Paramount Reiterates Star Trek Movie Plans for Umpteenth Time

This is really a nothing burger of news considering its a repeat of ten years of the same news but its making the media news rounds so covering it. Thursday at CinemaCon, a convention for theater owners, Paramount held its presentation. As part of the that, the new owner of Paramount and soon WB David Ellison made a promise of 30 movies, 45-day window before selling digitally and SVOD (aka streaming to Paramount+) release at 90 days. Along with that he mentioned of vague future plans from Paramount including “World War Z,” “Top Gun,” “G.I. Joe”, "Star Trek", and “Transformers” sequels. None of which have scripts or anywone attached to them to direct. Literally that is the sum total of news. No one is clear how a studio can release 30 films to theaters without competing with its own movies.

Paramount Done With Star Trek 4

In an article from Variety that looks into first 100 days of Paramount after the merge, it was reveled that Paramount no longer intends to make Star Trek 4. The article says "The hope is to have a fresh “Star Trek” movie, though the studio has moved on from the idea of bringing back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the ensemble from the J.J. Abrams reboot." 

It is possible this is incorrect second hand information but it has been ten years since Star Trek Beyond (ST4 failed timeline). The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Ellison's first 100 days has mostly been focused on trying to move CBS News to the right politically, laying off thousands, and trying to buy Warner Bros. so its hard to know for sure exactly what is going on pipeline wise for Paramount movies and TV. 

Generally new studio regimes do not like to make use of what previous leadership didn't get around to executing and often trash all previous plans except for those doing exceptionally well like the Yellowstone franchise. A good chance the Star Trek Origin film that was in the scripting stages is probably dead. What all of this means for the future of Star Trek TV remains to be seen. My guess is no decisions will be made until after get an idea on how well Starfleet Academy does.

Variety Article Provides Movie, TV Show Updates

Variety has posted a feature article on the current status of Star Trek that looks at where the franchise will be going for the next year or so. This includes updates on the shows and plans to forge ahead on a new Star Trek theatrical movie.  Below are the key highlights.

WGA Strike Ends, What Does This Mean For Star Trek?

The Writes Guild of America (WGA) has reached a tentative deal and officially ended the strike. You can read the detailed summary here or the overview summary here. Still some Ts to be crossed but as of now, writers can get back to work which includes TV showrunners who also tend to be WGA member writers. Great news for the writers but for fans don't get excited just yet.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike continues on. Without the actors, filming cannot begin. What this agreement really means is pre-production can begin on movies and TV shows. Ideally, with a bit of luck in timing and good planning, the day the SAG strike ends is the day actors can go before cameras as a host of TV shows and movies go into full production mode. Others can finish what filming was interrupted and any post production work that is waiting on the actors can be completed.

Which brings us to Star Trek. Here is a quick summary for each show and movies:

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 - All filming, including reshoots, had already completed for the final season. What post-production work that remains can be completed due to return of the showrunners.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 - Writers can now complete scripts, pre-production work can be completed, post-production work can move ahead. Filming can start as soon as actors are avialable.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 - Falls under The Animation Guild (TAG) so writing and animation work not impacted. Voice over work could start but unlikly until after actors strike ends.

Starfleet Academy season 1 - Writing and pre-production can restart, post-production work can move ahead. Casting will have to wait until after strike ends.

Section 31 movie - Script was already completed, pre-production can resume, post-production work can resume. Casting, filming on hold until actors strike ends. With Academy Award winning actress Michelle Yeoh in high demand and her filming schedule blow up by the strike, no telling when production can start.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 - Despite Paramount+ inexplicable cancellation, contractual production on the series continued with all 20 episodes to be completed by end of year. Issue is finding a home for the series at whatever fee Paramount is hoping to get for the episodes. The whole situation with this show is just bizarre and seems poorly thought out by Paramount executives who are now unwilling to admit they made have made a mistake.

Star Trek 4 - Somehow its still in the cards? At least that is what script writer Lindsey Anderson Beer is claiming, "It is, it’s still on the tracks. I love that project, and it was another one that I had to hop off of to direct this movie, and that was a hard thing to do. But I love everybody involved with that project.” I wouldn't hold your breath. No pre-production work has been done, no negotioations with the cast can begin until the strike ends (and like Yeoh, their schedules are a huge issue) and for Paramount the cost of making the movie remains their primary sticking point. They want it cheap (relatively speaking), I estimate in the $100 to $120 million range and cast salaries could eat up half that budget.

Release schedule wise, there cannot be one since no idea when actors will return to work. Even if timing and all that works out and all the actors could show up the day the strike ends, there is a whole lot of work to be done, especially since the shows are VFX heavy so that creates a significant post-production period. Since Star Trek: Discovery season 5 was minimally impacted by the strikes, it likely remains on schedule to return in early 2024. After that, its up in the air. Lower Decks season 5 can return this time next year but will be highly dependent on how production is going on the other shows. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 would have been a great gap filler but that plan was trashed for inexplicable reasons. End result is there is a good chance that only Discovery and Lower Decks will come out in 2024.

Star Trek 4 Removed From Release Calendar

Paramount Pictures has removed Star Trek 4 from their release calendar. The movie was set to be released on December 22, 2023 which at the time was considered ambitious. Once director Matt Shakman left the project to direct Marvel's Fantastic Four, it was obvious they were not going to make that release date. with this move making that official. To sum up the situation, Star Trek 4 doesn't have a shooting script, director, schedule or any of the actors signed on so the film, if it gets made, is looking at a summer or Christmas 2024 release date.

Star Trek 4 Loses Director

The Marvel Cinematic Universe came knocking and director Matt Shaman answered.  The director was supposed to direct Star Trek 4 at some point in the near future but has now in talks to direct Fantastic Four. Paramount Pictures in a statement, “Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film. We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world.”

The decision to move on, probably outside of a significant payday, is probably fueled by Marvel doing a good job of hitting its release dates, in this case November 8, 2024, and providing the budget to make the film as the director envisions. Meanwhile Star Trek 4 remains penciled in for a December 22, 2023 date and supposedly there is a script by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet but even the cast is in the dark on the script and the schedule. To my knowledge none of the casts have signed any contracts for the film so technically there is no cast at this time.

On paper, the film has about 10 months to go through pre-production and production and still allow enough time to finish post production. However they do not seem to have a director, signed actors, finished script and a schedule. All this can be fixed with money, but that is something Paramount is not going to want to do. The budget likely remains a significant problem as the previous movies just did ok so I suspect they are aiming for $120 range before tax breaks. 

Ultimately this news means that chances are Shakman was clashing with Paramount on the film, moved on, and any chance of hitting the 2023 release date went with him. I suspect we are getting closer to Paramount abandoning the Kelvin universe and turning the reigns over to Alex Kurtzman (who co-created the Kelvin version) to create a film set in the current prime continuity, assuming the current contract with JJ Abrams' allows it.

Star Trek 4 Officially Announced By Paramount

Today during their investor meeting, ViacomCBS announced a bunch of news about their future plans besides changing the company's name to Paramount. On the Star Trek movie front they had executive producer J.J. Abrams announce Star Trek 4 plans. 

“We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new ‘Star Trek’ film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take ‘Star Trek’ into areas that you’ve just never seen before,” Abrams said. “We’re thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we’re talking about that we think will be really exciting, so can’t wait for you to see what we’re cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper.”  

Star Trek 4 had been circulating for a while with Paramount having already announced that Matt Shakman (WandaVision) was directing the film with a penciled in release date of December 22, 2023. Since 2016, each year would bring new script writers and this year is no different. This time Josh Friedman (Avatar 2) and Cameron Squires (WandaVision) are writing it but basing it the script that 2021 writing team Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) put together.

Variety is reporting that Paramount only decided to set the movie in the Kelvin-verse after "the studio has done market research to determine audience interest in the rebooted cast ...that there was still lasting audience enthusiasm for Pine, Quinto and the rest of the cast in their established roles, which allowed the studio to feel comfortable with moving forward with bringing them back." A significant bump in the road is deals have not been signed with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Simon Pegg as negotiations have not even started. The hope is to start filming by the end of the year assuming they can get the actors' busy schedules on the same page.

Star Trek 4 Delayed To Christmas 2023

Paramount Pictures announced adjustments to their 2023 calendar. Star Trek 4 is being delayed to Christmas. The original planned release date was June 9, 2023 but it is now December 22, 2023.  

Personally I am all for this change as Star Trek has a better chance of finding an audience with a Christmas holiday release date rather than a jam packed tentpole fest that is the usual summer release calendar.  Especially since it is likely to be made with a smaller budget that will not allow it to compete dollar for dollar with those tentpole releases. It is also a return to tradition as all of the previous non-Abrams Star Trek films were released during the holiday season.

Next Star Trek Theatrical Movie Finds Its Director

Paramount has penciled in a release date of Star Trek 4 as June 9, 2023 giving them 2 years to get the film made.  They have now gotten the process into the next gear by hiring Matt Shakman (WandaVision, Game of Thrones) as the untitled Star Trek 4 film director.  The movie will be produced by JJ Abrams via Bad Robot production using a script written by Lindsey Beer (nothing out yet to point at) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider, Captain Marvel). 

Next Star Trek Film Release Date Revealed

After 5 years and at least 3 scripts that we know of, Paramount has finally committed to a release date for the next Star Trek film. The untitled film is penciled in on June 9, 2023. No other information was revealed. As a result we do not even know if its set in the Kelvin-verse with existing cast or will do something new. It will be produced by JJ Abrams (aka Bad Robot). In theory this movie will be based on script from recently hired Kalinda Vazquez but that is not confirmed either and is rumored to be based on an unknown script. Having said that, seems likely its her script that is being used considering her involvement was just recently announced and no point in doing that if also discussing some other script with Abrams.

Personally I still think its a mistake to release Star Trek in the summer instead of November. The 3 previous movies inability to compete against other tentpoles at the box office have only reinforced this thinking. Properly executed Trek movie is ultimately about hope, peace, and exploration (literally and figuratively) and the best time of year to convey that type of message has always consistently been the Christmas movie season that starts in November. I hope Paramount considers moving to that time period as the project moves forward.

Paramount Making Another Attempt at Star Trek Movie Script

Hopefully the fourth time is the charm as as Paramount is making yet another attempt at a Star Trek movie. This time they have tapped Kalinda Vazquez to write the script with JJ Abrams' Bad Robot remaining on as the producing company (this does not mean Abrams' is directing).

Latest Star Trek 4 Movie Script Shelved

Paramount recently installed motion picture group president Emma Watts has made one of her early decisions. Work on the Noah Hawley Star Trek 4 script has been stopped, effectively ending any chance of a film for the next 2 years. This joins the also backburned script from Quentin Tarantino and Chris Hemworth (returning as Kirk's father) script that was canned for being too expensive due to Hemsworth's salary. The Hawley script is rumored to have "a plot centering around a virus that wipes out vast paths of the known universe" so clearly the idea made Watts think "Coronavirus" which in turn made her think "best to avoid such stories". 

Supposedly the Chris Hemworth and Tarantino scripts are still in play but that also remains unlikely. Chris Hemworth post Avengers remains much in demand and so just as expensive now as was 2 years ago when negotiations fell through. The Quentin film came across as having the silent condition of only being made if Tarantino was willing to direct and he has made it clear that was not going to happen. There are ways around all of this (don't cast Hemsworth for instance, not requiring Tarantino's involvement) but I suspect this is a new boss, new office politics situation.

Paramount is in desperate need of a hit with their last big one probably Mission: Impossible - Fallout back in 2018. Since Watts is going to want her first few choices to be big hits and something she can solely take credit for (for example the next M:I film wasn't greenlit by her so doesn't really count), then likely most pre-production projects at Paramount are probably going to be stopped until its determined which are going to maximize value for the company and her reputation. So any old scripts, ideas, etc are unlikely to be pursued as coming from previous administration unless just too good to pass up and none of Star Trek scripts qualify for that or the previous bosses would have moved on them already.

End result is enjoy the ever expanding world of Star Trek TV as the movie version is done until at least 2023.

Tarantino Finally Admits Not Directing Star Trek

I have no idea why it took so long but Quentin Tarantino finally admitted he isn't going to direct a Star Trek film. The director completed work on his ninth film - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and has long said he would retire after his 10th film. Which would have been Star Trek if he agreed to it. Which he was never going to because of that retirement claim. As a result there has been a 3 or so year long dance where he hems and haws on his commitment to directing it when the decision was made probably about five minutes after he started writing on Once Upon. While discussing Oscar nominations, Deadline asked him about directing Star Trek where he finally gave an answer that was as close to "no" as your going to get out of him.

DEADLINE: Did you officially decide not to direct the Star Trek film you put in motion, the one written by The Revenant’s Mark L. Smith?

TARANTINO: I think they might make that movie, but I just don’t think I’m going to direct it. It’s a good idea. They should definitely do it and I’ll be happy to come in and give them some notes on the first rough cut.

What does this mean for the script written by The Revenant's Mark L Smith based on story idea by Quentin Tarantino? Paramount isn't going to be 2 Star Trek films into production at the same time or even a year or 2 apart so its safe to assume the script is officially shelved until Paramount get the script from Noah Hawley. Now if it turns out he is unable to turn in a script they like or "creative differences" leads to him bowing out of writing and directing Star Trek 4, then they might revisit the Tarantino concept. Until then, just assume there will be no Tarantino version of Star Trek for the foreseeable future.

Star Trek 4 Film Possible Standalone? (Updated)

Star Trek 4 writer and director Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) provided an update on this thoughts for the film with Deadline. The short of it is he is doing his "own take on Star Trek", still considering story ideas with Paramount and that there is no script yet. He also indicated he has not been given a mandate to connect the recent TV shows with the movie but did not mention anything about the previous 3 movies. End result there are ideas but no concrete story, no script and so any thoughts about being a standalone film, sequel, reboot, rehash, or whatever other theories are out there right now are far to premature to consider seriously. Below are the full quotes:

“I have my own take on Star Trek, and going back to what I loved about the series Next Generation – when a lot of franchises focus on ‘might makes right’, ‘Star Trek’ is about exploration and humanity at its best, and diversity and creative problem solving.

There’s nothing better than that moment when William Shatner puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan’s shields. It doesn’t cost anything. But it’s that triumphant feeling about outsmarting your enemy.

For me it’s about to getting to those elements of the show. I don’t necessarily find action in and of itself interesting unless it’s story. So, it’s early days, I’m still talking with Paramount and I have a take and I gotta write a script.”

“There isn’t a mandate from Paramount to connect it. And on some levels, there’s a bit of the wall, the TV version and the film version. I have my own story and want to make sure as I did with Fargo and Legion that I’m respectful to the underlying material. That I’m not unintentionally changing things that people love or feel passionate about. So, it’s important to do that research as I go.”

Missed this as an interview with The Hollywood Reporter sheds more light on the reboot possibilities.

To call it Star Trek IV is kind of a misnomer. I have my own take on the franchise as a life-long fan.

Asked if the film would involve a new cast, he responded, "Yeah, I think so. Yeah."

Pressed if anyone from the cast last seen in 2016's Star Trek Beyond would return, Hawley added, "It's early days. I don't know. But new characters often involve new cast."

Tarantino Still Not Committed To Star Trek

Now I am long on the record saying Quentin Tarantino will not direct a Star Trek film. He will happily take a writer and producer credit but he will not use his last directing slot before his long promised 10 and done retirement on a Trek film. Paramount wants him to direct. The result is a now 3 year or so wait. Recently Tarantino was asked about his future plans, despite reporting elsewhere to the contrary, he really has not changed his position which comes down still thinking about it. At most can say he finally admitted he was leaning to the "no" side of things.

“I might be steering away from it, but we’ll see. I haven’t completely decided, or talked to anyone involved. Nothing is official.”

“In a strange way, it seems like this movie, Hollywood, would be my last. So, I’ve kind of taken the pressure off myself to make that last big voilà kind of statement. I mean to such a degree there was a moment when I was writing and went, ‘Should I do this now? Should I do something else? Is this the 10th one?’ No, no, don’t stop the planets from aligning, what are you, Galactus? If the Earth is saying do it, do it.”

In the meantime, Paramount decided to hedge their bets Noah Hawley to begin writing the script to then direct.

Paramount Hires Writer and Director For Star Trek 4

After a long delay (mostly still waiting on Quentin Tarantino to give in and direct), Star Trek 4 is finally starting initial steps to getting filmed. Paramount has hired Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo, Lucy in the Sky) to write and direct Star Trek 4. There are no details on story, time frame, or budget but it has been confirmed that it will remain set in the Kelvin-verse with Chris Pine and company reprising their respective roles as the Enterprise bridge crew.

Supposedly the (now) Star Trek spinoff from Quentin Tarantino is still in the mix but personally I am not holding my breath. The director has long said and recently repeated that he is directing only 10 films and then retiring. I just do not see him wanting a studio intellectual property owned film as something he wants in his directing slate. Attached as a story creator, writer, and executive producing a Star Trek film - yes I am sure he would love that. Taking up one of his last 2 directing slots? No. For Paramount, I suspect the only way they would green light the film is only if he directs. They might, just might re-consider if JJ Abrams were to return to direct it which I guess could happen.

As for the proposed Chris Helmsworth return as Kirk's father, what little hope you might have had on that story is now most definitely dead. The high cost of then post Avengers: Infinity War Helmsworth is now even higher after the near $2.8 billion take of Avengers: Endgame had already killed it but the new hire means that even resurrecting it with a modified concept is out too.

While this is great news, just moderate your excitement. Even if the long process goes smoothly, then still looking at a mid to late 2022 2021 release date at best. Yeah my brain was thinking new year is 2021 instead of 2020. Why? Beats me.

Star Trek 4 Shelved as Director Moves On

Buried in a Deadline article about the Game of Thrones pilot is news that impacts the movie portion of Star Trek. The hired director of Star Trek 4 was SJ Clarkson. However, she has now been tapped to direct the pilot episode for the Game of Thrones sequel. A job she became available for because Star Trek 4 "has since been shelved." This has not been officially confirmed by Paramount. Directors do leave slow moving projects, but considering just how slow moving Star Trek 4 has been, the shelved comment is likely not an exaggeration. End result, with the TV series firing on all thrusters, it is safe to assume the movie side of the franchise has been retired for the foreseeable future.

Chris Pine, Hemsworth Out of Star Trek 4

It seems the future of Star Trek 4 is now in doubt as Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth deals have fallen through. Technically the movie could go forward but the rumored script always had a focus on Kirk and the mysterious return of his dad. Without either actor that means the existing script would likely have to be scrapped unless they just choose to recast both roles.

The reason for the failure to sign the two actors is pretty simple - money. The stars of both have risen significantly since the first movie, especially for Chris Hemworth. Chris Pine, thanks to the Wonder Woman films, is likely asking for a significant raise while Hemsworth is probably asking for near Marvel level bucks for his appearance which I would estimate is in the ~$10 million range. Also keep in mind with the #metoo movement that whatever pay that applies to those two would like result in similar pay being applied to Zoe Saldana with the remaining cast mates also then demanding a pay bump. Considering the $190M budget of Star Trek Beyond only returned $343M in worldwide box office, from Paramount perspective blowing ~1/3 of the budget just on salary isn't a wise return on investment. Sadly I am unable to disagree.

I do get both perspectives, especially for Chris Hemsworth. He is coming off carrying the Thor movies, Avengers 3 and general critical acclaim for whatever role he takes on. For example, he was about the only bright spot in the Ghostbusters reboot. In short, he has a strong argument to demand a high pay as he has a recent and strong argument that he puts butts in seats. Actually being true or not (cause being Marvel movies does a lot of the heavy lifting on that) doesn't matter, that is the perception that has often driven salary demands of this kind in the past.

The opposite of that argument ironically is Chris Pine. He has no proven box office record to speak of. He would point to Wonder Woman but he had nothing to do with the success of that movie. Literally any random male could have been in the same role and had the same impact box office wise. Really if need proof that he has no impact on box office results just look at his inability to put butts in seats for the dismal opening weekend of A Wrinkle in Time (which to be fair is a study on how to fail as a director in every way). In short, Chris Hemsworth can easily afford to hold the line on pay and pass on the movie. Chris Pine, frankly, cannot make the same argument despite is weird appearance in Wonder Woman 2.

What this all means is now Paramount has to decide if they are even moving forward with Star Trek 4 and then decide what new direction to take the story since the one in the works for the last year or so is out while hoping they can work something out with one or both actors. Often time pay scale in the Hollywood world is a sign of prestige in a film. For example the order that actor names appear on posters and in opening credits of a film can often be a hotly contested act when its multiple big name actors in a film that can be the result of months of negotiations to sort out (nope not kidding) and pay is similar. I don't see a scenario where Paramount is willing to meet Hemsworth's pay demands so once they resolve themselves to removing him from the equation, then Chris Pine can retain top pay and top name status which might be enough to get him to come back to the table for a payday they are willing to meet.

I guess the short of this is once again Star Trek 4 has returned to limbo and the movie future remains uncertain. At least the TV franchise's future remains strong.

Two Star Trek Movies in Works; Director Chosen

This week is CinemaCon in Las Vegas where the movie studios show off their upcoming projects for theater chains, merchandisers and more to help gain their support for their summer and later slate of movies. As part of their presentation Paramount revealed that "several new Star Trek movies" are in the works. Shortly after several was defined as "two" films. The next day it was then revealed that S.J. Clarkson is being tapped to direct the next Star Trek film. Clarkson's current credits are exclusively in the realm of television with turns directing episodes of Jessica Jones, Orange is the New Black. The Defenders and many more. More then likely the two films is the Quentin Tarantino version and alternate plan with Chris Hemsworth (Thor) reprising his role of George Kirk if the Tarantino treatment falls through.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has not officially confirmed the directing choice but the decision to tap the first ever female director of a Star Trek film was "a mandate that comes from the top, including producer J.J. Abrams." The various studios have been trying to get more female talent in the director's seat in light of the "#MeToo" movement. Her TV work seems fine but is almost exclusively drama related with little to no special effects work.

Normally I wouldn't be concerned as nothing like learning on the job but the last film I saw from a director with heavy drama experience but little special effects experience was the debacle of A Wrinkle in Time with a directing job by Ava DuVernay that can only be described as incompetent. Your average direct to video or YouTube production do a better job. She clearly couldn't figure out the green screen and compensated with a high reliance on close-ups and failed at getting necessary coverage (definition) to balance out the excessive close-ups. Her reward for such blatant incompetence and a world wide box office total of $125 million on $100 million+ production was to get hired to direct the green screen heavy "New Gods" film for DC Comics. Under normal circumstances such failure would have sidelined her from directing big budget films for a while. Other examples of bad matches include the Star Wars films with three (male) directors essentially being fired as their drama (or comedy) rich directing backgrounds did not translate into being able to handle big budget special effects driven tent pole films.

A Wrinkle in Time was supposed to start a new franchise. Instead its deader then a door nail. Star Wars could afford those mistakes and absorbed the cost of essentially starting over three times. Star Trek cannot. The simple fact is Star Trek's box office isn't strong enough to survive a single bad director, male or female. Even with "A-list" male directors of JJ Abrams and Justin Lin behind the last three films, the box office results were just barely strong enough to warrant another film. One misstep and the movie franchise will be sidelined yet again. I just hope that Clarkson's strong drama directing instincts also translate to directing heavy special effects scenes with much more skill then DuVernay's did. Star Trek's future depends on it.

Star Trek - A Quentin Tarantino Movie?

Deadline is reporting that Paramount Pictures and Star Trek's Executive Producer JJ Abrams are forming a writers room to create a script based on an idea from Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, etc.). It would be the first time Tarantino directing a theatrical film not based on one of his own ideas. Assuming the resulting script meets his approval, Tarantino might then direct the resultant Star Trek film. Tarantino is apparently a long time Star Trek fan so in theory the resultant film would feel like Star Trek even if the style and execution may not be anything the franchise has seen before. The nature of the idea, time table, and if would involve the same Kelvin-verse cast or a new cast was not mentioned.

While this is an interesting development, don't bother getting excited. This even occurring beyond the just talk phase is some very long odds as this could fall apart at any time. To start Tarantino is in pre-production on his 9th film film for an August 2019 release date. As a result, he probably would not begin pre-production on Trek until around Spring 2019 at the earliest. This assumes he doesn't take his usual multi-year break between films. Add to that he announced a while back that his intention was for his 10th film to be his last so if he is still serious about that then Star Trek would be that 10th film, which would make for unexpected feather in his cap, one he may not like. Which leads to my actual real scenario - he simply loses interest between now and then and passes anyway, regardless if the writers room script is solid and meets everyone's approval (its own mountain to be climbed). If the stars somehow align then filming could begin in 2019 for a 2020 release date but 2021 or 2022 is a more realistic date. Ultimately I would not be surprised if this doesn't go anywhere and since Paramount was disappointed with previous movies' box office results (especially the anemic growth in the international market) that also means that a Star Trek 4 will also remain on indefinite hiatus if Tarantino passes.