New STAR TREK movie in difficulties over pay

The fourth film in the Star Trek reboot movie franchise (which began with J.J. Abams' 2009 film) has hit a major snag in development. Star Chris Pine - who plays Captain James T. Kirk - and guest star Chris Hemsworth - who played Kirk's dad in the first film and is returning in this one, presumably as part of a time travel story - are both claiming that Paramount has reneged on their previously-agreed pay deal and have refused to commit to the project until their previous pay package is honoured.

Chris Pine and Chis Hemsworth are part of the current Chris Movement in American cinema, a period exemplified by a profusion of Chrises in major blockbuster film franchises. Peak Chris began in 2018 when Evans, Hemsworth and Pratt co-starred in The Avengers: Infinity War and will conclude when its sequel is released in May 2019.

To rewind, the reboot Star Trek franchise began with Star Trek in 2009 and continued with Into Darkness in 2013 and then Beyond in 2016. Even before Beyond was released, producer J.J. Abrams (despite being busy working on the Star Wars movies) had apparently pitched and won early approval from Paramount for a fourth film featuring Kirk meeting his father, and early deals for the regular cast and Hemsworth were put in place.

However, a major snag then developed: Star Trek Beyond, despite positive reviews and being widely credited as the best of the reboot movies (and possibly the best Star Trek movie since the release of First Contact in 1996), did not do well at the box office. It returned $343 million against a budget of $185 million, a drop of $120 million compared to Into Darkness (which had an identical budget). It only just scraped into profit via home media sales and streamings.

Paramount's interest in a new film cooled - possibly not helped by Abrams' decamping from the franchise to work on The Force Awakens (2015) - and they began exploring other takes on the series, including possibly an R-rated film directed by Quentin Tarantino, to the bemusement of fans.

However, with Abrams making himself available again after The Force Awakens and Tarantino deciding to fit in another film before the Star Trek project, Paramount decided to push forwards with the fourth Star Trek film earlier this year, possibly buoyed by the success of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access. Abrams' 2016 pitch was dusted down and put into development with new director S.J. Clarkson on board.

From the news reports, it sounds like Paramount wanted to renegotiate contracts on the basis of Beyond's underperformance. This would help lower the budget and reduce the cost of the movie compared to its forebears. Apparently the rest of the cast, including well-known (and healthily-remunerated) faces such as Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg and Zachary Quinto, had agreed to the adjustment to help get the film made. However, Chris Pine has recently established himself in the Wonder Woman movie franchise and Hemsworth has starred in six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films as Thor (including this year's $2 billion-grossing Infinity War) since his previous Star Trek appearance, and neither are willing to drop their price tag.

Negotiations are apparently now suspended, although the film's development is continuing, which is usually a sign that the studio expects negotiations to resume and the problems to be overcome. Solutions would include dropping Hemsworth's character from the film altogether and adjust the script, recasting Hemsworth (which may be viable as his character was in the first film for about five minutes), recasting Pine (much less likely) or simply meeting their pay requests, or making a new pay deal somewhere between the two stools, although this may go down badly with other actors who have already agreed to pay reductions.

Whatever the outcome, it is likely the Star Trek movie franchise will continue. In the meantime, CBS All Access has doubled down on the success of Star Trek: Discovery by commissioning a series focusing on Patrick Stewart's character of Jean-Luc Picard at an advanced age.

Paramount greenlight STAR TREK 4, put STAR TREK 5 into development

Paramount has doubled down on its commitment to the Star Trek universe. It has greenlit Star Trek 4, with S.J. Clarkson on board to direct the film. Star Trek 5, meanwhile, is being developed by a team of writers working with Quentin Tarantino.

Star Trek Beyond was released in 2016 to reasonable reviews but underperformed at the box office, leading to speculation that Paramount might rest the film franchise. Quentin Tarantino voiced his interest in potentially helming a Star Trek film last year, citing his great love of the original series and The Next Generation and saying he'd draw inspiration from classic episodes such as The City of the Edge of Forever and Yesterday's Enterprise.

Instead, it seems that Paramount has decided to press ahead with the original Star Trek 4 plan, given that Tarantino will be busy for the next year and a half or so with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Star Trek 4, based on an idea by J.J. Abrams, is a time travel adventure where Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) meet Kirk's father, played by Chris Hemsworth in the 2009 movie. Quinto has apparently already signed on and Pine and Hemsworth are in negotiations. Presumably the rest of the Star Trek reboot crew will also appear, apart from Anton Yelchin (Chekov) who sadly passed away after completing filming on Star Trek Beyond.

S.J. Clarkson cut her teeth in UK television, helming six episodes of the acclaimed 2006-07 drama Life on Mars as well as episodes of Hustle. She subsequently moved to the US and has directed episodes of Heroes, Dexter, Jessica Jones and The Defenders. Clarkson is the first woman to direct a Star Trek movie and only the eighth woman to direct Star Trek at all (following on from Gabrielle Beaumont, Gates McFadden, Nancy Malone, Roxanne Dawson, Kim Friedman, Allison Liddi and Hanelle Culpepper) in its 52-year history.

Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek movie, currently listed as Star Trek 5, is in development. It's unclear if Tarantino's movie will use the reboot cast, will be set in a new version of The Next Generation or will be some other kind of project, but according to the Hollywood Reporter the movie will be set "in a different timeline" to the rest of the franchise.

In related news, filming of the second season of Star Trek: Discovery is underway, with CBS confirming that the season - which will be partially set on the original, Constituion-class USS Enterprise - will introduce uniforms inspired by the original series' classic, colour-coded uniforms. The season is expected to debut on CBS All Access in early 2019.

Quentin Tarantino might direct the next STAR TREK movie

It's a bit of a surprise to learn that J.J. Abrams is even considering producing a fourth Star Trek movie, given the disappointing box office of the previous movie, but it's even more surprising to learn that Quentin Tarantino may be involved in the project.

Star Trek Beyond grossed $343.5 million on a budget of $185 million in 2016, meaning that the movie probably only barely broke even (when marketing costs are considered as well) and probably needed media sales and streaming sales to get that far. Although producer J.J. Abrams wanted to move on with a fourth film which would reintroduce Chris Hemsworth as James Kirk's father, Paramount has been slow to get the ball rolling on the project, possibly over cost concerns.

Tarantino's idea seems to have reignited interest in the project, with Paramount likely judging that Tarantino's involvement might at least bring in a larger audience out of curiosity to see what he does with an established franchise.

Tarantino is a big Star Trek fan, particularly of The Original Series and The Next Generation, and has said he far prefers it to Star Wars (in contrast to Abrams' viewpoint). In the past he's batted around the idea of repurposing TV episodes like The City on the Edge of Forever and Yesterday's Enterprise into films.

Abrams, who is deep in pre-production for Star Wars: Episode IX (due out in December 2019), is putting some writers on the idea and will likely produce the film if it goes ahead. Tarantino is making a Los Angeles-based movie set in 1969, due for release in 2019, so likely if the two film-makers do collaborate on this project it won't be until after then.