway hits. Paramount could have plenty of success with Trek if they’d stop treating it (financially) like a Marvel movie. Modestly budget it, creatively market it without spending a fortune, and 300M take at the box office would be plenty to earn them a good profit and sustain a key brand in their portfolio.

The simple fact is that Paramount has few other franchises with this kind of name recognition and value. There WILL be another movie, and I’d bet it will be with this cast, it just remains for them to decide how to make it profitable.

Why do I think they’ll use the same cast?

Because the numbers say that audiences like this cast. Into Darkness did 468M. Trekkies may laugh at Beyond’s performance, but it still did better than the last Ninja Turtles, more than twice Jack Reacher 2, more than twice the last Jack Ryan movie, nearly the same as the last GI Joe.

But unlike GI Joe or Turtles, there are no license fees to split with Nickelodeon or Hasbro.

Fans like this cast, and like these movies, and it might be harder to get audiences to come out for a reboot than to simply make another with Pine, Quinto, and Urban.

Again, the studio just needs to figure out how to make it profitable. If they can’t, they’ll go reboot, though I’m not sure how. Another new timeline? Jump ahead and re-do TNG? I don’t envy those studio execs…

Yes but you are not thinking like today’s executives. The Trek films of old where they have modest budgets and open mostly in America and a few foreign markets are not feasible today.

Today we live in a heavy franchise world and a more upscale global market. They want to sell their wares to China. They don’t think small anymore. If they have a big brand like Star Trek, the idea is to think big, not smaller. I mean even Discovery is costing them $8 million an episode and its on a streaming site. Star Trek is a very expensive commodity today on both big and small screen because the thinking is bigger draws in more people. Its not always true, but that usually proves more successful looking around at all the other big films and shows out there.

And yes it did better than all those other Paramount films. It also cost more money than all those by a huge margin. It cost $60 more than Turtles did and literally 3 times more than Ryan and Reacher 2, which weren’t posed as tentpole films (and Jack Reacher 2 actually ended up a hit all said and done for its small budget). You have to look at the entire picture, you can’t cherry pick the parts that sounds good.

But of course there will be another film. The question is when or will it be with this cast. And sorry I think while people do generally like the cast, they can easily be replaced with other characters. BO doesn’t lie. EVERY film since 2009 in America the BO has fallen tens of millions even though they have raise distribution and ticket prices. That is a concern. Add to the fact most of the cast are now free agents and can demand higher salaries is another issue. Lets put it like this. In 2009, Chris Pine was paid $600 thousand for the first film that made a reasonable $385 million. Not spectacular but OK on a $150 million budget.

Now fast forward to Beyond where he was paid $6 million for a film that made $340 million on a $185 million budget. They paid him 10 times more than the first film which help raise the budget of the film and yet much lesser results from the first film. This is the problem long term, especially when they can all demand more money now for a film series that is already dwindling.

I like to see another one too but no I’m not holding my breath. The fact is Star Trek is bigger than one cast or crew. They can always put it on the shelf a few years and do something new and different with it as you said. They are always coming up with new idea for shows as Discovery proves, they will figure out something for future films when that time comes.

“Today we live in a heavy franchise world and a more upscale global market.”

Which is exactly why they’ll do more.

No one is saying there won’t be more Trek films, simply maybe no more of these.

The KT films are the third iteration of Trek films. You really think they will be no others?

We also live in reboot era. It won’t be a shock they simply come up with other characters and films. And the reality is at the rate these films gets made a lot of them will probably want to move on in a few years.

All I’m saying is there is every reason to continue with this crew, it just remains to be seen whether they think it’s harder to make $$ off a new one, or the existing one.

A new crew poses its own problems, as a new cast would likely also mean a new crew, and if you’re banking on nostalgia/brand awareness, it will be as big a challenge to attract audiences as the existing crew, if not moreso.

Think of it this way: we’ve NEVER had a Star Trek film that introduced a new ship and new crew. So is the name “Star Trek” alone enough to get butts in seats?

Essentially, they’d be creating a new franchise, something that can be done (and has been done) on TV, but is VERY hard to do on film. When was the last newly created sci-fi film that started a bonafide franchise?

The Matrix?

I get your point but I don’t think audiences are that tied to this crew in the first place. I mean between the 09 film and Beyond there was a difference of $100 million in America BO.

That’s not good long term. I personally think they might squeeze out one more like they did for TNG but if that one performs like Beyond did they will call it a day and come up with something else in a few years.

Its pretty obvious Paramount is not exactly giddy about doing another one. Its been well over a year since Beyond and nothing. That’s why we keep getting articles like this in the first place. They may already have moved on.

i was going to say if you want to cut the budget, destroy the ship and have them all escape in pods.
And then I realized, that was the last movie!

If the goal is to save money, I was thinking the opposite, Gary. Have a bottle movie, set entirely on the ship. A cat-and-mouse story, Die-Hard/Starship Mine style.

At the end of the day, whatever you think of the KT films I don’t believe the record will show that Bad Robot was an effective or efficient steward of Paramount’s money. Trek 2009 was budgeted at $150 million, and while it undeniably had scope it also used an old factory with obvious cement floors and a brewery in Van Nuys to double for the interiors of 23rd century starships. An old complaint, I know, but that was just insanely tacky for a film with that kind of budget.

Paramount might do well to consider a producing partner that knew how to do more with less, assuming they’re interested in making a fourth film at all.

From a “making money” perspective we can twist the results to be a big success or big failure depending on how you look at it– which says to me only that it was a middle-of-the-road result.

but what can’t be denied is that Bad Robot successfully revived a withered, wasted brand and franchise that the general public had long since stopped caring for. All things considered, I don’t think Paramount would undo what they did.

A fourth feature went from being greenlit prior to the release of the third one, to being something actively being spoke of in the past tense by virtually all involved. The studio has gone stone cold silent on the franchise, so at this point it’s not silly at all to conclude this cast is done. I’m sure Paramount will revisit the franchise sometime in the next ten years, but what that will look like is anyone’s guess.

No Wonder JJ wants to Return to Star Trek from I hear the Crew for Star Wars are bunch of Ass Holes while the Star Trek Crew are actually having a good time

Where do you read he wants to return to ST? Isn’t he signed on for Star Wars 9? Even if there was a nuTrek 4 with Bad Robot, he probably won’t be able to get behind it 100% being committed to SW.

Where are you getting this from? Sounds like vague hearsay.

This must be why he just signed up again for SW….

He just signed up again for Star Wars Ep. 9 what are you talking about?

And he would be INSANE to want to do Star Trek again vs Star Wars. STID, his most successful Trek film made just $470 million. The Force Awakens however made $2 billion. He usually gets 5% of whatever films he makes gross. Do the math? Now which film series would you be signing up for again if you were in his shoes? No one cares about how nice everyone gets when you are getting tens of millions of dollars.

News flash! JJ signed on as writer and director for Episode 9.

I’m thinking if the next movie has budgetary issues with bringing the likes of Urban, Pine, Saldana, Quinto et al ( cost of actors onscreen throughout vs money made by BEYOND ) there may be a way to bring some of the actors on for limited sections of the movie:

Remember Patrick Stewart as Professor X actually sat out most of X1 and X2, and died early on X3 ( same thing happened with Cyclops in X2 and X3 ) – there may be a similar way to have some of Kirk & co. captured or something ( but still feature heavily in the plot for the film ) and then they all regroup for the climax of the fourth film.

This way, you may be able to bring the cost down of the movie, but still maintain the high budget visual quality – perhaps.

Its not that simple though. Some actors actually have clauses in their contracts how much screen time they can have. It was rumored thats why Uhura showed up at the end of STID to save Spock on the barge because they needed to find a way to give Zoe Saldana more screen time. And in Beyond Karl Urban himself said he would only come back to do that film if they gave him a bigger role, which they did.

This is the problem when you have a big cast and now most are not under contract. They can make bigger demands. Doesn’t mean they all care but most will find a way to get a bigger role in a film, not less.

Fair point.

I think it would be fine if they brought back Pine, Quinto, and Urban, and left out Saldana. For the female lead, bring back Jayla.

I think Jayla is done like Carol Marcus is. She really has no story left.

I disagree. Jayla has potential as the “everyman” window, learning Starfleet as she goes. She has a past we know little about and could explore. The story doesn’t have to be about her though.

I mean, Uhura was as uninteresting as a block of wood, and did very little, but they kept her around…

I like Jaylah too but let’s be honest, you guys like her just because she’s a safe secondary (original) character who gets perceived as less a threat than Uhura since she was never elevated at the trio’s level, and she can’t interfere with the ‘bromances’ and original trio since the only character she interacted with in Beyond is Scotty, and she has no interpersonal relationship with either Kirk or Spock, unlike Uhura. Typical, predictable, ulterior motives.

and Uhura did way more than McCoy and had been more important to the story with her skills than a guy who pretty much gets screentime only as Kirk’s friend and does nothing else. Had her role been so unimportant and unpopular like you tell yourself that she was, you guys wouldn’t care about her presence one way or another – and surely wouldn’t be that insecure about her interfering with the ‘trio’ that every pretext is good to claim they should fire Zoe.

I don’t think Jaylah was that important at the end of the day. I liked her but they can easily find another female character to replace her.

And actually characters from TOS. Nurse Chapel being one easy example. Or even Yeoman Rand. Or why not bring Carol Marcus back? I was surprised she wasn’t in the last one.

I mean if its about lack of female characters there are quite a few known options they can bring in fans would love to see.

It’s pure delusion to think that a movie with only the 3 dudes would be successful. Saldana arguably is their biggest star in this cast and more popular than most of the guys. In fact, it’s her face that is used for promotional stuff not Urban’s. JJ’s main 3 is Pine, Quinto and Saldana but you guys live in your own alternate reality (and so did Urban, apparently, because he seems to believe his character is the protagonist at Kirk and Spock level when not even Deforest was like that in tos. The poor man got a decent contract only after Nimoy himself advocated for him)
Beyond sidelined Uhura/Zoe to restore the original trio a bit and placate those of you who are bitching about her ‘replacing’ McCoy since years but it doesn’t seem to me the movie was this huge success. In fact, Beyond is the least successful movie of the 3 and the reason why there might not be a fourth movie.

Again, all I’m saying is that if they still need a female cast member, I’d rather see them use Jayla than cow-towing to Saldana’s demands.

Etymologicool
What demands? The only one who made demands is diva Karl Urban who threatened to not come back for trek 3 unless they gave him more screentime. And this isn’t a silly “rumor” but something he said. But I don’t see you asking them to fire him, of course. Zoe said she’d be grateful to be in more trek, she never blackmailed the production. If she got a bigger role than Nichelle it’s because the other team made her part of the main 3, not because she demanded anything.

But I guess a secondary male character played by a B list actor, whose face is not even useful for promotional posters, is entitled to make demands, yet the female third lead should apparently ask them to reduce her screentime and demote her from third lead status so that her male Co stars can get payed more?

“If they still need a female cast member”
If they need?
So apparently we have 7 main characters 90% of which are all dudes but, of course, when it comes to female characters there is only one spot to fill? Are you serious?

If they’d need to sacrifice anyone here it’s one of the secondary white male characters.
Kirk and Spock are the only protagonists, the other actors are, to varying degrees, redundant (using your logic).

You know what, “if they still need” an extra male cast member, I’d rather see them use Sulu more than cow-towing to Urban or Pegg’s demands.

How does that sound?

Paramount is cheap with actors. What they pay their stars is nothing compared to the cost of other things.

If Pegg, Jung and Lin are back, I’m all for it. If they are going to bring back Orci, Kurtzman or Lindelof, I don’t care.

Agreed.

Pretty much my sentiments. I re-watched the Kelvin movies this week. Trek 09 I am still on the fence about, Into Darkness I still despise but Beyond, much to my surprise, I can out on and not only enjoy it, but feel like I am watching Trek.

Same here. The sad part is, STID has been the most profitable of the three, and STB the least. What Trek fans want to see and what the general public want to see are not always the same thing, it seems.

That’s actually not how I see it. I see audiences flocking to STID because they enjoyed 09, and after being disappointed, not checking out Beyond.

I agree, thats how I see it as well. STID did well because of the goodwill of the first film and I think the hype of who Benedict Cumberbatch was playing. That generated tons of buzz on the internet. Certainly here lol.

Beyond suffered for a LOT of reasons but I do think because many didn’t love STID and because here really was no buzz for the film. It had no hook. Its a nice film but its kind of like Insurrection where it feels like a very expensive episode story wise and not a big scope like the other films.

it’s an urban legend that stid wasn’t liked by people. It’s everywhere considered more successful, critically praised and liked than Beyond even when it comes to dvd sales. The haters were only a minority. Stop blaming Beyond’s failure on stid.

if Beyond failed it rather was because it alienated the fans of the first movies that didn’t come back to make it as successful as the first because Beyond wasn’t even a sequel. It was a tos fanfiction tailored on the needs of a minority in the audience that doesn’t like change and didn’t like the first movies, and by trying to get those haters on board they lost the fans of the first movies.

an urban legend. not really.

JJ Abrams even said the film was not that good in the end.and when a director says that about his own film, you know the film was flawed

beyond is a better movie. stop insulting and hating on tos and karl urban because you think they are both a threat to the spock/uhura romance, it is getting pathetic.

Honey, immature and defensive response much? Who is hating on and insulting tos?
Beyond is the ‘better movie’ only for a minority of fans, but it’s the least successful for the majority of the audience. Antagonizing those who remind you this fact won’t change the reality of the situation, and that reboot fans might have lost their chance to see more of this trek “thank” to beyond’s failure.
And it’s a fact that needs to get reminded, to begin with, because some of you are that presumptuos to actually believe that making movies tailored on your needs and bias will make them successful – in spite of all the evidence suggesting the very opposite.

And don’t be the pot calling the kettle black because it’s more than pathetic at this point.
If there is anyone here who felt “threatened” by anything it’s you guys who are whining about Uhura replacing Mccoy since 8 years, and thought that the reboot’s new dynamics were a threat to your white dudes status quo. I never read spock/uhura or uhura fans make the ‘demands’ that some of you original trio worshipers make since years, never read them making bromance and romance mutually exclusive like some tos purists make it seems they are. Never read them “demand” the creative team to change their story according to their own desires. And I never saw them ask people to cheat on stupid polls in this site to try to skew the results. That’s what original trio zealots (and slash fangirls in disguise) are doing since years and will still do if there are more movies.

Pathetic is people liking Beyond only because it placated their nostalgia for the old trio, in spite of being a bad movie for the very same reasons they had used to criticize the first two (not to mention that the movie didn’t even develop the bromances well, nor it really improved Urban’s role and purpose – but apparently screentime is everything that matters for some)
Pathetic is people who need to ‘demand’ the female lead to get sidelined to make “bromance” and secondary male characters more important.

The majority of the audience who liked the first movies just fine, and more than beyond, wasn’t “pathetic” just because they, evidently, didn’t share this limited “perception” some of you had, nor they had the same needs you had.

Frankly, I’m just sick of some of you thinking you “represent” all trek fans, let alone the whole audience. You don’t.

I’m a tos fan too and I LOVED the reboot for being different, and there are many like me.
Just because I don’t want the reboot to be a copy of tos, and I have critical thinking about tos because of the the context of the 60s influencing some things (which makes people’s insistence they must be the same in 2017 conservative nonsense), and I recognize the reasons why the reboot doesn’t need the old trio, nor it wold work for this version of the characters, it doesn’t mean I’m hating tos or I’m not a trek fan.

Just because some tos fans disliked the reboot, it doesn’t mean they all do or that we all share your fixation for projecting the old trio stuff on the reboot too, or your insecurities about Uhura. It’s ridiculous. And, again, stop being the pot who calls the kettle black with people who don’the like beyond failing to be a real sequel and its going backwards with the characters – after years of you all constant whining about the new dynamics being a threat to what you like and demanding the writers to change things according to your own personal taste and desires.

at least Sionevar is realistic enough to understand that what trek fans want and what the general audience wants aren’t the same thing.
Some of you really can’t accept the fact that your fav movie wasn’t liked by the majority and that this majority of the audience liked the first movies more, so you keep making up excuses for Beyond and keep on blaming a movie that was more successful from every aspect.

You wouldn’t do that if you didn’t like the movie. I love how both st08 and stid’s success is super minimized and ignored by some people just because they don’t like these movies, but, of course, when it comes to Beyond they make excuses for it and desperately want to deny the evidence of it being the least successful.
It seems like almost karma.

That’s exactly right. Which is why they will never make a major Star Trek movie that caters only to the existing base.

I think generally audiences liked Beyond, but I don’t think it wowed them like the first, and it wasn’t as action packed as STID.

I think it’s hard to really read anything into the raw box office numbers though, as far as how audiences liked it. Though to your point it’s worth mentioning that audience scores on RT were 90% for STID and 80% for STB.

Both are still solid though. By comparison, even the billion dollar Fate of the Furious only had a 73% audience score.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_trek_into_darkness/

Into darkness: average critic rating for stid is 7.5/10 based on 266 critic reviews. Average audience rating is 4.2/5 on 311,733 user ratings
Star Trek Beyond gets 6.9 critics and 3.9 audience
Star Trek 2009 8.2 and 4.1

Beyond’s failure has little to do with stid.
If anything, stid alienated fans of the first movie and bit because of the nostalgia and fan pandering that was much worse in Beyond. It’s easy to see why the audience that liked the first two wasn’t impressed by beyond or didn’t give it a chance after reading the reviews, and understanding that it was mostly liked by reboot haters because it’s a tos fanfiction that more or less ignored the first movies, thus doesn’t feel like a sequel.
And even positive reviews pointed up that the story was nothing special and not as bold and big as the first two.
Promotion also was a disaster but creative team’s interviews didn’t lie in making it obvious that they didn’t care about the ones who liked the first movies. Their passive aggressive criticism on stid backfired too because as evidence suggests, that movie was popular and successful still so to those fans it was unprofessional for them to ignore that movie.
Honestly, the way they handled the whole thing it almost feels like someone behind the scenes wanted the movie to fail.

Beyond was just a bit ‘meh’. Reminded me of insurrection.

At this point, I don’t believe that either of you have actually seen Beyond.

rotten tomatoes are mostly meaningless in determining if a movie is better than the other.

Honey,
Yeah, I’m sure the opinion of thousands of fans and critics over rotten tomatoes and similar sites, as well as the general audience expressing their opinion by making one movie less successful than the other two from the same franchise, is “meaningless” when the movie you like isn’t the one liked by the majority.
And yet, those numbers are still a more solid argument than you declaring that beyond is “the better movie” just because you say so.

One could say that the opinion of individual fans, or some trek fans, is “meaningless” too in determining if a movie is bad or good, better or worse than another. It surely is, as evidence already suggests.

Ps: stid is a flawed movie that I liked less than the first one, but it’s pure delusion for some of you to pretend that beyond is perfection just because you like the nostalgia in it, and in spite of it having the same issues stid was accused of having, and worse (again, it’s karma you all ended up having to defend beyond and minimize its failure now after everything you said about the first two). It’s a weak movie full of plot holes, and with a generic narrative influenced by the choices of a director who prioritized grand action scenes over important character moments that were reduced or cut (including the one Urban is lamenting about here) to the point of getting a narrative where the characters and their feelings are mostly just inferred.

I feel the opposite about Pegg&co. It would be counterproductive for Paramount&Co to hire again the team that made the least successful movie of the reboot.

@Jemini,

Can’t really blame them, it was a rush production thanks to Orci.

But given your past comments; I think you don’t like them because they restored the traditional Star Trek troika and gave Urban more screen time.

@Ahmed
Given past and present comments made by some here, most of reboot haters didn’t like the first movies and the original team because they changed the white dudes status quo a bit and gave Uhura more screentime. And they now like Beyond, in spite of being a more flawed movie than the first two (using their own arguments used against the first two) mostly because it catered to their nostalgia for the ‘traditional trek troika’.
It seems “karma” that reboot haters’ favorite movie ended up being the least successful of the 3, and the same people who had criticized JJ&Co and minimized the success of the first movies, are now giving a pass to Pegg&Co making excuses to defend them and desperately denying the evidence of Beyond, their favorite movie, being the least successful (and thus make excuses for it).

Yes, they went backwards with the dynamics and that may be part of the reason why it alienated the fans of the first movies who expected a continuation. Surely it isn’t these people who unreasonably asked the writers to change their own narrative to fit their own bias and nostalgic desires (in spite of the old trio making no sense in the reboot, and in fact it was forced in beyond because Mccoy’s banter with this more contemporary Spock is completely one-sided and only makes him come across as petty and bully)
The point is that Beyond, in spite of being liked by a lot of reboot haters, is a flop. This once again confirmed what a small insignificant minority some entlitled trek fans are, and how counterproductive it is to make movies “for them”.

“Surely it isn’t these people who unreasonably asked the writers to change their own narrative to fit their own bias and nostalgic desires”
It’s not so unreasonable to articulate what one likes and what one does not. When they don’t care about me, why should I care about them? Or rather, why should I care if they succeed or not if I don’t like it in the first place? I’m not a Paramount shareholder.

@Perplex
there is a difference between articulating what one doesn’t like AND unreasonable entlitled people who – 8 years, and 3 movies later – DEMAND the creative team to change their own narrative, and go against the integrity of their story, according to their own feelings and desires. And then, I might add, the same play oblivious when a movie that tried to placate those haters end up alienating the existing fans of the thing that, unlike the haters, simply watched something and liked what they watched and, reasonably, were interested about a sequel of that.

If you watch tennis, well knowing that it’s tennis, it’s crazy to complain that people aren’t playing racquetball and demand them they should play racquetball instead.

and Perplex re: “why should I care if they succeed or not if I don’t like it in the first place?”

exactly. Why people who hate these movies are still here 8 years later? why they care so much if they fail or succeed?
and why should Paramount&Co care about these people when they don’t support their thing anyway, and most likely care more about it failing than succeeding.

Each time I see one of these articles about someone from Bad Robot Trek saying they’re keen for another sequel, I hear “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away” in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW9-FOLG-iA

Why is Urban cosplaying as Torgo…?

BWAAHAHAA! Torgo. ROTFLMAO!

I thought he was goin for Indiana Jones lol

Heeeere’s Torgo! :D
comment image

Why are you using the stupid made up term “cosplaying”.

To fulfill the dream of delivering for Torgo Pizza, of course.

McCoy having a daughter was never mentioned in the Animated Series.

It’s mentioned in the TAS episode The Survivor.

There’s only one word Urban said that matters – if. It’s meaning is also very clear, at this moment Paramount is not pursuing another Trek feature.

I hope they make a 4th, make it good, but not the Kirk father story!
Close the Gap between the end of TOS and the TMP

As for a story, the only request I’d make is no “revenge from some bad guy with a doomsday weapon” story. I don’t mind an antagonist, but would rather it be something more clever.

he is dressed like Indy…hmmm

Maybe if they make another one it will finally be good.

oof! below the belt!!

It’s got it’s faults, but overall I rate the JJ trilogy better than the TNG quadrilogy. Frankly, I’d rather watch any JJ film over Insurrection or Nemesis.

He’s been saying this for months… how is this news?

He said it again. ;)

And he talked about what he would like to see for McCoy in the next one.

Good article, but there’s a spelling mistake on your video attribution. There’s another s in “Ninness”

Whoops! It’s been fixed.

Waiting for Kelvin 4 to happen is like waiting for Godot.

Sadly probably true.

Paramount already sacked the executive team who decided Beyond was a late July release! That along with Beastie Boys trailer before TFA & STID fan fallout sank the movie financially. Without those 3 missteps Beyond would have been a much bigger hit at least as much as STID if not a little higher. So now Paramount have a new executive team they should just go for it again while they still have most of the cast available. If they wait much longer its not going to happen at all then Trek on the big screen is going away for at least 5 years or more. I am happy if they can get Justin, Doug & Simon back to craft the movie that was not the issue at all. They had 18 months from start to finish so imagine the results if they have a little more time we would get more story slightly less action but still a worthy big screen Trek!!

I think all things considered, I’d point to a lackluster marketing campaign and a bad release date as as to what hurt the film most.

They were trying to market it as “Guardians of the Galaxy” but it didn’t look nearly as good (mostly because it was not trying to be GOTG).

And to your point I don’t think they did themselves any favors putting it a week before Bourne and two weeks before Suicide Squad. Not the WORST date, but 3 or 4 weeks AFTER suicide squad probably would have been better.

Suicide Squads big numbers were the direct result of having ZERO blockbuster competition for THREE MONTHS (Doctor Strange in November was the first film after SS to exceed 165M globally).

it does feel like the franchise is in the same hole it fell into with ‘final frontier’.
luckily the arrival of TNG led to ‘undiscovered country’.
hopefully ‘discovery’ will do well and help get the next film made very soon.

I don’t think it’s nearly that bad. Beyond was well reviewed– by both general audiences, Trekkies, and critics– and was the studios highest grossing film, by a wide margin.

Even adjusted for inflation, STV doesn’t even come close to Beyond’s domestic take (foreign numbers are not available for it), and that’s putting aside the beating it received from fans and critics alike.

It’s hard to show the characters’ families in the context of the movies, unless those people are in starfleet too and you have thus an excuse to show them.
And frankly, if there was any chance to devote screentime to that kind of stuff, I’d rather see more of SULU’S family since we hardly saw it in Beyond.