It looks like the Star Trek movies could live a bit longer. And prosper.
[toggler title=”TL;DR” ]Paramount will offer the Star Trek cast new and improved deals to make a fourth movie.[/toggler]
[dropcap size=small]I[/dropcap]nitially, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the Star Trek (2009) cast signed three-film deals, but it looks as though Paramount is ready to break the bank to bring them all back for a fourth instalment. THR suggests that renegotiations for the fourth movie will cost the studio as much as $15 million, due to the rising star power of the cast and their disappointment at the third movie’s slow development process.
Star Trek Beyond (the working title of the third film) has only just started filming. Simon Pegg (Scotty) was beamed up from actor to co-writer, and the creator of The Cornetto Trilogy wants to help the movie follow in the footsteps of the Avengers films and Jurassic World and break the $1 billion mark:
‘Avengers, which is a nerdy, supposedly niche thing, made $1.5 billion. Star Trek: Into Darkness made half a billion, which is still brilliant, but it means that there’s still $1 billion worth of box office that don’t go and see Star Trek. People don’t see it being fun, brightly colored Saturday night entertainment like the Avengers. [We want to] make a western or a thriller or a heist movie, then populate that with Star Trek characters so it’s more inclusive.’
Paramount must be confident in the box-office success of Beyond, given that they are already preparing a fourth movie, and are willing to offer Chris Pine 10 times what he earned for the first ($600,000) by agreeing a $6 million deal with their Captain Kirk.
We’ll find out when Star Trek Beyond premieres on July 8th, 2016.
