Star Trek is one of the longest running science fiction franchises to date, having first debuted nearly sixty years ago. The franchise, which focuses on travel throughout interstellar space, initially premiered as a television series, but eventually found success on the big screen, too. So, it wasn’t surprising when Paramount sought to rejuvenate the franchise with 2009’s Star Trek starring Chris Pine from director and writer, J.J. Abrams.
The film was mildly successful, having earned $385.6 million at the worldwide box office, and went on to spawn two sequels: Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. The former earned $467.3 million, surpassing its predecessor, while the latter stumbled with $343.4 million worldwide. Despite this, Paramount sought to make a fourth installment, but that project has yet to come to fruition. So, what’s taking so long?
Paramount’s Success with Star Trek on the Small Screen
While Paramount has struggled to find success with Star Trek in the movies, the studio has successfully revived the franchise on its streaming service. In 2017, Paramount+ launched Star Trek Discovery, which takes place roughly five years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. The series quickly became a hit for the streaming service and has gone on to have a five-season run on the small screen. The success of the series actually led Paramount to continue to expand its Star Trek universe on the small screen, featuring new live-action shows and animated series, including one meant to attract younger audiences. Star Trek: Picard brought back from fan-favorites from the critically acclaimed Star Trek: The Next Generation, while Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is meant to serve as a prequel to the original Star Trek series. On the animated side, the studio has launched Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated adult series set within the franchise, and Star Trek: Prodigy on Nickelodeon.
Paramount is clearly happy with how the franchise is performing on the small screen as it entered production on Star Trek: Section 31 back in January. The project was in the works for a long time, having been announced years before it actually entered production. This marks the first Star Trek movie being produced for Paramount+, and it will see Michelle Yeoh return as Emperor Philippa Georgiou. The movie will see her join a secret division of Starfleet, where she’s both forced to deal with the sins of her past while also doing her best to protect the United Federation of Planets. As the franchise continues to grow on television, there’s no denying the studio has managed to give fans what they want – albeit on a smaller scale. Unfortunately, though, the same can’t be said for the franchise on the film side.
Paramount’s Troubles with Star Trek on the Big Screen
Paramount+ has successfully revived Star Trek, and now it’s about time Paramount manages to do so in theaters. Following less than stellar box office returns on the first three Star Trek movies, the studio has been eager to bring the franchise back to the big screen. There were multiple points in time when Star Trek 4 looked like it was ready to enter production. In fact, the studio had even begun to confirm some of the cast, including the return of Chris Hemsworth, who only had a minor role as Captain Kirk in 2009’s Star Trek. However, the star later exited the project with reports saying it was either due to a bad script or a pay dispute. Franchise star Chris Pine would later experience his own issues with the film, with talks eventually breaking down between the actor and the studio. Despite the behind-the-scenes problems, Paramount continued to seek out directors for the project having hired directors like S.J. Clarkson (Madame Web) and Matt Shakman (Fantastic Four) to help bring the project to fruition. As it stands, though, no director is currently attached to a fourth Star Trek film.
The studio has also explored other options altogether, having spoken to director Quentin Taratino about his own idea for a new Star Trek movie. That project, however, quickly broke down. In March of this year, it was announced that Steve Yockey would write a new screenplay for what is being described as the final chapter in the rebooted franchise. Along with the reboot, Paramount is still developing two other Star Trek movies with writer Seth Grahame-Smith and director Toby Haynes and screenwriter Kalinda Vazquez. Given the troubles the studio has experienced with the reboot franchise, one can only hope it takes inspiration from its successful television reboot. There’s plenty to explore with the Star Trek franchise on the big screen, but Paramount is going to need to truly focus on getting the franchise right if it hopes to achieve the success it has on the small screen, but it’s also going to need to move quickly, too. It’s going to be hard to keep audiences interested in the films if the studio continues t
