John Cho Remains Optimistic ‘Star Trek 4’ Will Still Happen

(Getty)

Just two days ago came news that it appears the Star Trek 4 movie project has been shelved for the time being, with the director exiting the project after no movement following stalled salary negotiations. But today, at least one star is still holding out hope.

Cho can’t see Star Trek movies ending

Sulu actor John Cho was being honored last night at the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards, where Entertainment Tonight caught up with him on the red carpet to ask him about his latest projects and Star Trek 4. Cho started off by saying “I certainly am down” to do the follow-up to Star Trek: Beyond. Cho also gave his frank assessment as to the status of the project, saying:

To be honest, it is not happening right now as far as I know, but I just think it will happen. Somebody at some point, we’ll all get on the same page and we will do it…That’s my belief. Maybe I am being optimistic.

When pressed about his optimism for the project, Cho got philosophical, saying:

To me, it is just a significant part of American popular culture. I just don’t see how it goes away forever.

Cho’s remarks from last night echo sentiments he discussed last month, as well as those of other actors who have expressed hope that the project will move forward.

John Cho as Sulu in Star Trek Beyond

Excited to be part of new Twilight Zone

One project Cho is definitely involved in is the CBS All Access revival of The Twilight Zone. The actor signed on for “Wunderkind,” one of the ten episodes in the first season. He spoke to ET about the show, saying:

I was a fan of the original show…I grew up on those shows and that particular vibe is missing from American culture right now. As much as we have, we don’t have that. So, I was really excited for that to come back and be part of it. And of course with Jordan [Peele] helming, I thought that the tone would be right on. And it really does hew to the original. It’s almost like a campfire story, those old Twilight Zones. It’s almost like somebody is telling you a story versus reading it. So, I was really excited to be part of it.

The new Twilight Zone went into production in October 2018 and will premiere later in 2019.

CBS publicity photo for The Twilight Zone “Wunderkind” with John Cho and his co-stars Allison Tolman and Jacob Tremblay

Watch Cho on the red carpet


Keep up with all the news on Star Trek 4 and upcoming Trek films  and the new Twilight Zone at TrekMovie.com.

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He is so hot. Just sayin’.

Mmm-hmm. Seconded!

Here here

Well its nothing wrong to be optimistic, but I wouldn’t hold my breath either. It is strange no one is even talking about the Tarantino movie. Is that still a thing at least?

Well, it’s not officially cancelled yet. I believe they are just waiting for Tarantino to finish his Manson movie. I think this will depend on Tarantino and if he still wants to do Trek after finishing that movie.

Thanks. It’s brought up here constantly but I literally can’t remember the last time there was a report about it. I guess that will be answered soon since the Manson movie opens this year. Maybe something will happen with that after all but I’m still pretty cautious.

It’s brought up here constantly but I literally can’t remember the last time there was a report about it.

It’s really as simple as there’s nothing about it out there publicly. No Hollywood trade has found anything more about it. We’re at the mercy of people with contacts deep into the studios like the trades for something like that.

Tarantino made a pitch, Bad Robot thought it was worth fleshing out, they hired a writer (Mark L. Smith) to flesh it out into a basic treatment. The reality is, like many film and TV ideas in Hollywood, it’s almost certainly just sitting on shelf in an office. And there it will likely sit until Paramount decides what to do next.

Remember all we know for sure is that Tarantino pitched an idea for a Star Trek movie, and he expressed some very tentative interest in directing. But he may be fine with getting a “Story By” credit and maybe also involved as a producer. Tarantino has said he doesn’t want to get into directing franchise films since he likes to keep total control over his projects. Of course he’s a Trek fan so he may make an exception.

Obviously I wasn’t blaming you guys! I know if there is some real news you go out your way to find it.

But yes this is what I mean though. Everyone talks about it as if its in constant development when reality it doesn’t seem to be anything beyond they wrote a script and that’s it. In fact I went to look when was the last official reported news and it was when they announced they got a writer for it and that was in Dec. of 2017 lol. It’s literally been over a year now and nothing since other then repeating the same info.

You guys have put up articles of Pegg and Urban commenting about it that the Kelvin cast is in it and some have apparently heard the story but that’s literally all the info known.

And what’s weird to me is how come Tarantino himself has not commented once about it, ever? Why is Pegg and Urban discussing it but the guy whose sole interest is the one driving it has never said one word about it…anywhere? Is it suppose to be a secret or something? I don’t get it?

And as you said, we don’t even know what he wants to do on it, a year later. Why hasn’t anyone simply asked him? We talk about it as if he’s going to run the whole thing when he may just produce it like Abrams did with Beyond.

Hopefully when the promotion for the Manson movie starts someone will just ask him about it or is it even happening? It’s weird to keep bringing up a movie the people who are supposedly making it has never confirmed out loud its even being developed or want to still make it.

Obviously I wasn’t blaming you guys! I know if there is some real news you go out your way to find it.

I didn’t think you were. I was just being clear for others who might read our conversation and want to comment.

Everyone talks about it as if its in constant development

If by “everyone” you mean random Internet commenters, that’s because most people don’t know how the movie biz works.

Hopefully when the promotion for the Manson movie starts someone will just ask him about it or is it even happening?

Yeah, when Tarantino surfaces to do press for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (the Manson movie), you can bet someone will ask him.

I’m not aware of anyone suggesting it’s in constant development, certainly not on here, and if anyone did say that I definitely missed it. (And if I were supposed to be the person who said it, I would have to shoot such a notion down right yesterday as being an almost intentionally gross exaggeration of what I’ve said.)

It’s also not weird at all to keep bringing it up. It’s not like there are a half-dozen other potential projects for ST that Paramount is sitting on, nor is it like everyone rooting for a Tarantino Trek is somehow by definition “unaware” or “uninformed” that he’s made no commitment to direct or even produce the movie assuming Paramount commits to making it. It might seem weird though I suppose to anyone who’s never felt bothered by the stylistic sameness across what will likely always remain by sheer numbers a majority (4 movies, 625 episodes) of Trek.

I’ve said this before, but I don’t even like Tarantino. And to me that says a LOT for believing that it would be extremely unfortunate for Paramount to pass on such a unique opportunity for ST. The only other thing they have right now is a script from two writers with no resume… and if they don’t seem too enthused by that I’m certainly not.

No I was just talking about online in general on various Trek boards, not just here. I’m not saying its bad of course I was only making the point when all said and done there has been two official reports on it, A. Tarantino had an idea for a Trek movie and pitched it to Paramount and B. They hired a writer to write it and that’s been the only news over a year since. I’m only suggesting people may be making a bigger deal out of something that was pitched, considered and maybe even dropped long ago as no one has even officially commented on it. And something Tarantino has never even said he would direct, it’s just been assumed he might but I know this is how the internet works.

Maybe it’s not dead but until there is official word, somewhere, I’m not going to over think it. I have a feeling Paramount just really doesn’t know where it wants to take these movies and may sit on it for awhile until they come up with something long term and financially feasible.

What 4 movies are you talking about, the last 4? If so yeah agreed, I’m tired of super villains with big ships looking to avenge the Federation lol. Love of god, come up with a new motive at least! Another reason why I won’t TRULY miss the Kelvin movies. ;)

The last three movies have very little in common stylistically speaking with any version of ST known to have also pumped out 625 episodes. Whether they’re derivative or not is another whole discussion (although for me last three ST movies that weren’t derivative were all co-scripted -if not also directed- by Nick Meyer). But anyway…

What about the Paramount bigwig in April who cited that there were two ST films in production — wouldn’t that count as official (however premature in retrospect)?

Under the circumstances I don’t think it’s awkward at all that there’s been no real follow-up news on Tarantino Trek. It could very well have been dropped, but there’s no reason to assume that just yet. By the end of the year, if there’s no further news, it would be most likely safe to assume the movie has in fact disappeared into development purgatory. By that time Paramount and Tarantino will have had five months following the release of his movie to talk to each other.

Sadly they were all very derivative to me. I mean thats the crazy thing, nearly 700 episodes of Trek, very few of them were about a single super villain who wanted to destroy the Federation. And then we get that in every single movie since 2002 as if that’s the ONLY thing they can make a Star Trek movie about. And ALL the Kelvin movies did it. All that money and time and they never came up with something truly original or diverted from it. That’s another reasons many fans weren’t super hot on these movies after the first one.

As far as the future of new movies, look don’t get me wrong, I would love to hear Tarantino or somebody, anybody, says something is in real development, they plan to make it and will start lining things up within the next year. I’m only saying UNTIL I hear that, I’m just not going to bet the house on it personally, that’s all. I mean look how long we waited just to hear about Trek 4 and all these ‘yeah, its happening’ statements from multiple actors for it all to end in a big puff basically.

But Paramount complete lack of communication about any Star Trek movie has not given me any confidence they are that motivated to make another right away. April was still 9 months ago! Can you imagine Marvel not giving us a movie update of any kind in 9 months??? Or spend years just to green light one? I honestly think Beyond flopping really scared them off unfortunately. If that film made at least $400 million another would probably be in production now. But it was kind of their fought it did so bad. That and fans giving up on these films after STID.

All the TNG movies did it too. As I said before, somebody wrote a one-sentence logline that conformed to all four films. Long before Abrams Trek was even a rumor. Now presumably, you could apply that same logline to all the Kelvin films. However it was already a noted similarity with the TNG films. And most of them aren’t even good movies, with First Contact being the one exception.

And it goes without saying the Kelvin Trek movies have always been on a different track from Marvel. The comparison does not even apply. Nobody is betting the house that Tarantino Trek will happen. But if it did happen, it would be absolutely normal if nothing more was announced before July because he’s not even available. What would you have the studio (“somebody, anybody”) say without his agreement? What would you have him say without theirs?

Tarantino Trek is the most interesting development for people who prefer their Treks to be as stylistically diverse from each other as possible. So yes, people are going to talk about it. They’re going to bring it up. They’re going to wonder if there’s any news they might have missed. None of it is weird, and none of it means people are naive or unaware of how movies work or haven’t noticed that Paramount probably lacks enthusiasm for Trek at the moment.

Only Nemesis did it. All the other villains did different things. Soran didn’t show up on a big ship promising to wipe out the Federation because they didn’t stop the Borg from invading his home planet, he simply wanted to get to the Nexus. It had nothing to do with the Federation. He didn’t even want to hurt anyone.

Look we just have to agree to disagree but the problem with he Kelvin movies is they had an entire new universe to explore and could’ve done anything with it as they were LITERALLY the only Star Trek around and yet relied on basically the same tropes in all their movies. Beyond was at least a little better, they got away from Earth, felt like they tried to do a bit of exploring, etc, but in the end the movie came down to another super villain who wanted to take down the Federation for some really confusing motives to this day I still don’t fully understand. I liked the character and the actor but he could’ve been much better fleshed out. These movies had a great opportunity to do something unique and they squandered it.

As for the Tarantino thing I’ll say it one more time, I hope it happens but what exactly do you want me to say? Nothing has been greenlit, there hasn’t been confirmation on anything. It could happen tomorrow or sit on the shelf for another five years. I’m not saying its not happening I’m simply not getting my hopes up on ANYTHING until someone actually say they like the script and plan to make a film. That’s just being sensible right? You can certainly feel differently about it. I’m not sure what the argument even is about.

I don’t deny that the Kelvin films missed their opportunity by repeating their first movie’s bag of tricks rather than escalating its themes in any meaningful way. All three movies were like pop culture Greatest Hits albums for ST, and STID I think was three separate half-developed movies in one rather than a single committed sequel. And whether Beyond ever intended to provide a deeper examination of ST, it either got rushed or was falsely advertised to begin with.

However I cannot agree with letting the TNG movies go unscathed when most of them, too, are about stopping a villain who has a super weapon and cannot be reconciled with in any way. Whether they want “revenge” or have beef against the Federation is largely splitting heirs. And Generations as I’ve previously illustrated follows TWOK’s story template more closely than Nemesis or STID, which both do so mostly in just their respective third acts. And Soran not wanting to hurt anybody seems laughable considering that’s what he does. So yes, I’d have to agree to very strongly disagree there. The Voyage Home those films are not, The Undiscovered Country they are not.

However it was the *stylistic* sameness that I specifically mentioned in bringing up those films. It would make no sense to be referring to the Kelvin movies in conjunction with 625 TV episodes. In the Kelvin movies you clearly see a shift between Abrams’ directing and Lin’s. This is even more true of Bob Wise’s directing versus Meyer’s versus Nimoy’s versus Shatner’s. Now I’m sure fans will claim to spot the difference between Frakes’ and Carson’s directing, but it’s really not very evident. They likely weren’t “allowed” to approach Trek with distinctive styles under Berman’s producership, or didn’t feel encouraged to having already directed episodes under him on the series.

(There IS an awkward tonal shift that occurs under Baird on Nemesis, and I only bring it up because I happened upon a post where you seemed to indicate having not seen the movie. I don’t know if it qualifies as a change in style, and have never felt compelled to check out Baird’s other directorial efforts to find out).

To Tarantino Trek, I never said there was anything wrong with being cautious in one’s optimism. In our discussions though you’ve seemed preemptively pessimistic in shooting down the likelihood of it happening at all, as if ruling out the Chris-and-Chris movie automatically rules out anything else that’s been announced. And I apologize if that’s a wrong perception. But you seem to progress from A to B to C to D as though one automatically implies the next. It’s the Chris-and-Chris movie that’s 95-97 percent dead; Tarantino is still a complete unknown. And there IS plenty of time, nothing CAN happen right away because he’s unavailable, and in fact at last word it wasn’t going to happen until this other not-going-to-happen-movie got made first, which would have taken years.

I hate being forced to speak in cliches, but sometimes no news really is potential good news. And possibly the more people who are seen to make noise on wanting Tarantino to happen, the more likely some studio bigwig will think it’s a good idea.

OK cool.

I think the reason why the original 6 Trek movies were better as a whole than anything that’s come after is that they involved creatives who understood the original spirit and values of what Star Trek was created to be. Gene Roddenberry had little more than a ceremonial title for the movies, but his involvement carried import — the studio wanted his imprimatur, if only for marketing purposes. Just having him on board meant that the movies had to live up to a certain standard of storytelling. GR was similar to George Lucas in certain ways: they were both creative visionaries whose involvement in their respective franchise’s movies was best kept tightly circumscribed. And the involvement of Leonard Nimoy was a real influence on the creative content of the Trek movies. Nimoy wouldn’t do GENERATIONS because he thought it was a bad script, and he was right. After GR died and Paramount cut the TOS cast loose, there was nobody left who carried the original flame, and there was no ideological passing of the torch. Berman, for whatever reasons, wasn’t up to the challenge of making good Trek movies, despite having worked with GR on TNG. And JJ Abrams is on record having said that he never got TOS, to begin with (no wonder he bailed on it for Star Wars). So, what we’re left with is a rather generic space-adventure franchise that has largely forgotten its own mission statement and what it was created to be.

The prospect of QT not directing the Trek movie that he pitched makes it less exciting. Though, it’s still more exciting than the prospect of another run-of-the-mill Trek movie. Then again, the prospect of Bad Robot producing QT’s movie is almost enough to completely kill my interest. My only hope thus far has been for a real QT Trek movie, not merely one where the story idea is his. In any case, Forbes has it that Paramount has “pulled the plug” on Bad Robot’s Trek movies altogether, which is fantastic news if true. I’m happy to forego the QT Trek movie if it means an end to Bad Robot’s involvement in the franchise. If Paramount were to hire another production company to make QT’s movie, that would rekindle my hope. Interestingly, Forbes places the blame, if one wants to call it that, with the one-two knock-out combination of Disney’s Star Wars and CBS’s DSC leaving too little market demand for another mediocre Trek movie:

w ww .forbes. com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/01/10/paramount-has-canceled-star-trek-4-and-disneys-star-wars-is-to-blame/#5ddc7ca31dc2

Mendelson is a ass at Forbes discounting WB DCEU even when they make money which is job to report

last i read they had hired mark smith writer of the revenant to write the script… that was after a writers room meetup with potential writers in 2018… i know for sure that happened since i had a connection to one of them… anyway writing the script takes a while and it didn’t start all that long ago… so no news on that kind of makes sense…

you know how many times trek seemed dead then it wasn’t? yet somehow we have 40 years of movies… i’d love to hear something from JJ since it was his idea in the first place to bring it back

I’ve said many times there will always be more movies. I’m not worried about that. Just when and what form is the question if this movie is truly dead.

But to be fair it wasn’t Abrams idea to bring it back, they were hearing from various writers for several years including one possible prequel trilogy dealing with the Romulan war they were considering. The only thing that happened was Kurtzman and Orci was offered to pitch an idea, they did and they liked it and they were the ones who suggested Abrams to direct. And since MI 3 was a (minor) hit but a big crowd pleaser they were for it.

I just get tired of hearing this idea it was Abrams who decided to ‘bring Star Trek back’. It’s about as accurate as saying he came up with the idea to bring Star Wars back because he directed TFA. That was hardly the case as Paramount had people pitching them ideas for a few years after Nemesis. And you really have to think Orci and Kurtzman since they came up with the actual idea that sold the studio.

I meant ‘thank’.

Star Trek movie was his stepping stone to a Star Wars

Since he is already starring in a show for CBS All Access, I think they should get John Cho as Captain Sulu for an Excelsior show. George Takei could play his father.

I’m liking that idea….

Not a bad idea but… Cho is connected to the KU. Now there is nothing stopping the actor from playing Prime Sulu in a show. But I think that will be a tough sell to audiences after seeing him in 3 Kelvin movies. Just sayin…

Agreed, I kind of feel that ship sailed when they cast a new actor for Spock. Of course it’s not out of the question that we could see KU TV projects further down the line if CBS and Paramount do get round to completing their merger.

Agreed as well. I think CBS has decided it wants to keep the movie actors completely separate from their TV division, hence recasting all the TOS characters in Discovery.

It’s also possible that they asked but the actors either weren’t available, didn’t want to do it or asked for too much money.

I seriously doubt it though. No one has ever suggested bringing anyone from the Kelvin movies to be on the show. My guess is they just want to keep the cast separate not to confuse people about the different universe issue. And I’m also thinking Paramount probably wants them exclusively anyway….or wanted. ;)

Paramount is dead as a studio. They can kick rocks

Have star in a Reliant series in the Kelvin U and have them trekking and doing science experiments

Because so many Star Trek TV projects are in various stages of development at CBS, I wouldn’t be surprised if Paramount will wait until there is a consensus as to what old and new Trek consumers are interested in seeing. STID couldn’t draw adequate numbers even with the starpower of Benedict Cumberbatch, so the general concept of using the original TOS characters played by younger characters just ain’t cutting it. Without Chrises Hemsworth and Pine as stars, it’s just not worth the $200m investment risk. And they won’t even guarantee the necessary numbers unless the story is a home run and the stars are aligned. Maybe if the Picard series is a hit, they’ll bring TNG back to the big screen (I won’t hold my breath). With the Transformers universe now in severe decline, Paramount needs only hits.

No offense but I have no idea how Cumberbatch was ‘star power’? The guy had only been in a few small movies before STID and they were small to supporting roles. In fact I had no idea who Cumberbatch even was and the first time I ever heard his name was literally when news broke STID was filming and they showed clips of him on the set with Quinto. It was the first time I saw him, ever, and I can imagine for a lot of people they had no idea who he was unless they watched Sherlock (which I still never seen). So you can’t put it on that guy, TV star and MOVIE star are still two different things. But today being in the MCU, he’s become much bigger, but everyone is who is in that franchise.

The rest I don’t disagree with. It’s probably just seen as too big of a risk and the funny thing is Pine and Hemsworth is what is rumored to hold up production but Hemsworth hasn’t had a single hit outside of MCU in years and while I do think Pine is important to the films, his presence didn’t exactly save Beyond either. Which is probably why they don’t want to pay him what he wants. He alone is not going to just bring people in but without him they could lose even more so it’s tricky.

I think Cumberbatch was considered star power due to his role in Sherlock. Apparently, he already had quite a following internationally. I don’t know how popular Sherlock is in the US. Obviously, he is not at the same level of star power as Benicio del Toro (they tried to get del Toro before going with Cumberbatch).
Except for his role as Dr Strange his Hollywood career seems to be mostly smaller movies, supporting roles and a lot of voice work.

Recognizability doesn’t equate to starpower, or else James Woods would have been a megastar in the 80s, instead of the guy with the worst box office track record in memory (about the only hit he was ever in was AGAINST ALL ODDS, and he is not the lead.) del Toro wouldn’t have put butts in seats either, there are not that many folks who are guaranteed draws domestically, and not that many more who are international draws. And none of those would probably have nibbled at the ID script. I can only think of a few times when really big names considered Trek movies: Connery for ST 6 and Brando for GENERATIONS, plus they supposedly approached Gene Hackman about INSURRECTION and obviously flirted with Eddie Murphy on TVH. (RDjr was also approached about a small part in INS — I’m guessing Ruafo’s Lieutenant — but proved uninsurable.)

Wasn’t Tom Hanks approached for First Contact for the Zephram Cochrane role? I hear he is actually a huge trekkie.

Correct, but he had to pass due to his involvement with ‘That Thing You Do!’

I always thought that Hanks would have been a better fit for the character.

They only give Cochrane that one moment of clarity when he is up in space, so the material barely provides Cromwell any room to work magic. They’d have had to improve the part to land Hanks, and that would have shifted the balance of the film, possibly creating the Richard PryorSuperman effect.

Then again, Hanks seems relatively ego-free (except for worrying the filmmakers out of using Uma Thurman for BONFIRE, which was a genuine idiot move, unless he did it to protect his fledgling marriage to Wilson), so maybe he’d have just liked playing the slight layers of opportunist realizing a bigger picture. Hard for me to say even now.

Not really. Writers would have written a better story for Hanks. Hanks would have put more seats for FC. He was a top billing after Philadelphia and Forest Gump and Apollo 13

Toro should have been Kahn. What was Toro asking price for STID because he’s have been in sketchy movies and ads since Wolfman

I would say Cumberbatch had a lot of star power by the time they were casting for STID. He wasn’t in my circle of interests, but I remember hearing about his huge following as I learned more about him in the lead up to STID. The KT movies really have been blessed with pretty big name modern day actors.

Besides Irdris or cumberpatch who else

Eric Bana

He was predicted to reach mega star status. He was trending really well and so JJ wanted to showcase a new star, with the rights to say, “You seen him here first”. JJ was chosen for the same reason. He was hot off ‘The Lost’ success (even though he had no clue how to end the series) and there was an accusation of plagiarism.
Cumberbatch hasn’t become a mega star yet, but he is a great actor with that kind of potential. As for JJ …although I think Kurtzman is still a work in progress, he’s got more talent and a better imagination than JJ. That being said, I’m very nervous about him handling the entire creative arm of the franchise when he’s yet to prove he can adequately produce a Star Trek series. It’s only been one season for Discovery, and he’s already mismanaged the writing room to the point where the network had to step in. And then in typical Hollywood practice they promoted him to King Cheese. As far as the series went, we went from Roddenberry to Berman and now to Kurtzman. Roddenberry- the creator, Berman Exec. Producer for many many years who was trained by the man, himself, and now Kurtzman. That’s a huge leap, and one that was likely politically driven, and with the new power-shift at CBS, and the rumored re-merging w/ Viacom, may change quickly if Kurtzman doesn’t pull off this second season, and the new Picard show.

It is my impression that CBS has hired Kurtzman to develop new Trek shows for them and help them steer the expansion of the Trek franchise at CBS. Developing a show does not automatically mean you also run it. That’s the showrunner’s job. Every new Trek show will probably have a different showrunner even if they are all (co-)created by Kurtzman. Managing the writers’ room is the showrunner’s job, not the creator’s job (unless he is also showrunner).
It’s funny you suggest Berman had more experience than Kurtzman. IMDB mentions only 1 producer credit before Trek for Rick Berman, but it shows Kurtzman’s producing career going back 20 years. I guess that Berman’s IMDB record is incomplete but clearly Kurtzman isn’t some newbie, either.

Abrams only directed the pilot of Lost and that’s it. He wasn’t the main creators and writers of that show

Predicted is not the same as being though. I’m only making the point its a bit ridiculous for someone who wasn’t actually a big star to bring star power to a movie when he wasn’t even one yet. That’s a bit unfair to the actor lol.

I confirm: He already was a star in Europe at that time.

Europe, not the world. That’s my point, he wasn’t a household name everywhere just in certain places. Thats not a ‘megastar’.

Agreed, These companies are both under the Viacom umbrella- even with all the trouble in the higher management ranks, both companies understand that if one kills their own star trek property, it would have reverberations through the other property. They will work together, and right now it is Discovery’s time to shine. We will hear more about the KU movies in the spring, between Discovery and Picard.

These companies are both under the Viacom umbrella

Uh no. That’s actually part of the problem. CBS was split out from Viacom in late-2005. They have competing interests and no particular reason to be collaborative, aside from not irreparably damaging the Trek name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viacom_(original)#2005_split

Were you maybe thinking of the fact that at a very high level both companies are under National Amusements?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Amusements

AJinMoscow — I’ve said for years that Trek really needed to step up and put some major stars in a production to see if that would help boost the franchise with regular theater audiences, especially in foreign markets where Trek has never been strong. Hemsworth is not such a celebrity (at least when not wearing his Thor costume), and neither is Pine. If they go this route, then spend the money wisely and hire a proven box office draw. At this point, that would take a reboot. And that’s what’s needed either way IMO, as I don’t see this cast gaining any more traction with audiences. There’s no doubt they’ve made all the money they’re gonna make off this series of films. They gambled in hiring a cheap cast, and none of them have really blown up to drive audiences to them, combined with the producers failing to make timely, or compelling films apart from the cast.

Tom Hanks and The Rock

Make a trek 4 with a 80-86million dollars budget

Since ST4 must needs be released by this summer or bad robot loses their license, and with the rumored cancellation of Discovery looming on the interwebs, I’m not holding my breath.

LOL Discovery will run for a long time.

This is all kind of nonsense. Stop watching random YouTube videos. That’s not even how the industry works.

Bad Robot does not have a license, they don’t have squat. They’re a production company hired by Paramount to make films for them. Paramount holds the license.

The only thing that’s changed is that Bad Robot’s “first look” deal with Paramount will run out in March. And now Bad Robot is shopping around for a different movie studio to work with. A “first look” deal simply means Bad Robot gets their first choice of new films Paramount is considering, and if Bad Robot is interested, they produce it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_look_deal

The business of making movies is not nearly so black and white as you think.
Any existing franchises that Bad Robot is part of, they can and almost certainly will still be a part of. For example Paramount seems quite happy with how Bad Robot has reinvigorated Mission: Impossible, and Tom Cruise seems to love working with Bad Robot too.

Also note that at any point in time if Paramount is unhappy with Bad Robot’s handling of a property they can work out how to part ways. To reiterate, Paramount controls Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, not Bad Robot, they just make the films for Paramount.

Thank you Matt! This stuff drives me off the wall too lol.

Same as how Digital Image Associates helped make the TNG films and Century Associates helped make The Motion Picture? I just found that information on IMDb.
Looking at Star Trek Beyond it seems multiple production companies are involved in the process.

There’s an old thread at trekbbs about this, Century Associates did sound slightly familiar to me … https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/tmp-copyright.250561/

In the case of Star Trek Beyond, some of these production companies weren’t necessarily involved in actually making the movie, but they provided financing. “Sneaky Shark” is a production company founded by Bob Orci (that hasn’t produced anything else). Perfect Storm Entertainment is a production company founded by Justin Lin, the director of Star Trek Beyond. So basically, these people who were involved in the movie “brought along” their own companies. You see this a lot with modern blockbusters which are often co-financed by several companies, and then each producer may have his own company.

Kind of, however Digital Image Associates appears to be on there as some kind of courtesy for their on set video and graphics equipment and services, not because they’re a creative partner.
And Century Associates appears to be a spinoff from Paramount corporate for bookkeeping or some other reason in 1979. Neither of those companies then, have the same relationship as Bad Robot and Paramount.

The multiple production companies on Beyond are because some of them are financial partners. For their money to help back the film they get some (usually small) amount of input. They way blockbuster movies get made has changed in the last 20 years. With the budgets soaring higher and international box office returns mattering more and more, studios that aren’t Disney (who has more money than almost anyone else and is vertically well integrated) are needing to add more financial partners to get things made.

EDIT: As I was typing out my reply I see DIGINON basically beat me to the Beyond stuff :-)

The digital images credit might be like the co-producer credit ILM got on TVH, which one ILMer told me was probably for tax purposes.

Good call.

Plus one.

Yes, because contracts have never been re-negotiated or renewed. That’s just never happened before.

I’m not holding my breath either, but mostly because Paramount doesn’t seem to know what it actually wants to do, not because of contracts or fabricated rumors spread by click baiters.

Lol. Never heard this crap before

There’s no rumored cancellation of Discovery. That’s baseless reporting (hopeful speculation?) from fans who need to draw eyes to their YouTube channels. Discovery is their anchor show. Is it a massive hit? No. Does it deliver more viewers to All Access than any other original series on All Access? Yes, so it’s doing what it needs to do.

I think the Kelvin cast should shoot all the animated episodes live. One season of half-hour shows. Sadly, Yelchin wouldn’t even be needed.

Without Chris Pine, I doubt we’ll ever see this cast together again. They’ll just recast the whole crew, with less expensive actors, if they have to recast Capt. Kirk.

I would hope that, if Paramount decides not to do another movie with this cast, they don’t just recast and reboot TOS again, but instead they actually do something else entirely.

I understand the sentiment and I don’t disagree. However for a feature film they are going to need some sort of drawing power. Known characters that resonate beyond the fan base like Kirk and Spock (and to a lesser extent, Picard) will be something a feature film would need to help sell tickets.

But the Kelvin movies have shown that just using known characters isn’t enough. And if they went with even lesser known actors (as suggested by Bill Clay above) they would lose even more drawing power.
The reason why the Kelvin movies didn’t perform as well as Paramount would have liked is NOT that they weren’t good movies. While there are a few vocal fans trashing the movies all the time, they were actually received quite favorably by critics and the general audience.
Also, bad movies can make a lot of money at the boxoffice. However, it seems that a reboot of TOS, even giving it today’s big budget blockbuster treatment, wasn’t enough to lure in general audiences. So the question is: Do they try TOS once more, but at a much lower budget to find the sweet spot between investment and boxoffice potential? Or do they try something completely different?

Agreed! If Kirk and Spock was all that was needed Beyond should’ve did gang busters. Thats why Beyond kind of showed how little interest people now have with these movies. When Nemesis bombed, it bombed for being bad. Thats when a film SHOULD bomb. In Beyond’s case, while not great, it was a good film and during Star Trek’s biggest anniversary. If you can’t bring them in for that something is definitely wrong.

And I don’t know if an audience will go to another rebooted TOS cast so soon, maybe another reason why they are hesitating with the Tarantino film if it was meant to be with the Kelvin cast. But if they recast those too soon it may oddly upset the fans who still care about the Kelvin cast, so maybe it would be a good idea to wait a few years OR just used new characters but they would have to rewrite whatever story they have.

IMHO, they go for the lower budget and try to find that sweet spot. I doubt they will come up with wholly original characters doing something brand new in the Trek universe. That would be a HUGE gamble. I’d like to see them try and pull a STII. Get a compelling story in there and do it for a lot less. If they do that, a Trek feature would bring in a decent haul. But make no mistake, Star Trek is not Star Wars and never will be. Paramount needs to recognize that.

There are a number of reasons why Beyond did not bring in the desired returns. But using the TOS characters was not one of them. Nemesis could have had character problems. But that film felt like it the studio was never fully behind it from the start. Stewart and the cast were practically begging people to go see it before it ever came out. It was almost is if everyone knew the writing on the wall. Audiences at the time seemed to have enough of Star Trek. Nemeses wasn’t BAD. Yet it was out when Enterprise was struggling to retain audience at the time of alleged “franchise fatigue”. I contend that if that very same film was done instead of Insurrection it would have been much better received. But that’s another story.

The problem just seems to be they are paying a cast a lot of money for a movie that is no guarantee to be a hit so I can’t blame them for hesitating. But if you replace them with cheaper actors in the same roles I have a feeling audience won’t take to them right away which is probably smart to wait a few more years if you want to reboot another TOS movie.

I just don’t buy a Trek movie is going to live or die by one set of characters. Obviously if you know one set its going to be more marketable but its no guarantee either way. For most people who are not Star Trek fans they will most likely go if the film is appealing or not. For Trek fans they will go regardless if the movie is good, although Beyond has questioned that and probably why Paramount is in the position its in. I really think they don’t know where to go next with them and I can’t really blame them. They do seem to be in a weird position.

As for Nemesis I know you personally like it but clearly the CONSENSUS of it is that it’s bad. RT makes that very clear:

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

This isn’t my personal opinion alone. Both critics and the audience hated it. I do think personally it gets better on repeat viewings but its still far from great.

If Rotten Tomatoes ranks Insurection as better than Nemesis then it cannot be a creditable source. Insurrection was just plain terrible.

I stand by my assertion that had Nemesis been made instead it would have been better received if only because the attitudes towards Trek in general was different. Nemesis gets a bad rap for bad timing more than anything else.

It’s a credible source in determining what percentage of critics responded favorably to a movie. HOW favorably each one responded, or whether they were even the same critics as last time, does not factor.

On the average, fewer critics responded favorably to Nemesis than Insurrection. Which makes sense, because Nemesis for most people was a VERY dark (and tone-deaf!) movie with almost no fun in it whatsoever.

Some fans insist it was better than Insurrection because it was less soft and fluffy (or less preachy) and it had more violence in it. But that is a subjective experience. Both films had stories than didn’t really make sense (a problem with all the TNG films really), production values that were too far stretched, and ideas that were derivative of better prior Treks.

Well thats your personal opinion of course but AFAIK most people do think Insurrection is a better film, even if still not great on its own. I certainly like it better.

Again I KNOW you like this movie but Nemesis seems to be placed at the bottom of a lot of people’s Trek lists. Even most of the cast has come out and said they thought it sucked lol. In fact you are literally the only one who I know likes it so much. Not everyone hate it but I can’t think of any personal list I’ve seen this film placed in someone’s top or middle pick. I’m not saying no one has but for a 15 year old movie and I haven’t seen it which tells you how popular it is among the fan base.

At most I’ve heard some people liking it more than the Kelvin films at least but that’s still just a small minority.

I will agree it was placed at the wrong time of year and could’ve done better but I don’t think that has anything to do with the actual reception of the film. Most fans just think its bad.

ML31

I have to interject here. NEM gets a bad rap for a lot more than timing. People can find things to like about literally any movie, but from what I’ve seen over the years most fans regard NEM as a bad movie. INS isn’t a good movie, either, but it’s generally regarded as being better than NEM. The common line on INS is that it was an entertaining enough TNG episode that was put out as a movie. The best things about both INS and NEM are the Plinkett reviews and this:

w ww .stardestroyer. net/Nemesis/Pictorial-1.html

We need Two Movies:
Startrek – Excelsior. With John Cho as Captain Sulu of the Excelsior.
Startrek 4 – The Cage. With Bruce Greenwood reprising his role as Christopher Pike along with Quinto as Spock. And Captain Pike crosses over at the end from the mirror Universe into Abrams Kelvin universe setting up a battle between two Enterprises in Startrek 5.

That way they have a plan for Startrek 5, and time to come to their senses and accept that they must pay their actors. Just Throw in the Borg who come looking for all that black hole time travel technology.

aaaannnnnnd…..no.

No no it hurts

Well, we got all this other new Star Trek coming with Discovery, the animated shows, the Picard show, etc. Do we really need another Kelvin-verse movie? I will miss the portrayal of the characters by these awesome actors, Giachinno’s score, and the big-budget treatment, but I’m good with what we got.

Aside from the cast, I won’t miss the Kelvin ‘verse one bit.

@VZX — in principle I wouldn’t mind another KU movie. But not with these producers. They absolutely squandered the blank slate they set up for themselves, and I simply don’t trust that they will ever change with their treatment of the franchise.

In the very broad sense, he is correct. When, with who, and what it will look like is anyone’s guess. The one fact we can take to the bank is that Paramount is clearly not in a hurry at this point.

What breaks the log jam? Assuming BR doesn’t exercise any first look privilege, a production company is going to have to present how they can make a Trek movie on a 100MM budget. That probably gets the ball rolling again. Until then, nothing.

They should be. They there franchises to make money and so far none has because they not greenlighting movies fast enough. You don’t let your franchise sit for 3-4 years top. It’s always the 1-3 years tops. Don’t let mainstream casual goers forget about you

I know there eventually will be another movie weather its a sequal or a reboot or what ever, but I guarantee there will be one eventually. Star trek is like Godzilla, its part of our culture and will never completely die.

There will always be another movie! Franchises just don’t die today. The question is what it would be or when. If the KU films are truly over it could be in a few years, it could be a decade, it just depends on how much Paramount thinks its a priority. We all knew one day there would obviously be another Trek show, but that took a dozen years. We also knew there would be a post Nemesis show but that took even longer. Although now with all the Trek plans on TV it will probably BE another dozen years of Star Trek on minimum unless they just truly suck.

It is very strange on what happened with the KU films. I went back about two months ago and read people’s responses about the first KT movie and there was this sense the Kelvin universe (before it was called that) was here to stay, the prime universe was over and that a new legacy of Trek would be reborn through the direction of Abrams with possible movie and TV spin offs and of course none of that happened. All that hype and excitement from the first film just never reached that potential. It’s too bad.

As far as I remember JJ Abrams actually wanted to do spinoffs on different platforms (like TV) but CBS still made money from the prime universe and flat out said no. This might also explain why CBS doesn’t just come out and say that Discovery is a reboot, as some fans have suggested. They don’t want to hurt their prime universe sales by separating the new show from it.

Actually you make a great point about why Discovery isn’t just called a reboot, because of merchandise. Oddly that never really hit me until now but you could be right.

I guess I just never get it. End of the day its all fiction, you’re still getting new Star Trek and then they have the freedom to design it any way they want. But I guess people tell themselves the Prime universe is ‘our’ universe so it feels more special. But to me that is about as accurate as suggesting the MCU is our universe too lol.

There’s still going to be a Star Trek 4, but it’s going to be the one directed by Quentin Tarantino, which is a much more interesting prospect, at least in theory.

So, I don’t see any downside to leapfrogging over another business-as-usual Trek movie in favor of one that has the potential to be exciting.

I agree that there will be another Trek movie. Unless you and QT are neighbors and he talks to much after a few drinks, there isn’t any shred of evidence that the QT project is any more viable then the Two Chris project. That’s the reality of the situation.

Phil

Drinks with QT would be killer.

I’ve been reading slightly differing accounts of the current situation. That’s how it tends to be when things are up in the air. I posted my above comment before Matt posted his take on the current situation, and I’m sure he knows more about it than I do.

Definitely interested to know what Tarantino had in mind, even if the concept never makes it off the printed page.

Michael Hall

Me too. And I don’t see why his story couldn’t get made by whatever production company Paramount might hire to replace Bad Robot, if they’re indeed out, which I hope to God they are.

Something tells me that the odds of Tarantino’s movie being produced probably went up. If they abandon what was intended to be 4 and jump right to Tarantino they don’t have to worry about Hemsworth and can then pay Pine what he was originally guaranteed.

Denny C

Good point.

This isn’t TOS, where Shatner and Nimoy took turns being the holdout. Pegg and Pine are great actors, but indispensable, not in my opinion. Replace them and move on.

I’ve never heard anything about Pegg being a holdout. Did I miss something or did you confuse him with someone else?

Wonder Woman really helped killed this franchise. Paramount made a mistake to promise Pine and Quinto bigger paydays for 4 before Beyond, and with his success in WW and now its sequel, Pine has the leverage to refuse renegotiating his salary.

Unfortunately, the costs of Pine, Quinto, and Saldana make producing a sequel with this cast cost prohibitive.

Absolutely agree. Those three are way too expensive for our sadly mismanaged franchise now – if you notice only Urban and Cho are still actively talking about it. I’m not going to miss the KU much, but this crew was starting to get into a nice rhythm. Shame.

They weren’t wrong with their casting in 2008– in fact they were TOO right– they picked a punch of unknowns or up-and-comers (Pine, Saldana, Yelchin, Quinto) and role players (Pegg and Urban), got bit when Pine and Saldana became stars because of other franchises.

Casting was just about the only thing they did get right, alas.

They probably offered Pine the big bucks up front because they knew Wonder Woman would be a hit and wanted to keep him in the Trek family.

forbes just came out yesterday and siad that star trek 4 is offically dead paramount has no interest in doing the film or any trek films as they cant compete with star wars or marvel films plus they lost the director and writer for the 4th film to a new game of thones project and they lost pine and hemsworth due to them reneging on the agreed to amout in thier contracts for the 4th film and the tarantino film was just a rumor not set in stone fact

Might want to try using some punctuation.

Except that’s not quite what the Forbes article says, Trek is dead is a conclusion the writer opines about, not anything that’s attributed to a real person at Paramount. Paramount WILL make another movie, when, where, and about remains to be seen. Read the article for yourself….
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/01/10/paramount-has-canceled-star-trek-4-and-disneys-star-wars-is-to-blame/#73f108c71dc2

The Quentin Tarantino proposal was not “just a rumor.” He publicly commented on the project, and Bad Robot acknowledged that a writer had been assigned to pen a treatment based on Tarantino’s pitch. Where that stands now, though, is anyone’s guess.

Not optimistic or pessimistic, just indifferent. Even at their best (i.e. BEYOND) the KT films just don’t feel like Trek to me, and at their worst (i.e. TREK 2009), well, enough said. I’d still like to know more about the Tarantino project, but that’s about it.

Trek is just about always at its best on television anyhow, though it’s anyone’s guess if Kurtzmann will upend that truism once and for all.

I agree, I think ST09 is the least Trek of the bunch. It might be the most fun, however

If I drank, I might agree with you about it being fun. As it stands for me, it just generates the most eye-rolls of any Trek feature, which is about the most I can say about this dead-last entry.

kmart

I used to think that dancing with Mary Jane before comic-book and Bad Robot Trek movies would make them more enjoyable by slowing down my apprehension of the story so that I wouldn’t notice as much how poorly written it is. But, the truth is that it makes me even more disappointed as I watch a story unfold that has no compelling characterizations and ultimately has no meaning. And it tends to add an extra layer of vexation, as I’m constantly wondering how the producers could have made a movie so obviously lacking the fundamentals of storytelling. How could people who make such enormous salaries have read this script and thought it complete enough to invest $200M to make a movie out of? I just doesn’t make any sense. What’s the matter with those people?!? Is it all some sort of conspiracy? How can people that high up be so incompetent? And so forth. Though, it does make the sensory experience of the eye-candy visuals and music more tasty. It can also make the action more exciting so long as it’s not dragged out too long, because then it gets boring and I start thinking about the stupid producers conspiracy again. I’m always open to suggestions on how to make these movies watchable, though. Maybe there’s some Buddhist technique that helps you give up caring altogether.

There will definitely be another Trek movie at some point. It may be a different cast though.

In the old series based movies, Sulu became a captain. That could happen in the Kelvin timeline and open all new opportunities.

I think our ride is over. (unless they come up with another reboot)

I don’t see Trek 4 happening at all.Not with this cast anyways.Maybe they reboot it again.If they do lets move on from TOS no more Kirk and Spock.It’s a dead horse or gone to the well to many times.If they go with Trek 4 with kirk and spock it’s Hollywood playing it safe and the movie will suck.If Star Trek wants to be on the big screen again they need to do something new fresh and different.And stop going back to things they done before.I know, that’s asking a lot from Hollywood.What I do like about discovery first season was these were knew people we never saw before except for Sarak.Start Trek is in a bubble and needs to get out of it to keep going.

Paramount is a dying studio. Someone needs to buy them out. Looking at you Warner Bros

Mission Impossible and Fast and the furious seem to be doing just fine in terms of money. Its Transformers and Star Trek that are losing money.

Fast and Furious belongs to Universal, not Paramount.

I want them to continue with the Kelvin Timeline. It baffles me how Paramount is so short sighted. Star Trek Beyond may not have blasted apart the box office, but, at least domestically, it was still their most successful movie of that year. Domestically it made more than Transformers The Last Knight did the following year. The thing is, Paramount set Beyond up for failure. They debuted a poorly put together trailer and then let the movie sit in a vault for several months, barely drumming up anticipation for it. And when it finally came out, they barely advertised it. I can’t count how many people I talked to about it didn’t know a new Trek was coming out.

EDIT: I will say this, however. If Paramount is so idiotic as to let this franchise die and move on from there, at least Beyond ended with an optimistic note. I loved Into Darkness, but it would’ve been a bad one to end the series on.

Star Trek Beyond didn’t sit in a vault for several months. If anything, Orci’s departure as a director and the complete rewrite by Pegg and Jung compressed the schedule. Paramount didn’t actively promote the movie for a few months while it was in post production but the movie didn’t sit around waiting to be released.

I hope Paramount changes their mind. I want to see the Adventures of the Enterprise A with Chris Pine as Kirk. I also want to see Jaylah as a crew member. Maybe they could find some way to bring back Carol Marcus and give her an actual role this time.

Incredible! They are rebooting TMNT and “are pleased” with the Bumblebee returns! But It’s not enough to get a Beyond sequel? Either they have lost it entirely or it is their game to jumpstart into the Tarantino movie ASAP…

Bumblebee is still in theaters (it made 17 million at the US boxoffice just last week) and it has already made more globally now than Beyond did over its whole run. Plus, Bumblebee’s budget was 50 million lower than Beyond’s. So while not a huge hit it’s doing better than Beyond did.

Bayturtles is dead. That is great news. I wish Bayformers would follow. A G1 style reboot would be awesome.

Bumblebee has already made more money than Beyond did with a much lower budget and still in theaters. It will easily pass $400 million now. And it was generally a good movie. I saw it yesterday and loved it. More TF movies should’ve been closer to that but and not the convoluted end of the world destruction all the Bay movies did (but I can’t deny they made a lot of money).

I know Bubmblebee got some good ink but I just can’t bring myself to go see it. Besides, Black Panther got good ink too and it was just formulaic tripe. So I still think I’m going to skip it.

That said, it is an example of what Paramount could do with Star Trek. Lower the costs and expect less. They did it with STII. Don’t see why they can’t with ST4.

Well, they were trying to bring down the budget and it led to both Chrisses leaving the project. Bumblebee doesn’t carry over the cast from previous Transformers movies, does it? It’s basically like doing a Trek movie with another ship crew instead of the TOS characters. Wrath of Khan, while having a much lower budget, was able to hold on to all the main stars. A TWOK situation seems unlikely now unless the prospect of a Tarantino movie can convince Pine to accept a pay cut. So the Bumblebee route would be a new ship and a new crew.

At this point I think another Harold and Kumar sequel is more likely.

Christopher McQuarrie is out of the running to direct he just announced he will write, direct & shoot the next 2 Mission Impossible movies back to back so that is another bad sign this is not going to happen.

That’s probably good news. The current script from two untested screenwriters is probably better off not being made into a ST movie. And I love Christopher McQuarrie’s work on Mission Impossible, but his efforts would likely be wasted on ST right now.

I’d prefer that “nothing” continue to happen until Tarantino releases his Manson movie anyway.

This really tells you where Paramount is at. We been waiting two and a half years just to greenlight a Star Trek film and its been one set back after another and now looks completely cancelled.

Meanwhile they hustle like crazy to get Cruise and McQuarrie back to make not one, but two MI movies! And just six months after Fallout came out. We knew another MI movie was coming but I didn’t expect to hear anything about it for awhile. This proves when a studio REALLY wants to make something, they make it happen. As I been saying Paramount is not motivated to make another Star Trek film and this makes it very obvious.

I would’ve loved McQuarrie make a Trek movie. The guy is hot right now and has his pick of any project. A big action Trek movie with his name would’ve drawn a lot of interest.

It wouldn’t have been the right time for McQuarrie anyway.

If they offered him a ST movie, what would the script be? Most likely the Chris-and-Chris movie. Maybe he could direct a film good enough to justify pushing past the negotiating problems, but too much of that positive outcome would depend on the quality of the script. And whether or not the script is bad (I feel like most fans kind of assume it is), it’s from two writers with almost no resume apart from having their previous ST script passed over in favor of making Star Trek Beyond.

There wouldn’t be a movie for McQuarrie do direct. Maybe he can be the one to revitalize ST when they decide to reboot it again.

Does anyone know what year Paramount has the ST film license until?

He would’ve just written his own script I imagine, why wouldn’t he? He’s written every film he’s directed so far including the last two MI films. As you said, the only reason the other script exists because it sounded like it was slightly based on Orci’s original idea when he was on the third film and they changed it up to include Hemsworth instead. But once Hemsworth walked away that script was dead in the water anyway. So if they make another one they have to find another story altogether, right? I assume that script is tossed in the trash now if they ever make another film or not.

And you been going on about Tarantino’s script and seem to think its going to get green lit. So I don’t see the difference between that and any other director coming in to make their version too, right?

So its a weird argument. Like Tarantino, any new director will just come in with their own story and go from there, especially as they have no choice with Hemsworth gone. And I would’ve loved to seen McQuarrie’s version of what he could’ve done.

See, I didn’t know that about McQuarrie. But clearly writing a new script would have taken a lot more time. In fact unless they want to go ahead with either Mark Smith’s script or McKay’s/Payne’s, lost momentum is no longer a factor. And getting ST started back up again is never going to get any easier.

Also from what I see on here, McQuarrie was said to already be involved in the next MI as far back as his initial statements expressing interest in ST, making it unlikely he was ever going to be available to direct ST anytime soon.

It’s hardly news that the MI films are in better shape than ST. This hasn’t always been the case though. And MI’s momentum between films hasn’t been better than ST’s — prior to this new announcement that they intend to make two movies at once. The determining factor is likely Cruise himself, who commands a lot of clout. He’s pushing 60 though, his body won’t stay fit forever. Chances are if McQuarrie still wants to direct a ST movie after 2022 ST will still be there for him.

(His initial comments also suggest he’d be open to directing ST on a reduced budget, making him a good ST director for those fans who want that)

I don’t believe it’s ever been confirmed the McKay/Payne script was the same one (even if retooled) Orci previously had them doing. I’ve never heard that from any official source. It seems premature though to assume that it’s tossed in the trash. It most likely will be, and I’d like it to be.

Finally I have never talked about Tarantino Trek as though it’s going to be greenlit (and this time you have misquoted me in suggesting as much). But once McKay and Payne get thrown in the trash, Mark Smith’s will be the only near-completed script that Paramount already supposedly has for ST — if that means anything at all in determining what they’ll do next (and it doesn’t mean nothing).

My only point is McQuarrie probably would’ve started from scratch and make his own film. He doesn’t seem like someone who would want to use someone else’s story. And it doesn’t matter when they start the film, it could be a few years away which it most likely will be anyway. But now that we know he’s going to be working on MI through the next four years and my guess want some time off then that might be TOO long. Or maybe they can wait that long?

I really think the Kelvin guys are DONE if it comes down to not getting Pine back so they would have to recast and all of that anyway. Clearly Paramount is in no rush so from this point on will probably be a clean break to a new cast. Thinking same for the Tarantino movie if that happens. And I didn’t say you SAID it would be green lit I only meant you seem to think it has a good chance. It might obviously.

So that’s what I mean, whenever the next Trek film would be would just start from scratch completely. We know another film will come at some point, it will just be who, what and when. But they didn’t cancel Kelvin 4 because they lost the director they cancelled it because they lost their star. So more than likely they will come up with something new. I would love to see a post Nemesis film with a new ship and crew entirely but not holding my breath….on anything lol.

Even Ghostbusters 2 is now getting a belated official sequel despite the 2016 movie being a financial disaster! Paramount where are you with Movie Trek?

Where they should be at the moment. Holding off until a script or pitch actually reawakens their enthusiasm for ST.

What’s the difference between Nemesis and ST09? Halfhearted commitment vs total commitment.

News flash!: Actor optimistic about working!

Gotta get those ad views up I guess lol.

Is Tarantino’s Trek still happening!!!!!!

But Mr. Godfrey insisted otherwise. Imagine, for instance, Paramount giving “Star Trek” to Quentin Tarantino. “Suddenly people’s eyes light up,” Mr. Godfrey said. “Yours just did.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/business/media/paramount-pictures.html

I strongly dislike QT, but if giving the next movie to him would keep the ST movie franchise alive a little longer, what the hell? Even QT can’t damage the Trek brand that much more, considering the kind of stuff they’ve churned out in S1 of Discovery. It’s a common sense decision. Otherwise, the ST theatrical feature film franchise is worse than on life support, and likely dead for good.

Make ST4 a people story instead of a da*n video game of rayguns and explosions, shoot it for well under $100 mil, and it’s got a chance of box office success.

Let this bastardization of Star Trek die a painful death ! Star Trek shouldn’t be a Star Wars knock-off.

Agreed!

I hope there will be a Trek 4! Bring Shatner in, like they did Leonard Nimoy. I would like to see the other actors as well. Bring one of them in, Iam getting where I dont care which one,if Shatner can’t make it. Keep the movie pg13 to introduce the franchise to the younger generation.