A New Star Trek Theatrical Film Announced

Paramount is once again going to attempt to enter the theatrical space with Star Trek. However, its not Star Trek 4 which technically still in development. Instead its an origin story that takes place decades before 2009's Star Trek. The origin of what is not specified. This places the film firmly in the JJ Abrams Kelvin-verse of three 21st century theatrical films. The untitled film will be directed by Toby Haynes whose previous worked include episodes of Star Wars: Andor, Black Mirror episode USS Callister (fantastic homage to Trek), Sherlock, and Doctor Who. The script is from Seth Grahame-Smith (Beetlejuice 2, The Lego Batman Movie).

The first film prologue that included Kirk's birth was around 2233 so assumption is this origin will before that. Some are speculating its about the origin of Starfleet. Technically Star Trek: Enterprise TV series is part of the Kelvin-verse timeline so Starfleet was already founded in 2161 as part of the founding of the United Federation of Planets. There are lots of possibilities really. For instance, there is the creation of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). Its construction and very first mission under Captain Robert April has only been told in the book Star Trek: Final Frontier.

The odds of this one getting made are much higher as Paramount will have the ability to do a whole lot more with less of a budget (my guess is $70 million). Simple fact is the cost of getting the Star Trek 4 cast back together is more expensive now then ever, likely taking at least $50 million of the budget. For the new film, there is a good chance they can score a complete cast for well under $5 million if they don't go crazy thinking they need "named" stars. That basically blows away any barrier to moving forward on the film as long as the visual effects budget isn't out of control and avoiding that is one of the key reasons pre-production exists when it is done right. Hopefully more details will shake loose soon.