It’s closing in on four years since we last saw the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise on the big screen in Star Trek Beyond, and while there’s been plenty of talk of instalment (see projects from S.J. Clarkson, Quentin Tarantino, and most recently Noah Hawley), so far there’s been no official word from Paramount Pictures regarding the future of the Trek movie franchise.
Well, according to Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the Kelvin timeline, the reason the franchise has stalled is because the movies have become to expensive to make since J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot rebooted the franchise as a big budget blockbuster back in 2009.
“The fact is, Star Trek movies don’t make Marvel money,” Pegg told Games Radar. “They make maybe $500 million at the most, and to make one now, on the scale they’ve set themselves, is $200 million. You have to make three times that to make a profit.”
“I don’t feel like the last one… They didn’t really take advantage of the 50th anniversary,” he continued. “The regimen at the time dropped the ball on the promo of the film. And we’ve lost momentum. I think losing Anton Yelchin was a huge blow to our little family, and our enthusiasm to do another one might have been affected by that. So I don’t know.”
Prior to the 2009 reboot, which had a budget of $150 million, 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection had been the most expensive Trek movie, costing $70 million to produce. However, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond pushed the franchise into $200 million territory, and given the modest box office returns ($467.4 million and $343.5 million respectively), it’s not too surprising that Paramount appears to have balked at the idea of a fourth outing.
So, does this mean we’ve seen the last of the Kelvin crew? It’s certainly starting to feel that way, with Pegg having previously stated that he doesn’t believe the NuTrek cast will be featured in Noah Hawley’s project, and the Fargo and Legion creator all but confirming that back in January when he stated that he has his “own take” on the material – one which could presumably look to take the series back into mid-budget territory.
Will you be disappointed if we’ve seen the last of Pegg and company? How would you like to see the Star Trek franchise moving forward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
