By Chris SnellGrove | Being published
Earlier this week, Paramoust was still inexplicably working on several Star Trek movies, including the fourth movie set in KelvinVinverse. Recently, the studio decided to kill that movie, which means we won’t get more of the adventures of Chris Pine’s Kirk, Spock of Zachary Quinto, or other intrepid businessmen.
Unfortunately, this is more than just another canceled movie. It’s fair to say that paramoous just killed its last hope of successfully bringing Star Trek back to the big screen.
Star Trek’s Lingking movie problem
Star Trek has had what you might call a late-night movie problem: There hasn’t been a new theatrical release since the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond disappointed at the box office. Lately, fans and critics alike have been calling the movie a made-for-movie Section 31 as the worst in the entire franchise.
Now that Paramount has finalized its merger with Skydance, the studio is looking to bring the franchise back to the silver screen. They have been anointed by their work in many films, including the fourth film Kelvinverse and Star Trek from the film.
Recently, the studio decided to drop the kelvinverse movie in favor of the new direction of the franchise. That sounds good on paper, but the film from which it’s missing includes material we’ve already seen on screen, including man’s first contact with aliens (as we saw in The first is communication) and the creation of the Federation (as we see in Business finale). Perhaps Paramount has a few more ideas up its sleeve, but based on everything we know, the kelvinverse movies mean that fans may be getting a refund of Star Trek history thanks to (AHEM) Wrath of Percon.
Star Trek is losing the numbers game
To make major changes like that would revive the Star Trek premise, which means Paramount is playing a dangerous game. What if you attract a few new followers if you lose a large number of old followers? However, if Paramount had gone on to make another kelvinverse movie, it would have easily won over new and old fans.
That’s mostly due to the stark reality that most successful bona fide films are sequels, prequels, and reboots. The fourth kelvinverse movie could be a prequel and a sequel, doubling its chances of achieving mainstream appeal. It can automatically appeal to older fans who are romantically involved with celebrities Star Trek (2009) By giving them more of their favorite characters in a successful and original universe.
Write what you know
At the same time, a new movie set in that universe would have a greater chance of attracting new fans because it contains familiar characters like Kirk and Spock. Even for those who have never watched Star Trek, these are familiar icons that are part and parcel of our collective POP culture memory. Now, Paramount is successfully gambling that young viewers will suddenly care about completely new characters and completely invented Hollywood’s deadliest sin: one phone call.
As usual, I’d be wrong: Maybe Paramount has a few more weak ideas (to use Scotty’s parlance) that the franchise has been dying for a bit years together. However, if Parimoud really killed another kelvinverse movie in favor of blue grinding, re-filled re-introduction, they’ve completely wasted their IP and ruined their creative legacy.
Star Trek is in danger of dying, and that can be a good thing. As a Lifelong fan, I’d rather see the franchise completely slay than be an unrepentant parody of its old, award-winning self.
No one is funny. So isn’t it past time for star trek to stop being a joke?
