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Paramount Working On TWO New Star Trek Films
At CinemaCon, Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos revealed the studio is working on not one but two new Star Trek movies. When J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek to strong box office returns in 2009, it seemed the old franchise had received a new lease on life. Things continued looking healthy after 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness. This despite many fans slamming the film for its plot gimmicks and over reliance on face punching.
But things took a turn for the new Star Trek and its crew with 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond. Yes, the film received some of the best reviews for any Trek movie in years. And lots of hardcore fans wholeheartedly embraced the film’s blend of classic Star Trek storytelling and Justin Lin-directed action. But the movie just didn’t catch on with general audiences, and only ended up grossing $343 million worldwide. It truly looked like the Star Trek franchise might have finally run out of gas.
But fast-forward to 2018 and things are once again looking up for Star Trek. Quentin Tarantino made a deal with Paramount to develop a Star Trek movie, and according to Spock actor Zachary Quinto, the studio still has plans to make at least one more film with his crew. At CinemaCon Wednesday night, Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos further stoked enthusiasm by announcing the studio is indeed going forward with two more Star Trek movies (via Ben Fritz).
What Gianopulos wouldn’t do was offer any firm details about which specific proposed projects are moving forward. We know about the Tarantino Trek movie, which Revenant scribe Mark L. Smith will reportedly write. We also know about an earlier Trek script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay that brings back Chris Hemsworth’s George Kirk, the father of Chris Pine’s James Kirk. Are these the two Trek projects referred to by Gianopulos, or are other plans in the works?
It seems almost certain that at least one of the two Trek films will feature the reboot cast of Pine, Zoe Saldana, Quinto, Simon Pegg and company. Whether that cast would assemble for Tarantino’s proposed Trek movie no one can say. We know next to nothing about what Tarantino has in store, beyond some remarks the director made in a podcast years ago indicating he wishes to remake a classic Trek episode as a feature film. We also know that plenty of Trek-affiliated actors have gone on record saying they’d happily throw in with Tarantino. That list includes Patrick Stewart, who says he’s game to return as Picard for Tarantino’s film. William Shatner says he would return, too, no surprise since Shatner has been trying for years to worm his way back into Trek (to no avail).
In addition to the Star Trek news coming out of CinemaCon’s Paramount presentation, we also learned the studio plans to go ahead with a sequel to their wildly successful horror film A Quiet Place. In the Cloverfield portion of the evening’s festivities, we learned that despite rumors to the contrary, Abrams’ Overlord is not a Cloverfield movie. But Abrams and Paramount do plan to make a proper Cloverfield sequel. Proper as in, not a movie that will end up being dumped on Netflix.
