Karl Urban Still Knows Nothing About ‘Star Trek 4’ As Paramount Fills Out Their Summer 2019 Slate

In what has become a familiar pattern in 2017, an actor expected to be in the next Star Trek feature film is saying he is still in the dark about what’s going on. This time it’s Karl Urban, who is out promoting Thor: Ragnarok. After being pressed by ScreenCrush multiple times, Urban says he knows “nothing” in regards to a follow-up to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. Speaking on behalf of his castmates, the actor, who has won over fans with his portrayal of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, told ScreenCrush:

…we’d all love to make another Star Trek movie. That’s absolutely certain. But if we don’t get that opportunity then I’m really happy to have ended on such a good note. We had such a wonderful time shooting Star Trek Beyond.

Urban’s comments about a lack of progress on the next Trek feature – and resignation that it might not happen – are essentially the same he made at conventions last month and the month before. He also echoes similar comments from co-stars Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine. The consistent message is that they aren’t sure if there will be another movie, but they are ready, willing and able to do it if they get the call. And as these actors are in demand, Bad Robot and Paramount would have to give them a good amount of advance warning so they can book out the required time.

Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto in Star Trek Beyond

Paramount’s summer of 2019 has filled out

All three of the J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek films have been summer tentpoles for Paramount, coming in 2009, 2013, and 2016. It is obviously too late to get things going for summer 2018, and Paramount already has the next Mission: Impossible film lined up for July (also produced by J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company). There also was a Transformers spin-off film (Bumblebee) planned for summer 2018, but that has moved to November 2018.

As for the summer of 2019, it seems Paramount has that covered already. There is yet another Transformers movie set for June, a Top Gun sequel set for July, and two weeks ago Paramount and Skydance announced another Terminator film (with the return of producer James Cameron along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton), to be released later in July 2019.

James Cameron and director Tim Miller and reviving the Terminator franchise with Paramount and Skydance

Since the summer 2016 announcement of a fourth J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek film, there has been very little movement beyond various executives of Paramount and Viacom throwing the name Star Trek around as one of their key tentpole franchises. As the studio and its partners continue to move forward on some other franchises, it appears they still aren’t sure what to do next with Star Trek.

Keep up with all the news regarding the next Star Trek film here at TrekMovie.

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So basically there’s no news. Great update lol.

I love the bi-monthly updates from one of the KT actors saying, “Yeah we heard nothing…but we really want to do another one.” JJ Abrams is producing another Mission Impossible movie for the studio and yet both totally mum on if another Star Trek is coming. Hopefully something will change but it sounds like the writing is on the wall for the Kelvin films.

If Beyond is the last, it ended on a decent note at least. Nothing fantastic but decent. Maybe we will see a movie series set farther past TOS in time again. For right now, we have Discovery and I’m happy with that.

I’m sure we’ll be getting more Star Trek movies. I just don’t think it will be Kelvin-timeline movies and not with this cast.

Fine by me!

I think the ( Star ) ship has sailed on the Kelvin timeline movies, alas. I really liked ’em!

I’m on the fence about the viability of a 4th ST:AOS. It’s just not the same without Chekov.

Star Trek: Agents of SHIELD?

May they forget this trilogy and return to the original path.
Karl Urban would like to see him again as Dredd.

In other breaking news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Stupid Paramount. Working on another Transformers and letting Star Trek sleep again…

I think the blame should be on the stupid movie goers. Can’t blame Paramount for making money.

So, we should just show up and buy a ticket for a Trek film just because it has Star Trek in the name? Not everyone is a fan of the Kelvin timeline. If the folks who are producing Trek on TV and in film understood what the fans truly want, then we wouldn’t be waiting so long for a greenlight. Instead, they keep jamming shit Trek down our throats…what did they think was going to happen?

No. I was referring to the people that pay all this money to see crappy transformer flicks rehashed every year or two.

Tay Dervis,

Wouldn’t surprise me if the same people that drop $18 on a TRANSFORMER Spectacle ticket come here afterwards and grouse about how they can’t afford CBS ALL-ACCESS.

I know that Paramount isn’t too pleased that JJ is directing another Star Wars movie. My hopeful prediction is that they’re waiting for him to become available before they make another Star Trek movie.

Also, maybe there’s more to the CBS/Paramount gentleman’s agreement. Maybe Paramount has to give Discovery some breathing room for a few years.

Those are my hopeful predictions. What I think is really happening is that Beyond underperformed and the studio has no confidence in spending money on a new movie. Maybe the franchise needs to pivot a little which is risky. With the amount of money Paramount is spending on these movies you can tell that they expect a global box office above $500 million. I’m not sure Star Trek is capable of achieving that.

Actually I don’t think Paramount cares if Abrams directs or not. STID was the most expensive Trek film because of demands he made and while it made a bit more money than the first film it didn’t make enough to justify the enormous budget it got. The funny thing about Abrams is people really seem to like his geek cred but until Star Wars came none of his films have been HUGE hits. The all made money for sure but from Mission Impossible 3 (to this day the lowest performing movie of that franchise although that isn’t Abrams fault) to his one actual original film Super 8 none of them have been big hits. TFA was (obviously) the biggest one and you could’ve had a monkey directed that movie and it was going to make a billion no matter what.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put him down. I generally like Abrams as a director but he’s never really hit it out the park either and yet, oddly, people clamor over him as if just having his name on the project is going to bring a bigger presence to the film. And maybe it does but from what I can tell (minus Star Wars) its never translated in terms of bigger box office.

As for Paramount giving CBS’breathing room’ thats not it because Paramount had already ‘announced’ they were making a Trek 4 months after CBS announced they were making another show. Yes the reality is what you said and that Beyond just didn’t do as expected and Paramount got cold feet making another one. Simon Pegg was quoted that they wanted to know why Star Trek can’t bring Avengers money and we all know they wanted the film to have a GOTG feel (ala that first trailer) with the hope Beyond could actually break out and be the biggest Trek film and did the opposite. I think Paramount wants this franchise to be like Mission Impossible (especially since these films costs more than those) and its closer to G.I. Joe in terms of box office.

Anthony, I think it’s time to secure the domain TrekAllAccess.com… another Star Trek in theaters doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Almost certainly not while “Discovery” is streaming.

Paramount has clearly closed the book on the Kelvin timeline movies. Two out of the three were pretty good, and the last was the best in my opinion, so I’m not mad if they just let it go at this point.

Also: if a new television series was held up for years by the movies, wouldn’t the same happen now with the movies since there’s a new television series?

@precisioncontrol — nope. Not necessarily. It as Abrams that had a problem with CBS competing in the same merchandising space, not the other way around. So the non-compete was likely entirely motivated by Bad Robot. CBS shouldn’t care, as a movie would only drive more interest in a TV series which continues well past the 2 hours available during a monthlong box office, and gives fans a place to turn, whereas a TV series might reduce interest in a one-off film.

Curious Cadet and precisioncontrol,

Well, I initially dismissed Deadline’s July reporting:

http://deadline.com/2017/07/akiva-goldsman-tom-clancy-rainbow-six-ologies-avengelyne-paramount-1202126928/

“Goldsman’s first-look TV deal is with Imagine, but he has been working with Viacom on the new spinoff Star Trek: Discovery that will launch the CBS All Access streaming service. Goldsman is an exec producer, writer and director on the show.” — by Mike Fleming Jr |
“Akiva Goldsman Moves To Paramount; ‘Rainbow Six,’ ‘Ologies’ & ‘Avengelyne’ On Menu” | July 11, 2017 4:32pm | Deadline.com |

as inaccuracy introduced as a result of losing their Brad Grey direct Paramount hotline.

But usually, by now, they’d have printed a correction. So, I’m left wondering if maybe there IS some Viacom involvement which is why Goldsman was attached to STAR TREK: DISCOVERY?

I’d be happy if Bob Orci would release his story idea for Trek 3 that was rejected. Actually, a Trekmovie interview with Bob discussing his departure, hindsight reflections on STID etc would be really interesting.

As for Trek 4, I think its time to stick a fork in it. How long would Paramount maintain an option on the actors?

+1, TUP. I’d like to know the original plan for what turned out to be the turd that was STID.

I think this timeline is done, and while I liked Trek 09″ and Beyond, and thought Urban was the standout of all actors involved, I’m not sorry to see the KT die.

…and so long to Weepy Spock as well. Ugh, that was tough to watch.

No kidding! They had no idea how to write Spock. He was the most emotional member of the crew! Laughing, crying…ugh

I think STID was exactly as intended.

Bob Orci submitted two (or was it three) stories for Trek 3 and was ultimately removed as writer and director. He has said his idea included Nimoy & Shatner as Spock & Kirk.

I *assume* they’d play aged versions of KT’s Kirk & Spock and not OUR (Prime) Kirk & Spock. But better than nothing.

I hated STID but always maintain it was a suitably “epic” and timely idea, just executed poorly. So Im very curious to read what Orci had in mind for Trek 3 including Shatner.

Everyone denies it but I always suspected Orci was the source of the leak about Shatner’s involvement to try and create fan support and show Paramount how valuable using him would be. Alas, it failed.

Yes, would love to read about what Bob had planned…

I think there will be a 4th Kelvin film. They just aren’t going public yet in respect for the launch of Discovery. Paramount is probably contractually prohibited from talking about it so as not to take away the publicity for the new show.

Still hoping……..new 1701A debut without all the malfunctions of V

I really hope they make a fourth film. These movies renewed my love for the franchise.

One can hope.

“ended on such a good note”? ST Beyond was the worst movie of the 3, and possibly one of the worst ST movies ever. They should make another one to redeem this cast as they had it going with the first two movies.

Beyond was less offensive over-all than STID. It was an “easier” watch. But it was also quite awful in many ways. Not so much offensive but just not that good. All three films suffered from poor writing. Bad Robot never “got” Star Trek.

STID was a far more ‘epic’ story than Beyond. Beyond was a bit…maybe boring isnt the right word. But once seen, there isnt much reason to watch it again. It needed a story larger in scope.

The word you’re looking for is episodic. It was an overpriced serviceable entry.

Yeah. Episodic. And pedestrian. They’d had been better to keep Orci but have a better writer adapt his story. Orci seems like a good idea guy just not a very good writer.

Orci has been dissected and analyzed plenty around here. Paramount has made money off of the three BR entries into the franchise, and it’s looking like that ship has sailed. Paramount doesn’t seem to be venturing to deep into the creativity pool, Terminator 6: So Very Old is bringing back Hamilton and Schwarzenegger. When they do reboot Trek again, it’s not going to stray far from what they did with the original cast….

It’s the best for him because he got payed more than Zoe, got more screentime and they went backwards to placate his, and other fanboys, tos nostalgia for the white dudes status quo. Who cares if the movie was the least successful and people who genuinely loved this trek, and had hopes for it, got the short end of the stick?

Beyond was OK but not the best. If we got more movies after it that actually acted as a sequel of the first two it would be good as something in between or a “pause” between the movies, but as a conclusion of the trilogy it just isn’t enough. Doesn’t feel enough.

I liked the KT movies, but would like to see new territories explored, perhaps post Voyager. I truly wish Paramount would go all in on this universe the way CBS is and the way Disney is doing with Star Wars. I feel like they manage this property so poorly.

Not sure what’s the big deal. 4 years passed between Star trek 09 and Into Darkness. If they take the same time again after Beyond for the next one, then it should come out in 2020, not before.

@Victorinox — they lost a lot of momentum waiting that long, and the marketing costs soared, while the domestic box office dropped. They could be dragging their feet until 2020, but that won’t do the franchise any favors, and waiting on Abrams and Bad Robot likely won’t help curb costs since BEY overshot it’s $150 million budget by over $35MM. Paramount is also losing its investors, so it’s hard to convince a company to produce a film with the same cast and producers that loses money at the box office. Much easier to pitch a new concept based on a successful franchise with a different producer and cast to keep costs down and draw new interest, especially if they are going to wait 4 years again between films.

The point you’re missing is we knew for a fact more films were coming then. They were actively working on the films at the time with people writing the scripts and in actual pre-production. Just look at this website and past articles, a year after the 09 film and STID there was actual movement on the sequels even if they were years away. They were openly talking about where the films were going and there wasn’t the complete black out that is happening with this one.

And that’s because NOTHING is happening. People seem to forget unlike the first three movies the majority of the cast isn’t even signed up for a fourth film yet. Only Pine and Quinto are. Everyone else has to be renegotiated. Thats already a pretty bad sign that Paramount has no real interest in starting a fourth film any time soon because they would at least be trying to make sure the cast will be around if and when another film happens.

And as Curious Cox said that was the problem with Beyond and all the waiting between films. This isn’t the 80s anymore, sequels comes out much faster as franchises have become the bread and butter of Hollywood. If they are going to wait another 3-4 years then there’s a chance the next film can fail harder than Beyond did because as Beyond proved people just move on faster these days. And I also think Paramount knows that as well and why they aren’t exactly pushing for another one.

Let Tarantino make a PG13 movie with this cast would guarantee a lot of media interest!

If JJ Abrams’ involvement could make it work, QT’s wont either.

Why no movement on a 4th Trek film?

Because Paramount execs are a bunch of Herberts!

;p

Correct, Old Trekker. The suits at Paramount don’t “reach.” :)

Or maybe because they spent nearly $200 million on the last effort and lost money over it. And the fact that Paramount is not exactly making a lot of hits in general these days so they are more cautious in what they approve, especially when you can’t make a known franchise like Star Trek into a instant hit like the way Marvel and Star Wars are.

This might sound like a wild idea. But why doesn’t Paramount go with another production company. JJ Abrams and Bad Robot aren’t the only people who can make a good Star Trek Movie. Though I enjoyed all the Bad Robot Movies none of them sequels ever really lived up to what they did with Star Trek (2009).

@Andrew SD — they can’t until Abrams deal ends. He has an exclusive first look deal which means that if Bad Robot didn’t agree to let Paramount produce Trek with another production company, they couldn’t.

Yes and for all we know that could be the issue as well, just waiting for the deal to run out. But then again they are working with Abrams in other projects, obviously the Mission Impossible movies. But those actually make a lot of money.

So, restating what we’ve known for a while. Broke Paramount isn’t going to make any Trek before 2020. Didn’t I say that a year ago?

I think there will be a 4th and final. We Trekkers love to gripe, but the fact is that there was no new Star Trek until the JJverse. I don’t care for “Weepy Spock” (but Spock cried a few times in TOS)…my biggest issue with Weepy Spock is the romance between him and Uhura…it just doesn’t fit. I like Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk, although it is a different take than Shat’s Kirk, who like everybody’s Dad…you always knew he’d figure things out and get the job done. I love Simon Pegg, but not as Scotty. Scotty was a bad ass; SP’s Scotty is a comedian. Karl Urban does justice to Bones.

All that said, at least the JJ movies brought us the original Enterprise and the original crew, albeit in an altered timeline. I think Paramount has a surprise in store for us: they’re going to end the Kelvin timeline, both as an on-screen product, and within the Trek world. This is going to be a “repair the timeline” movie. How else would Kirk’s father be in it? That’s going to be the moral dilemma the crew faces (or maybe Kirk faces alone): whether to allow it to happen.

Hang on Trek fans. It is going too happen. The timeline will be repaired. Some time will pass, and then these great characters will show up in more movies, with other actors playing them.

If Paramount wants to do us all a favor, pull a “Wrath of Khan.’ Recycle effects, scale back the budget and concentrate on story, story, story.

“they’re going to end the Kelvin timeline, both as an on-screen product, and within the Trek world. This is going to be a “repair the timeline” movie. ”

*laughing hysterically*

Whatever..
A long time ago I’d be among the poor fans who are trying to make you guys understand that water is wet and this is another reality, and it doesn’t need to get “fixed” or repaired or “restored”..but after all this time, 8 years!, if certain people still don’t get the point of this trek they just never will.

“After all this time, 8 years!”

Wow, 8 years . . .

(*laughing hysterically*)

I agree. The Spock/Uhura romance didnt work. Mostly due to poor writing. Very stereotypical to many ways. They literally portrayed them both as unprofessional numerous times. And they played fast and loose with Spock’s emotions. He was SO emotional that it stopped being unique and a means by which to comment on his lack of emotion.

The writers clearly went into the whole thing loving the Spock character and it shows by their focus on him, even at the expense of Kirk who is never really portrayed very well at all. Kirk is never more than the stereotypical shallow idea of what “James Kirk” is…rather than what is actually was.

“They literally portrayed them both as unprofessional numerous times.” Still more professional compared to how the cliché bromances are portrayed in both tos and reboot. Not to mention how Kirk is portrayed. But you ain’t complaining about Bones sneaking his best friend aboard the best ship with him, or Pike’s blatant favoritism for Kirk, or Bones and Scotty never referring to Kirk as their superior, or Mccoy’s racism towards Spock, or Kirk constantly whining about him in stid (more than his own girlfriend ever did) because Spock is alien or he doesn’t get friendship with someone who is a stranger to him, or because he had the audacity to do his duty and write the truth in his mission report – unlike kirk who lied and couldn’t even take the responsibility of his actions. I love that Pike demoted and transfered spock to smother ship just to make his “son” Kirk the first officer. Unbiased and professional 100% If you want the characters to be a documentary about the Nasa or the army, you better start applying those expectations on the male dynamics and your faves too, especially kirk and bones. Don’t hate or nitpick on Uhura for everything, frankly, your faves not only get a pass for but are actually praised for. “And they played fast and loose with Spock’s emotions. He was SO emotional that it stopped being unique and a means by which to comment on his lack of emotion.” The most ooc scenes for Spock are the ones where he almost chokes kirk to death, or when he cries and screams and is homicidal. Neither of these moments have anything to do with the romance or are a consequence of his relationship with the woman or her “influence”, though. If anything, he’s the most mellow, balanced and peaceful with her. And he always had feelings; his portrayal is just more contemporary here since we aren’t in the 60s anymore and the whole tragic mulatto “passing as white and denying his mixed heritage” stereotype is outdated and offensive. I’m sorry for Urban, but I honestly don’t give a damn if Bones has nothing to do, apparently, because the banter with Spock ceases to make much sense with a Spock who doesn’t deny his human side. Perhaps, it’s time to make Bones too something more than the stereotype of the white racist southern dude who is scared of everything different. It may have been realistic in the 60s but nowadays it’s just out of place, especially in trek of all the things. Back to the “emotional spock” complains: It’s a hopelessly silly and disingenuos argument anyway because if you really had issues with spock being emotional, you’d have to lose his dynamics with the guys too. It’s obvious that it all boils down to you guys deeming him expressing his feelings acceptable only if it’s for the dudes. It’s just blatant (sexist) double standards. It’s unfortunate for some of you that bromance isn’t and cannot be the only kind of interpersonal relationship developed anymore. Silly woman getting in the way.. “The writers clearly went into the whole thing loving the Spock character and it shows by their focus on him, even at the expense of Kirk” Maybe it’s because Spock is simply more interesting and has more potential. I know that a lot of the inconsistent complains about the romance boil down to people who prefer kirk over spock, and thus perceive him getting a life outside of Kirk as a threat and taking away from his story. For some of you, Spock must be just the nerdy friend of hero and never allowed to get a story outside of kirk and the original trio (that was all about Kirk too). Some must also be irritated still about the fact that old Spock, thus Nimoy, was in the reboot while old Kirk and Shatner wasn’t (and never will probably). I understand people who prefer kirk, but you should be at least honest about Spock instead of painting yourselves into a corner with stupid arguments about the romance that just emphasize rampant double standards. For people like me who love Spock on his own merit, I welcome him being co-protagonist with open arms and I’m more than happy about him getting a life outside of Kirk, the original trio and anything fandom want to reduce his character to. It was about time. Nothing says that in this other trek everything must revolve around kirk only still. Frankly, it’s the attention given to him sometimes that came to the expense of Spock and others, not the other way around. We have 50 years of writers doing always the same things with Kirk but apparently, it isn’t enough for some of you, we gotta have the same story in perpetuity just… Read more »

“They literally portrayed them both as unprofessional numerous times.”
Still more professional compared to how the cliché bromances are portrayed in both tos and reboot. Not to mention how Kirk is portrayed.
But you ain’t complaining about Bones sneaking his best friend aboard the best ship with him, or Pike’s blatant favoritism for Kirk, or Bones and Scotty never referring to Kirk as their superior, or Mccoy’s racism towards Spock, or Kirk constantly whining about him in stid (more than his own girlfriend ever did) because Spock is alien or he doesn’t get friendship with someone who is a stranger to him, or because he had the audacity to do his duty and write the truth in his mission report –
unlike kirk who lied and couldn’t even take the responsibility of his actions. I love that Pike demoted and transfered spock to smother ship just to make his “son” Kirk the first officer. Unbiased and professional 100%

If you want the characters to be a documentary about the Nasa or the army, you better start applying those expectations on the male dynamics and your faves too, especially kirk and bones. Don’t hate or nitpick on Uhura for everything, frankly, your faves not only get a pass for but are actually praised for.

“And they played fast and loose with Spock’s emotions. He was SO emotional that it stopped being unique and a means by which to comment on his lack of emotion.”

The most ooc scenes for Spock are the ones where he almost chokes kirk to death, or when he cries and screams and is homicidal. Neither of these moments have anything to do with the romance or are a consequence of his relationship with the woman or her “influence”, though. If anything, he’s the most mellow, balanced and peaceful with her.
And he always had feelings; his portrayal is just more contemporary here since we aren’t in the 60s anymore and the whole tragic mulatto “passing as white and denying his mixed heritage” stereotype is outdated and offensive. I’m sorry for Urban, but I honestly don’t give a damn if Bones has nothing to do, apparently, because the banter with Spock ceases to make much sense with a Spock who doesn’t deny his human side. Perhaps, it’s time to make Bones too something more than the stereotype of the white racist southern dude who is scared of everything different. It may have been realistic in the 60s but nowadays it’s just out of place, especially in trek of all the things.

Back to the “emotional spock” complains: It’s a hopelessly silly and disingenuos argument anyway because if you really had issues with spock being emotional, you’d have to lose his dynamics with the guys too. It’s obvious that it all boils down to you guys deeming him expressing his feelings acceptable only if it’s for the dudes (and benefit them).
It’s just blatant (sexist) double standards. It’s unfortunate for some of you that bromance isn’t and cannot be the only kind of interpersonal relationship developed anymore. Silly woman getting in the way..

“The writers clearly went into the whole thing loving the Spock character and it shows by their focus on him, even at the expense of Kirk”

Maybe it’s because Spock is simply more interesting and has more potential.

It’s obvious that a lot of the inconsistent complains about the romance boil down to people who prefer kirk over spock, and thus perceive him getting a life outside of Kirk as a threat and taking away from his story.
For some of you, Spock must be just the nerdy friend of hero and never allowed to get a story outside of kirk and the original trio (that was all about Kirk too). Some must also be irritated still about the fact that old Spock, thus Nimoy, was in the reboot while old Kirk and Shatner wasn’t (and never will probably). You probably even resent the fact that Spock has the romance instead of Kirk because this is the kind of subplot that is traditionally given to the main guy.
And yet, an interracial/interspecies couple is more fitting to trek ideals than any fling Kirk had.

I totally understand people who prefer Kirk, we all have favorite characters, but you should be at least honest about Spock instead of painting yourselves into a corner with stupid concern trolling arguments about the romance that just emphasize rampant double standards.

For people like me who love Spock on his own merit, I welcome him being co-protagonist with open arms and I’m more than happy about him getting a life outside of Kirk, the original trio and anything fandom want to reduce his character to. I’m happy he gets to show different layers, and so was Nimoy (the romance was his favorite thing about new Spock so, clearly, he agreed with the many fans of Spock, and Uhura, who embraced this change and consider it among the most interesting aspects of the reboot ) It was about time too because he honestly was the most popular character of the original series.

Nothing says that in this other trek everything must revolve around kirk only still. Frankly, it’s the myopic stereotyped attention given to him sometimes that came to the expense of Spock and others, not the other way around. It should be more an ensemble anyway because it’s a waste. We have 50 years of writers doing always the same things with Kirk but apparently, it isn’t enough for some of you, we gotta have the same story in perpetuity just because tos was like that.
Honestly, I wasn’t excited about their idea for the fourth movie either. I’d rather see something new or the aftermath of what happened to vulcan, than having to deal with Kirk’s daddy issues again. Bringing George Kirk back sounds as lame as bringing shatner/tos kirk from the death (for the record, Nimoy’s cameo in stid was lame too)

My god they are not ‘repairing the timeline’ because there is NOTHING to repair. Its in another universe, that was the entire point. Its been said over and over again the reason why they set it in another universe so they DON’T have to confirm it to canon in the other universe. Thats the difference between the KT films and now Discovery.

And why would Paramount destroy the one universe of Star Trek it has? That makes no sense. CBS basically controls the prime timeline. Paramount only has these films. Sure in theory they can simply do something else but why actively destroy the one thing they do have when its always an option for future stories? The KT films might be done but no one would just completely get rid of it either for no other reason you still have merchandise happening and other stories told in it in various mediums like comics and novels. This is why fans don’t run movie studios. You would be cutting off their bread and butter even if its not as buttered as they would like.

And why it will never happen.

This is great news, I was getting bored with the villain of the week rubbish! Nemesis, Star Trek 2009, Into Darkness and Beyond were all the same movie lol, bad guy wanting revenge on the Federation, giant ship and super weapon, yaaaaaaaaawn…

STID could have been so much better if the writers werent allowed to push their political ideals ahead of a coherent and complete story.

YEah that is the main problem with these movies. Every one seem to have some super villain who wants to destroy the Federation because reasons. It gets pretty boring after awhile. It just feels like a lazy cliche at this point.

Even if you don’t love Discovery, I like that its villain T’Kuvma had a complex and deeper reason to go to war with the Federation outside of they did something to make him mad. I don’t get why we can’t get more characters like that in these films? People who have layered ambitions beyond they just want them to feel their pain? They get great actors in these roles but then turn them into two dimensional villains with some of the craziest motivations you can think of as a reason for existing.

I thought after Nero and Khan that they learned their lesson in Beyond and Krall was going to be this guy with at least a real grudge if nothing else only to find out he was upset he crashed landed on a planet and no one picked him up so now its time to strike back against the evil Federation. And yes I know his motives went deeper that he was upset the Federation basically got too soft breaking bread with everyone but that never really jived with what actually happened in the film and felt more like an after thought than a real motivator for the character. It just wasn’t done well.

I’d like to see the movie TREK films reborn in the vein of TMP, dealing BIG Science Fiction ideas, and with the immersive scope and atmosphere of a Blade Runner 2049.

TMP is my fave movie of the series, it was pure epic sci-fi and pure Trek. Sadly, the studios will never make that kind of Trek movie anymore…

Spud… Interstellar kinda was.

TMP has basically become an outlier to the rest of the movie franchise. If you compare that movie to the KT films its like they are in two completely different franchises.

And make no mistake if TMP was a bigger hit back then they would’ve made more like that. End of the day it simply comes down to what the audience wants. But people are not really interested in 2001 type films, they want Star Wars. Thats blasphemous to say for Star Trek but thats why the franchise is better on TV. They can do a little of every thing on a weekly show with smaller budgets. But with a movie you have to get the butts in the seats and for that to happen, it has to be big, fast, action orientated and flashy. Its not a guarantee of course but its certainly more of one compared to the alternative.

BR2049 did worse than Beyond on a similar budget. No way will Paramount want to go down that road.

Let NuTrek die . . . these phenomenal actors were all always up to the challenge, but it’s been a directionless mess since day one. STB was a solid Trek film, but what a struggle to get there.

Wait until there’s someone behind the camera who understands Trek and is willing to focus exclusively on the larger direction of the franchise and is committed to making that happen (anyone pining for JJ’s return has missed the point on multiple levels).

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy Discovery’s long shelf life as it fills the void that Paramount and others have left. It’s a testament first and foremost to the enduring appeal of Trek, and its impact on people within and outside the industry, that transcends isolated reboots.

STB was a remake of the previous 3 movies beginning with Nemesis. Same old recycled story of villain wanting revenge against the Federation with his big ship and super weapon…

“anyone pining for JJ’s return has missed the point on multiple levels)”

And yet, his two trek movies are the most successful of this franchise and among the most successful trek movies EVER. Beyond, that you consider “a solid trek movie” was fail. It’s the least successful and is apparently the reason why this trek has no future now. JJ’s trek is iconic and gets nominated in a bunch of best sci-fi movies lists, beyond is forgettable. Even Discovery is inspired by JJ’s trek.

Me thinks you are the one who “missed the point on multiple levels”.

Wow. I guess my aside about JJ hit a nerve.

Ok, so, JJ was never interested in Trek. He saw it as a means to an end. And he never understood Trek. He does know how to tell an engaging sci-fi action film based on a built in fanbase, and successfully used Trek to get Star Wars and has no intention of going back (that’s one of several points you seemed to have missed).

And good for him. Force Awakens is a far better film as fan service than either of his Trek movies . . . because, wait for it, he understands Star Wars.

But, no, STB wasn’t the reason Trek is struggling on the big screen. 2009 was a perfectly competent pop culture imitation of Trek, but STiD fully revealed that there was never anyone awake at the wheel all along. So those left to lead the franchise did what they could.

JJ’s Trek is forgettable across the board. You are confusing aggregate reviews and inflated box office numbers with being “iconic” cinema (the term “icon” is pretty insulting to anyone whose been involved with the franchise for more than a few years).

In fact, people have already forgotten about JJ Trek–that’s becoming apparent now. They worked in their time as typically forgettable summer fare, but only the die-hard JJ fans still care at this point.

Will anybody be talking about these recent films in 30 years in the same breathe as Khan, Voyage Home, Undiscovered Country, or First Contact? Nope.

Oh, and you’re also now trying to give JJ credit for Discovery too?!?

Look, I get it: you’re a JJ Homer. But stop trolling Trek sites, and start focusing on Star Wars fan forums . . . he’s going to need it.

Your personal opinions and bias are derailing and irrelevant, especially when you are preaching about people supposedly being delusional about certain things when, in fact, you are the one who seems to be completely out of touch with the reality. Since that was your argument, let’s get to the point:
– Fact 1: JJ movies are successful and more critically praised than Beyond, and most of the old trek movies. Your argument loses all its credibility and is counterproductive because if the first movies aren’t successful for you, then it begs the question how beyond can be more than a flop.. your double standards are blatant.
– 2: we had a fourth movie announced before beyond came out, but now we have no news about it since a year. Why? Because the studio considers beyond a flop and it IS the least successful of the trilogy so now everything is uncertain. You can try like you want blaming its failure on the other movies but as matter of fact, they are both more successful than beyond in every possible aspect taken into consideration. I won’t link you box office results, critics, DVD sales and awards noms because others did before me and it’s completely useless. Besides, again, your main argument is already hypocritical enough and invalidates itself (see point 1)

Tl dr: Lin failed, JJ didn’t.
Maybe one of them “gets trek” more than the other for you but it’s completely irrelevant to the fact that one made this trek a success and iconic, while the other possibly killed it with a movie that underperformed and is the most forgettable of this trilogy.
If anything, beyond once again proved that the more trek tries to please fans like you, the less successful it will be.
Of course, you guys want to deny the failure of that movie now, Lol. What they say about karma? For years you all minimized the success of the first movies and nitpicked about jj&Co even to the point of ridiculous, only to be hypocrites now making up excuses to overinflate beyond’s success and absolutely deny any evidence of that movie having no less issues than the first two, and thus deny its failure. I don’t care about people not liking the first movies or hating jj, but you all should be consistent at least and Beyond just proves that you aren’t.

As for discovery: way before tptb admitted it (interview posted in this site too), everyone basically understood that discovery is inspired by JJ’s trek and does look more like the new movies than tos. The fact they hired Kurtzman also was a clue. Reboot haters were even complaining about it since they rekeased the furst trailer, so your denial is ironic.
We probably got a new show, in the first place, because thank to the reboot they saw trek could still be successful and attract new fans.

Yes, but Into Darkness has a lot to answer for and JJ messed it up big time.

Number four needs to be special, not on about his father again

Jemini: there are two big problems with your argument. One: you keep equating box office success with being great Trek. You also seem to be falsely equating box office numbers with audience enthusiasm (sure, STiD made money with all that hype at the start of the summer season when there was less competition, but most people who came out of that film could have cared less about Trek’s future). No one is denying that 2009 and STiD were financially successful. Few people would deny that they were entertaining summer popcorn films. But you seem to be putting all this emphasis on theatrical revenue as somehow making a claim that its not.

For another, you put a lot of emphasis on people apparently “denying” things, but it seems to be you who is in denial about the fact that Trek was a lucrative property long before JJ came along (indeed, that is why he briefly wanted it), and continues to be a lucrative property now that he’s long gone.

I wasn’t denying that Beyond didn’t do as well as previous Treks. We can split hairs about why that was. But a “failure”? No, that’s wishful thinking. It was one of the highest-grossing and best reviewed films of that summer. So whose in denial?

Attracting “new” fans is great. But, here’s the secret, JJ’s movies really didn’t do that. They cross-overed to a wider audience like most summer films do, but they didn’t create a widespread new fanbase, because frankly there was not a lot of there . . . there. Most people don’t care about the next Trek film, and that was the case long before Beyond.

JJ reinvented Trek as an enjoyable and light summer sci-fi action film, but had no grand vision for what the future of the franchise would be. This was more obvious with STiD. That is why the new ones as a whole have struggled (and, I think one of the biggest holes in your argument is conveniently ignoring–or is it “denying”?–the fact that STiD’s critical backlash and commercial apathy killed enthusiasm for Trek way before Beyond ever came along).

I never “denied” anything about Discovery. I was always excited about it. I think you might be losing track of all the people you are trolling.

I chalk up Discovery’s visual style to simply another “modern” take on Trek, in the same way that networks would apply a “modern” look to any rebooted franchise. I think giving JJ credit for the look is probably neither here nor there, but its the substance of the show that I find most engaging so far. And, by the way, Discovery is invested in what die-hard fans think, and that seems to be working out pretty well for CBS so far, no?

Oh, and for me, this is the final word on the matter, if JJ cared at all about Trek he would have gotten the ball rolling–as either producer or director–on 4 by now. But he didn’t-maybe because he was waiting for another shot at Star Wars (where his heart and talents lie), or something else. But, he didn’t care about the future of Trek, because he never did. And at the end of the day I want someone in charge of Trek who cares about the franchise.

The problem with dead-enders like you is that you can’t see that JJ cares about Star Trek even less than you do. You’re a Japanese solider who’s been left behind on the Pacific Island.

And if you’re investment in Trek is limited to two movies, and not what they represent, than your opinion is meaningless to me.

skip to the end.
You said “anyone pining for JJ’s return has missed the point on multiple levels)” and the actual point, that you are trying to derail, is that evidence suggests that JJ made a more successful trek than Lin&Co did, so those people you are referring to are not the ones who ‘missed the point’. That’s you, if your point is talking about what makes trek successful and still relevant.
Your suggestion that the opinion of the majority of the audience that found the first movies good is irrelevant just because you disagree with them is pretentious. In either case, what you provide to establish what makes a movie ‘good’ surely isn’t any more factual, let alone unbiased, here.

There is enough evidence, I think, suggesting that the more a movie is liked by certain trek fans who post on the internet, the less memorable and successful it is for the general audience (Beyond is the latest example) – so I dunno how this trek could survive and be more successful if they were to hire Beyond’s team again or give the job to another tos fanboy whose only goal is placating old tos fans with nostalgia.
You should, perhaps, make a different argument here. One thing is talking about what YOU want and prefer to watch, another is preaching about what makes trek successful and relevant. I’m sorry but the two don’t seem to coincide.

This trek needs, at the very least, someone who gives a damn about this version of the characters and feels like they can do something with them, outside of doing impersonations of the tos characters, putting a greatest hits of tos homages..and trying to win over that kind of trek fanboys that will never like anything that isn’t tos.
Being a trek fan doesn’t mean you are a good director or writer.

“JJ reinvented Trek as an enjoyable and light summer sci-fi action film, but had no grand vision for what the future of the franchise would be.”

You hit the nail on the head with this line and I think was the ultimate issue with these films. Today with franchises thinking ahead years in advance and these long story arcs in both movies and television it is VERY odd how the KT films are treated so blase. As you said there is was never any real vision for these films the same way the MCU or Star Wars films are and people notice. Its a different world today. Back in the 80s and 90s you can make one off sequels and people were happy as long as they saw the characters again.

But today audiences are just more sophisticated, they are more invested when they see a franchise going somewhere, which is why I have hope for Discovery because they are trying to build towards something. With the KT films it feels like what we got, a set of standalone films with one off stories which isn’t a bad thing, its just not a very intriguing one either where everything has become so much more serialized and a lot of world building. Thats why the Harry Potter’s and Game of Thrones types of stories captures people imaginations…because its all going somewhere!

It was weird in Beyond that STID was completely avoided for example. You can literally forget that movie existed and you don’t lose a single thing in Beyond. I will stay STID at least felt like it was building off the events in the first film but it was clear there was never any big game plan with these films and mostly because the people making them was doing a dozen other projects. Star Trek was almost like a side project when it should’ve been their top priority. And I don’t mean they can’t do other things what I mean is Star Trek should’ve had a team where they saw it as first like the people who make Marvel and Star Wars and maybe then it would’ve been a grander vision from the offset.

They came up with a clever way of where the story is placed (the Kelvin universe) but then never bothered to set up where that universe was headed, ie, a big picture. Another reason it never really grabbed people.

Yeah, you are right though. although I fell star trek 2009 will be out on the same plate as Khan, Voyage Home, Undiscovered Country, or First Contact but the sequels? not a chance.

and please ignore Jemini, the girl has a lame and sick obsession with the spock and uhura romance , she feels if JJ is in trek, they will never break up that’s all she cares about, she does not care about star trek at all.

that is what this is about and frankly I am getting tired of it by the superficial accusation she always uses such as nostalgia, tos and white dudes to attack anyone that hated into darkness and likes Bones.

LOL yeah Jemini is an oddball. I doubt anyone reads her multiple essays at this point. Its not to say she doesn’t have a point on some issues but it always come down to the same points of Uhura not being in the last movie more. We get it, but get over it already. It sounds like she’s Zoe Saldana’s agent at this point.

And Beyond didn’t do better because it was a poorly marketed film with a bland story that had no real hook to convince audiences to see it. And yes probably because STID left some people with a bad taste but I think it was Beyond itself not being a more stronger product.

Yeah, I figured that out long ago. The irony in her criticism is that she’s holding on to her own nostalgia for 2009 Trek, and cannot imagine a Trek before, or after, that.

@Jemini – most successful based on what? Revenue? They were the most expensive. By many account STID lost money. And was certainly divisive as far as critical reception went.

@tup
Even taking into account how much the first two costed, they are very sucessful trek movies and the most successful of this trilogy. Critics? they both got better reviews than Beyond TOO. Awards noms? DVD sales? From every possible aspect, the first movies did better and are considered better and more memorable by the general audience than Beyond. Had Beyond at least performed like stid did (hightest grossing trek movie ever and more critically praised than Beyond, no matter what the urban legends spread by the fanboys say), we wouldn’t even have this conversation right now, especially when when a fourth movie seemed almost a sure thing and already announced before Beyond came out.

“And was certainly divisive as far as critical reception went.”
still more critically praised than Beyond.
Also, better being divisive than being a too safe and forgettable movie made only for a minoriry of tos fans on the internet.

stid isn’t even my favorite, but unlike some people here I never pretended it wasn’t successful or that it was universally disliked by the general audience and critics just because I prefer the first movie over it.

Some people keep on painting themselves into a corner with these useless point-derailing arguments about Beyond now. You are on denial about its failure and its issues because you like it, even if by our own ‘standards’ it shouldn’t be perceived as any better than the first two. Ironically, the movie you ended up liking more than stid is, basically, worse so you are now forced to pretend that everything you guys said about the first movies isn’t valid for beyond ‘because of reasons’. It almost seems to be done on purpose just to show how inconsistent fans can be.

JJ did a wonderful job of taking an iconic African-American character in Uhura (a strong Black woman on network television who wasn’t just a maid or someone who had to look over the white kids) and reinvented her as little more than the nagging girlfriend.

Thank god ‘Discovery’ moved on from those awful stereotypes.

LLAP.

How about letting ALL versions of Star Trek Live Long and Prosper instead?

Touché . . . I think we already did.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I honestly believe there is an agreement in place between CBS and Paramount preventing any movie news until after DSC has wrapped up season one. I think that’s why Paramount rushed announcing Hemsworths involvement before even releasing Beyond. No need to panic, we’ll most likely start hearing things early in 2018.

@GDienhart — anything possible, but not at all likely. Your speculation doesn’t really make any sense. What leverage would CBS have over Paramount or Bad Robot to prevent them from making a movie under their exclusive license from CBS which never contemplated a future series by CBS. And since when has a 2-hour movie every 3-4 years ever threatened a weekly TV series? Didn’t seem to hurt TNG launch.

What leverage did Paramount have over CBS when Beyond held up the announcement of DSC? Corporations don’t give up anything, easily. You can bet that CBS negotiated similar conditions to Paramount when they agreed to Beyonds “window of exclusivity”.

This makes absolutely NO sense, especially when Paramount made such a splashy announcement with Star Trek 4 when Discovery was well into pre-production.

No, that isn’t it. There is no such ‘deal’ especially when a movie is years away. And who would make such a deal that you can make a $200 million movie but you can’t talk about it?

And the only condition that was made was that CBS had to wait 6 months to premiere a show after a movie was in theaters. Thats it. They simply didn’t want to premiere two products around the same time because they didn’t want to have to compete for the same audience. There was never any deal they couldn’t talk about whatever they wanted, simply not have the two coming out at the same time.

I think people get so blinded in what they want to see, they simply ignore the reality and that is simply Beyond was a dud and that has given the studio pause, especially now that most of the cast is no longer under contract and can demand what they want. If these movies made money like Transformers that may not be an issue. Sadly they don’t and why the real delay. It has nothing to do with Discovery.

And Paramount didn’t hold up any announcement over DSC. Again, another falsehood.

They don’t really realize that a 3-4 years gap inbetween movies is too long to keep momentum or audience interest. Beyond suffered from that, too. Right now, I believe there’s not a single person at Paramount who knows how to handle this franchise. I would assume they are considering right know whether to take the easy route and do a 4th one or reboot it again.

It was four years between “Quantum of Solace” and the monster hit “Skyfall” and will be four years before “Spectre” and “Bond 25”.

You can’t compare James Bond though. Those movies have become an institution like Star Wars and has a large international following. Trek films have always been more spotty for box office and mainly an American market with some European support. The KT films is trying to expand that base (that was the entire point after all) but sadly the results have been mixed. The last two films have made more inroads but there isn’t the commitment to Trek like there is to other franchises when you DON’T count the hardcore fanbase.

I think the problem is most simply moved on because there wasn’t a commitment to it like say Marvel. But then Marvel releases several films every year so the fan build up is bigger because of that alone.

Four years has nothing to do with it. It is the fact that Viacom/Paramount’s financial problems have led to the exit of every executive suite suit that was responsible for shepherding the Bad Robot Trek vision. If Gianopoulos decides to greenlight a next Trek, for Bad Robot’s version to continue someone would have to still be at Paramount that would care enough about that vision. But the history of such things is that it carries Brad Grey/Marc Evans’ corporate vision stench and Mr. G is going to go with whoever sf guy or gal he’s worked with before coming to Paramount that he believes can deliver the goods.

Come on Paramount — GET AT IT!

Star Trek 4 isn’t happening kids. The sooner you realize that the easier it will be to deal with the reboot Trek’s death.

I said multiple times and in different places right after the Beyond teaser trailer came out in December 2015, that Beyond would be the last Star Trek movie we see in theaters at least until the 60th anniversary or longer.

Beyond was just another average revenge movie that didn’t light the theater seats on fire.

Discovery is going to crash and burn by the end of season 2.

I predict as of 10/2017 that after the second season of Discovery failing, we won’t see another thing Star Trek until the 75th anniversary.

The franchise is going to need a long long cool off I am afraid.

The real reason Paramount isn’t touching a Star Trek 4 in the KT?

No matter if you loved or hated BEYOND, a $23million domestic return, where Paramount wants to make most of its money, is still a *huge* loss for the studio and still leaves the studio in debt with possibly $200million in bills to pay. A studio typically should make triple its budget in order for a movie to be called a success and warrant a sequel.

The international numbers for Beyond were just as abysmal. If anything however those numbers are what encouraged Paramount/Viacom to really allow CBS to focus on DISCOVERY. When you think about it, this is a perfectly sound reason for CBS to offer DISCO, basically for “free” internationally via Netflix.

By taking such devastating box office numbers into account, by all rights and means, STAR TREK BEYOND was a box office flop. If a studio can’t make bank on a movie, kiss sequel potentials goodbye. Same goes for any and all movie franchises.

(Numbers source: boxofficemojo.com)