Author: Chris Snelgrove Published
Ever since Paramount completed its merger with Skydance, fans have wondered what’s next for Star Trek, the studio’s biggest IP. Now, Deadline reports that Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley will write, produce, and direct a new Star Trek movie that will be completely disconnected from any previous show or movie.
While the urge to create something completely new is understandable, Paramount is really playing with phaser fire here, as a Star Trek movie with no ties to other films in the franchise is destined to be a true box office bomb.
NuTrek, meet the new Trek
According to Deadline , sources said the new Star Trek movie “has no connection to any previous or current TV series, movies or previous film development projects.” The publication notes that while this information has yet to be confirmed, “it’s likely that new characters will appear in this version.” Paramount seems to want to relaunch its most famous franchise from the ground up; unfortunately, they’ve chosen to do so in a way that’s guaranteed to boost the franchise. Enter ground.
The last time the series got a major reboot like this was in 2009 star trekwhich takes place in a completely different universe. This gave the creative team an excuse to ignore much of the previous story and make a more interesting, faster-paced movie with this serious, slower-paced IP. But they have a secret weapon: The movie is filled with some of the most recognizable characters in pop culture history.
Star Trek: The Original Series The show only aired for three seasons in the 1960s, but revivals were unexpectedly popular with college students in the 1970s. This kicked off a series of revival films that continued into the 1990s. Long story short, the saturation of all this media ensured that generations of voracious consumers grew up knowing who Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise were.
paramount paradox
This leads to a paradox that modern Paramount executives don’t seem to appreciate: Young casual viewers who didn’t grow up watching “Star Trek” are still more likely to see a movie that at least features one of their characters some familiar. To them, these might just be characters their parents grew up watching, or characters they recognize from memes or silly YouTube comedy videos. Still, when a new Star Trek movie comes out, younger audiences are eager to see what these famous characters are all about, while older audiences are eager to see how well (or poorly) their favorite sci-fi franchise is handled.
All this makes star trek (2009) A blockbuster that spawned two sequels and effectively launched a new era for the series. Now, Paramount wants to make a new Star Trek movie that ignores the momentum NuTrek has gained over the years by cutting off any ties to those shows, and they’re doing it with characters no one has ever heard of. In short, it’s the worst of both worlds: Longtime fans will hate that the movie betrays decades of lore, while casual viewers will ignore the latest film in the nearly 60-year-old franchise because it has no identifiable characters.
Paramount has assembled an incredible creative team for the new Star Trek movie: Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley write Spider-Man: Homecoming (one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and directed Dungeons & Dragons: Thief’s Glory (The perfect adaptation of the world’s most popular tabletop game). They clearly have what it takes to make a fast-paced movie filled with great jokes, thrilling action, and epic set pieces. But if the studio insists on another Star Trek reboot filled with unsung sci-fi heroes, then this attempted revival could be the beginning of the end for sci-fi’s greatest franchise.
