The big screen arm of Star Trek has been clouded by uncertainty over the last couple of years, with conflicting reports making the rounds about what the future holds for the crew of the Enterprise. The canonical fourth installment saw Chrises Pine and Hemsworth jump ship, although the former eventually agreed to return, while original director S.J. Clarkson also departed.
Legion creator Noah Hawley then signed on to write and helm a mystery project, which many assumed to be Star Trek 4, but the filmmaker’s comments made it sound like he was planning to reboot the series yet again. Simon Pegg played a main role and co-wrote the script for the last outing, Star Trek Beyond, but even he had no idea what was going on with the cast of the Kelvin timeline and didn’t sound too confident about their chances of returning.
Quentin Tarantino’s proposed R-rated movie, meanwhile, was more of a pipe dream than anything, and The Wrath of Khan producer Robin Sallin was apparently also working on a pitch. But even though there are currently four different Star Trek films in various stages of development that would all approach the material from widely different angles, the latest rumor claims that none of them will be happening, as Paramount are set to give up on making feature length stories altogether at this stage.
“Paramount is no longer in the business of making Star Trek movies,” claims a new report. “They see it more as a television property and aren’t willing to invest in future Star Trek movies anymore. If one of the shows on CBS takes off that could change, but those shows aren’t generating enough interest.”
While this shouldn’t be taken as gospel, the franchise has certainly suffered enough setbacks recently that you could imagine the studio executives getting frustrated at the lack of movement, and the Kelvin timeline didn’t really pull in the sort of box office numbers expected from $150 million effects-driven blockbusters. Star Trek is still popular on the small screen, no doubt, but given the lack of forward momentum, it wouldn’t surprise us to see Paramount end up pulling the plug on cinematic adventures.
