As 2016 comes to a close, the Shuttle Pod crew take a look back at Star Trek’s 50th anniversary. How did Star Trek Beyond fare at the box office, and will there be a fourth Kelvin universe film? What do we know about Star Trek: Discovery and what does its success (or failure) mean for the franchise? And, what are Trek fans hopeful for for the 51st anniversary?
Star Trek Beyond – How did it do?
The final box office tallies for Beyond are in…
| Domestic | International | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek (2009) | $257M | $128M | $385M |
| Into Darkness | $228M | $238M | $467M |
| Beyond | $159M | $184M | $343M |
Here’s what that looks like visually…
Kelvin universe box office totals
Will there be a fourth Kelvin-verse film?
Today… pic.twitter.com/XJ31AmYprg
— Pegg News (@simonpegg) December 6, 2016
Simon Pegg’s twitter account sent out the above photo that set the internet into a flurry of speculation. IS STAR TREK 4 CONFIRMED!?!?!? The answer may not surprise you… probably not. The picture, which shows the writers of Star Trek Beyond Simon Pegg and Doug Jung set up at Bad Robot studios typing something up.
Pile this image on top of J.J. Abrams’ various announcements that a fourth film is in the works and other rumors circling around the internet about the film being at some level of production, it’s no wonder lots of blogs assumed that ‘Star Trek 4’ is a sure thing.
But, reading between the lines, it seems completely uncertain whether another Kelvin-verse film will be made, at least in the short run. Based on the box office numbers alone, it would seem exceedingly doubtful that the studio would take a risk on a fourth film, given that Beyond was the lowest grossing film to date (despite high praise by critics).
Star Trek: Discovery – What we know and what DSC means for the franchise
The biggest thing on every Trekkie’s mind right now is the upcoming new television series, Star Trek: Discovery. Here’s a breakdown of some of the latest news for the new show:
- Sonequa Martin-Green cast as lead character
- Chris Obi, Shazad Latif and Mary Chieffo cast as Klingons
- Bryan Fuller:
- Theme of DSC is “Understand each other“
- Fuller’s departure is “Bittersweet and final“
- Michelle Yeo cast as Captain of the Shenzhou
- Doug Jones cast as Alien science officer
- Anthony Rapp cast as Lt. Stamets, a gay astromycologist
Bringing the 50th to a close
As 2016 winds down and 2017 begins, what are you looking forward to on Star Trek’s 51st anniversary? Tell us in the comments!