The ‘Star Trek’ saga is one of the most important in the history of film and television. Started in 1966, it has given rise to a multitude of films and series, but there is a project that seems to be so jinxed that it is surely not the only one that is beginning to doubt whether we will ever see it. I mean ‘Star Trek 4’.
On paper, the fourth film in the franchise with chris pine like Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock seemed inevitable. The relaunch led by JJ Abrams in 2009 it had been a success, achieving an even greater financial triumph two years later with ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’. And even before the arrival of ‘Star Trek: Beyond’ in theaters, another adventure aboard the Enterprise was being thought of, but six years have passed and we are still waiting.
Doubts take little time to arrive
The first problem came with the fact that ‘Star Trek: Beyond’ was a box office disappointmentsince it is true that it entered 343 million dollars, but it had cost 185. Furthermore, that same year anton yelchin he died in a tragic accident, although it was quickly confirmed that they were not going to sign another interpreter to replace him as Chekov.
The initial idea was to bring back Chris Hemsworth, who had given life to Kirk’s father during the start of the first installment, but the 50 million losses that ‘Star Trek: Beyond’ generated raised some doubts at Paramount. Some doubts that were increased when it was learned that Quentin Tarantino had presented an idea to make a movie in the saga.
This led to the development of two projects in parallel. The first was to continue with the idea of Hemsworth’s return, but problems were not long in coming, as Paramount wanted to cut costs, which was denied by Pine and Hemsworth. Thus, that project ended up being shelved already in 2019.
On the other hand, Tarantino flirted for years with the possibility of making the film, but another screenwriter was hired to develop the idea of the author of ‘The Hateful Eight’, who already dropped then that he would direct it if his schedule allowed it, but at the end of 2019 he left it, clarifying shortly after that maybe it was done, but not with him behind the scenes. And maybe it will happen, but it doesn’t seem very probable anymore.
A project too rough
In parallel, Paramount announced by surprise that the fourth installment with Pine, Quinto and the others was reactivated, now with noah hawley (‘Legion’) being chosen to write and direct it. A change at the head of Paramount led to the project being frozen and a year after its announcement it had already been cancelled.
Already in the summer of 2021 he signed Matt Shakman, director of all the episodes of ‘Scarlet Witch and Vision’, and in February of this year it was announced in style that ‘Star Trek 4’ was back on track with the protagonists of the previous three. The problem is that the announcement was made without having reached any agreement with the actors, as revealed by Karl Urban soon after, also confirmed by Pine this summer.
That made Paramount’s plan for Star Trek 4 to shoot in late 2022 impossible, likely behind Shakman’s departure late last August to direct Fantastic Four. Furthermore, Quinto commented in November that “there’s nothing about a fourth ‘Star Trek’ movie that feels real right now“Come on, what about you?”oca to start over, and who knows if with this cast or if they will opt for a reboot…
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