Star Trek was given a fresh coat of paint and came roaring back into theaters in 2009. J.J Abrams directed the sci-fi reboot with a new cast of actors, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and Karl Urban. According to Box Office Mojo, Star Trek was a box office success, grossing worldwide $385 million. It was followed by two sequels, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016).
Star Trek is a very old IP (52 years) and a beloved cult phenomenon, but it’s never been a huge blockbuster-type action-adventure franchise. To be sure, it has enjoyed moderate box office success, but nothing approximating the levels of franchises like Star Wars or Transformers. And therein lies the crux of the problem.
Star Trek is not a huge moneymaker and worst yet, Paramount Pictures does not have the financial means to fully fund a new movie without investors. Star Trek Beyond, which coincided with the 50thanniversary of the series, stalled at the box office, making $158 million at the domestic box office. Despite the fact that Paramount Pictures announced a fourth movie in the series, starring Chris Hemsworth (reprising the role of Captain Kirks father), the project is up in the air.
As I have already note, Paramount Pictures cannot fund a new Trek film without financial backers, and in order to get any investors to put up money, the studio needs to bring down the production cost of the next movie. In laymen’s terms, the budget and salaries of the actors need to be cut. Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth, have stated that they want to be involved in the upcoming sequel but they are unwilling to accept pay cuts in order to reprise their roles.
So at this point the future of the Star Trek franchise is very much in doubt. Without Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth, Paramount Pictures cannot attract investors, but if both actors refuse to accept a reduction in their salaries, the studio cannot reduce the budget enough to make the film financially viable to investors. Ironically, this situation is literally playing out like the no-win scenario that Captain Kirk faced in the Kobayashi Maru test.
If nothing dramatically changes, the next installment of Star Trek is probably not going to happen. I have to admit, I would like to see one more film with the Abrams cast. All things considered they were the best part of the reboot and I will definitely miss Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy.
Sadly, the voyages of the U.S.S Enterprise seem to be over for the foreseeable future. Unless Paramount Pictures decides to sell their Kelvin-timeline/Trek reboot to another studio or media company, or a mega-rich Trekkie comes along and foots the bill for another cinematic adventure, I seriously doubt Star Trek will be in theaters for the 60thanniversary of the series.
The final frontier without Star Trek on the big screen is hardly worth contemplating … but here we are.
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