IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for April 2015. Only two floppies are available. Not much going on as the Planet of the Apes crossover continues. For the full details of IDW's other books including GI Joe, TMNT, Transformers, and more click here.
In a bit of news from left field, Deadline is reporting that Simon Pegg has signed on to co-write Star Trek 3 with current writer Doug Jung (Dark Blue, Diamond). The script is being re-written after Paramount was so unsatisfied with the Bob Orci draft that they fired him as director (replaced with Justin Lin) and essentially removed any influence he has on the film probably only retaining the producer credit for contractual reasons.
Simon Pegg will retain his roll as Scotty in the movie. Past writing efforts from the actor include Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End. If watch those (low budget) movies Pegg's brand of humor clearly comes across while retaining strong characterizations and interesting situations. They were also all co-writing efforts. Combined with Pegg being a long time and vocal Trekkie and one of the few new movie actors to show up at conventions and the whole thing comes across as a win.
It will be interesting to see what the final product will be which is rumored to be set at an undetermined point in the Enterprise's first five year mission. The new duo is probably already neck deep into a draft as Star Trek 3 is aiming for July 1, 2016 release date so filming needs to start by mid-summer if want to allow enough time for the likely heavy visual effects post production process. It seems like a ton of time but generally on big budget films the pre-production process, including the script takes about 6 months to a year, filming is around 3 to 5 months and post-production tends to average out to a year (but on VFX side it is really just a continuation of pre-production) so the average summer film needs about two years or more from start to finish to nail a release date. Star Trek 3 is now has 18 months plus whatever time pre-production started minus whatever time and effort was lost with the script and director changes. It is still do-able, its just going to get harder to hit the release date the longer they take to start and complete principle photography.
Paramount choosing director Justin Lin seems to have allowed them to finalize the release date of Star Trek 3 as July 8, 2016. This means that once again the film will be treated as a summer tent pole movie by Paramount and will likely spearhead whatever 50th Anniversary plans they may have for the franchise. As of now no other film is set for release on that date but the week of 7/1/16 competition includes Steven Spielberg's "The BFG" and live action Tarzan film and the following weeks has the next Bourne film (with Matt Damon starring) and Ice Age 5 so the competition is going to be tough.
After ousting Star Trek 1 and 2 writer Roberto Orci from the director's chair, Paramount has found his replacement for Star Trek 3 and it is action film director Justin Lin. He isn't a household name like Abrams but you might be familiar with his work as he directed Fast and Furious 3 to 6, some of the more acclaimed episodes of Community. My only concern with choice is does nothing to address my biggest complaint about the previous two films which is they were great action films that really nothing to do with Star Trek. This choice indicates that all Trekkies will just have to accept it as hiring Lin solidifies Trek's direction as an action film franchise. As a huge fan of Lin's Fast and Furious films (and Community), I am hoping that Lin surprises me and can bring characterization, story and a distinctive Star Trek stamp to the film, something that Abrams was unable to do with his two efforts. As always time will tell but I am cautiously hopeful.
IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for March 2015. Three floppies and one trade are available. Not much going on as the Planet of the Apes crossover continues but the Q Gambit trade might be worth it as it was one of the better stories done for the comics. For the full details of IDW's other books including GI Joe, TMNT, Transformers, and more click here.
