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Paramount isn’t confirming any of this, but I’m told that there soon should be good news and bad news on the Star Trek sequel front. The good news: With his film Super 8 set for release June 10, JJ Abrams is expected to announce shortly his return as director of Star Trek 2. The bad news: Even moving at warp speed, Abrams will be hard pressed to make the June 29, 2012 release date that the studio set for the film. I’m told that the move being considered right now is to push Trek back for a Holiday 2012 release. This comes after Paramount pushed back the other franchise film in its arsenal that has Chris Pine as its star. Pine’s also playing Jack Ryan in the reboot of the Tom Clancy-created series. Pine was expected to shoot that film first, but the script wasn’t ready. Paramount hired David Koepp to rewrite Adam Cozad’s script. Koepp just began writing this week after completing his film Premium Rush.
Why is Star Trek in such precarious shape, just 13 months before its release date? The film has three top-flight writers in Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Like Abrams, all of them have been busy on other films. Kurtzman directed Welcome to People. Orci has been busy on Cowboys & Aliens and in prepping the Gavin Hood-directed sci-fi epic Ender’s Game. Lindelof has been busy working on Prometheus, the Ridley Scott film for Fox that was conceived as a 3D prequel until Lindelof came on to do a rewrite and changed the concept so much that they consider it an original. The result? It doesn’t sound like they are close to having a script that will live up to the high quality of the first film that revived a dead franchise. On the Trekkie fan site Trekmovie.com, Orci confessed this week that they have a 70-page outline, and are waiting for Abrams to commit so that they can really get going. Well, that is hardly an enviable position to be in, exactly 13 months before the release of the film. Orci suggested in the interview they could prep the film from an outline. That is hard, particularly for a sophisticated, futuristic science fiction film. This is basically what happened on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and director Michael Bay has been open about the fact that the rush to make a release date with a script that wasn’t ready hurt the film. The cost of a Vfx-heavy film rushing like this raises the budget considerably.
Don’t be surprised if Paramount and Abrams push back six months at least. While Paramount doesn’t have the Marvel movies anymore, the studio could slot its G.I. Joe sequel for that early-summer release (I’ve heard other studios are now eyeing that date, too). Unless Koepp does an amazing job quickly and gives the studio a Jack Ryan movie that’s ready to go, Pine is still expected to shoot Star Trek first. According to the studio, nothing falls into place until Abrams declares his intention for the Trek sequel.
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The president of post production at a major studio said, “We don’t make films anymore…we make release dates.
It took along time for J.J. and Paramount to reboot Star Trek, and they did a great job with a cool new franchise.
Don’t make Star Trek 2 a release date…make it a good film.
Amen.
So Adam Goodman has now blown release dates for Jack Ryan and Star Trek, two of Paramount’s biggest tentpoles? Brad Grey must love that. Yikes!
Is this particular spate of pooch screwing a result of having a limited number of assets dedicated to too many different projects?
And/or are suits too afraid to put anyone’s name on a script that won’t cover their butts in the event the film opens below expectations?
Better to release good films than the crap that’s been littering theaters lately. I’m glad Paramount is letting creative create; too many suits are slaves to deadlines.
Extremely well said.
And have a plot and a good bad guy, at least in a cliched, by-the-numbers bad guy way.
I’m a diehard Old Show trekkie. At one point, I had the names of all of the writers of all of the Old Show episodes memorized. I went to the reboot thinking I would hate the new Kirk and the new Spock.
I ended up loving all of the actors, the set design, the look and feel of the show, etc. The people who made the movie really nailed it and understood what made the Old Show tick. They even understood the conflict between Kirk and Spock that was there from the beginning.
But . . . the plot was an absolute mess, and, maybe because the filmmakers cut out something, they turned the villain into a non-entity. The actor who played the villain was fine, but, as his character was written, he had the personality of a turnip. I couldn’t understand how the filmmakers got all of the hard stuff (Kirk, Spock, etc.) right and then screwed up the Big Movie Cliche Plot part so badly.
Welcome to the Information Technology approach to getting projects done. First thing the money people do in IT is set the GoLive (release) date. Then they build a project schedule to work back to today’s date. Doesn’t matter if it’s realistic or not, that’s the schedule. And heaven forbid if it was contracted out, because the outside contractor gets paid by the schedule, not the worthiness of the final product. So if the studio wants to stick with their release date for Star Trek 2, then it will either be rushed and be mediocre, or they’ll push back the release date to get a quality product.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they moved it, and in fact I kind of hope they do. I’d rather wait longer for a better movie than have one that was rushed because Paramount set a release date two years ago right when the movie came out.
Do what Blizzard does with video games. Their motto is we will release our product when it is ready and not before.I would rather wait for a great movie than have a crappy movie released on time.
Amen bro.
Take your time, guys.
“…that will live up to the high quality of the first film that revived a dead franchise”
LOL…as a fan of Roddenberry’s originals, I find this funny.
As someone who loves the new film and found the Roddenberry films and series like Voyager (yeah, I just picked the weakest one) cringeworthy, I can tell you it’s not.
I’m talking about the original series, and the first few seasons of TNG. But you can throw in Wrath of Khan, which Roddenberry had a hand in, and was easily the best Star Trek film. The new film was a CGI crapfest that pretty much spat in the face of Roddenberry’s canon.
John, come up out of the basement, dinner’s ready!
No, I thought all of them were very boring, including the original series and Wrath of Khan. The new version took the good parts of the story / universe and made it into something enjoyable and entertaining.
The only reason people like YOU think that Star Trek was boring is because you didn’t care for the message it sends or conveys-all you care about is action and butt kicking. Hate to break it to you, but Star Trek usually tried to be more than that,and has to get back to that (even if it means making a movie similar to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
@Alpha Statuz: Wasn’t it whiny morons like you that hated the Berman & Braga era, and wanted both men gone? Now that they are, you want to kill this franchise too? Why not try getting off of your crap-encrusted spotty behind and try to write your own sci-fi show, and see how you would do it, rather than be the usual whiny fan who thinks that they’re better than the people in charge?
Actually, it created an alternate universe Star Trek, thereby leaving cannon in the original universe unchanged. It’s just the hard core Trekkers can’t seem to get over the fact that Star Trek is finally gaining respectability.
Roddenberry had very little to do with The Wrath of Khan or any of the movies beyond the first one. Harve Bennett is the man for most of those. As someone who has really only enjoyed the Trilogy of 2,3, and 4 from Star Trek and that’s it, I had high hopes for the 09 movie, but it was just blah to me. So there are all kinds of fans really-it’s just important to get the facts straight.
AC is correct: after the first film, Paramount relegated Gene Roddenberry to “Executive Consultant” status: he could give as many notes as he liked, but no one had to act on them; and, for the most part, no one did.
Considering that he proposed a storyline for the fourth film that had the Enterprise crew going back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination… good call, Paramount.
Voyager had Jeri Ryan, Picardo at the height of his powers and kicked off Robert Duncan McNeill’s rad career. The ‘weakest series’ still beats most other sci-fi series even on a bad day. Not only does everybody’s precious Star Trek reboot owe everything it is to these ‘lesser’ ‘dead franchises’, but as I certainly predicted, they have nowhere to go after blowing up Roddenberry’s universe and kicking off with some convoluted time travel story, and with the Enterprise facing off against a ship as big as a planet. The sequel will be, what, several Andorian cruisers, as per the time in which it takes place? Of course not, it will be some other too-big phenomenon that stretches the credibility of the premise. Ugh and yawn, no wonder it’s not writing itself.
Not to mention Lindof, who couldnt write a decent ending for Lost, even though he had 3 years+ to do so.
Take a month or a decade, anything JJ Abrams produces will wind up as fluffed up trash leaning heavily on VFX to supplement an otherwise shallow and pointless film. Nothing in the first reboot held a candle to the stories and characters created by Roddenberry and Berman.
Well, at least somebody agrees.
What J.J. Abrams did was make a really entertaining action movie. That’s the reason everybody else loved it, and that’s the reason that many Trekkers didn’t: because up until that point, the open secret of the Star Trek franchise was that it was not action-oriented. Whatsoever.
That one video from The Onion that made the rounds when the movie came out is really spot-on.
We sell no wine until it’s time.
To the perplexed Studio and producers… HIRE OTHER WRITERS!!! This story makes it seem like there are no other talented writers out there.
Especially considering the brainless story was the weakest part of the last film…
Anyone who thinks they will hold this for quality, doesn’t know how Hollywood works.
I love these guys as writers, but aren’t there other writers in Hollywood that could do this? I mean, they have a strong 70 page outline.
The numbers on the 2009 film strongly suggest that, on paper, that movies isn’t even profitable. It hardly made any money overseas. No wonder JJ and company seem like they’d rather do other things.
When you factor in the enormous success of the DVD sales it makes a very nice profit.
Star Trek has NEVER played well overseas. Even under the Great Bird of the Galaxy
On paper, no movie ever seems to be profitable. Not even, what was it, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which made more than .9 billion worldwide? Somehow, the brave studio execs soldier on…
If I had Vegas odds, I’d say that Universal’s Snow White will move in on this date now that both Star Trek and Relativity’s Snow White have vacated it . . .
“It doesn’t sound like they are close to having a script that will live up to the high quality of the first film that revived a dead franchise.”
Two words: FAT HANDS.
Your time guys take your time. You saw what happened with transformers 2 in terms of the movie and the script. No rush to make a great movie.
Now up against The Hobbit and Superman in Dec 2012? That’s smart. They should just say summer 2013 and take their time. Or even late November 2012 wouldn’t be too bad, but The Hobbit will dominate that holiday season.
Snyder’s Superman is a dud. Trek can coexist with Hobbit for a nice long run.
Sucker Punch wasn’t a success, but that doesn’t mean that Superman won’t be.
LOL Snyder hasn’t shot a frame of Superman yet. Shut up, troll.
“Shut up?” and name-calling? Why does the truth so threaten you? Everyone can see this dud from a mile away. Shouting at everyone for pointing it out won’t change things. Snyder had a hit an ice age ago and then three duds in a row. His Superman II remake will fare similarly. Your anger would be better suited directed at the Judge who is forcing Warners to slap this project together, regardless of how empty it is.
Did Snyder’s Superman get released and I just missed it?????? I mean..how else would you know it’s a dud???
Bryan Singer is that you?? Brandon Routh perhaps??
No.
November 2010 is far more packed than December. December is looking comparatively empty with only the Hobbit and maybe Hunter Killer doing damage. Cavill will get exposed in the Immortals bomb, and after that Supes will be a dead man walking. Meanwhile Nov has a Dreamworks animation, a Disney animation, James Bond, Twilight, 47 Ronin, and Ouiji(LOL).
“Boy, I was excited about the new Superman until I realized the star was in that Immortals movie! Therefore I am boycotting!” –Every Moviegoer
Wait, no.
“Wait this was the turd that stunk up that Immortals movie isn’t it? I’m not paying to get ripped off watching him stink up a superhero movie too!” – Every Moviegoer, watching their pennies closer than ever.
Sound about right.
Paramount should be ticked. Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof have been slow-rolling this for the last two years. But maybe that’s the studio’s fault for not riding herd on them.
I heard William Shatner is free – birng him on board and ruin the new film the way you did the first one with Spock.
Shatner needs to FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO WITH HIS LIFE other than recapture past glories as Captain Kirk. His version of Kirk is dead, let him stay that way.
In case you haven’t noticed, William Shatner has been keeping pretty busy with non-Trek projects for many years now. After a long, celebrated career in TV, books and film, he certainly doesn’t need advice from you.
Yeah, other than two series (BOSTON LEGAL & SHIT MY DAD SAYS) an incredibly lucrative endorsement and advertising deal with Priceline, and a talk show (SHATNER’S RAW NERVE) what on earth is that guy doing with his 70′s???
kurzman, orci lindeloff are awesome!
wait for a great script!
I hope that the Jerry Goldsmith theme music from the Star Trek Insurrection end credits will be used at the end of the 2012 Star Trek sequel. It would be a bonus if they include Russell Watson’s ‘Where My Heart Will Take Me’ (the excellent album version).
I hope James Kirk will have better fighting skills in the sequel and be a hardcore badass like Liam Neeson in Taken. I hated watching him lose the fights against the Starfleet officers, Spock and Nero. In particular, the fight between Kirk and Nero was pointless and anticlimactic. A wasted opportunity for an amazing and action-packed fight which would have made Kirk’s triumph at the end by avenging his father all the more emotional and uplifting. The Picard/Shinzon fight at the climax of Star Trek: Nemesis was more satisfying and even the Riker/Reman Viceroy showdown.
Four amazingly gorgeous and talented actresses (Jennifer Morrison, Rachel Nichols, Winona Ryder and Diora Baird) were wasted in the last movie and should have had more screentime.
The sequel needs a larger all-star cast with many recognisable actors making cameo appearances.
There need to be more planets and larger space battles with more starships.
I hope that James Kirk has several (human) love interests like James Bond and that they are played by Hollywood’s most beautiful young actresses.
I hope that Lady Gaga has a cameo in Star Trek 12 as a singer and her character could have dark connections to the Orion Syndicate (the mafia of the Star Trek universe) who should be the villains of the sequel. With her futuristic music and style, she would fit right in.
Midway through Star Trek 12, I’d like to see Kirk, Spock and McCoy go undercover to a concert of hers on a distant planet like with Diva Plavalaguna in The Fifth Element (1997). When she sings Bad Romance, Paparazzi, Poker Face or Just Dance, her show could be raided by Syndicate henchmen who have a thunderous phaser fight with Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
I was really disappointed that they killed off George Kirk in the last one. Chris Hemsworth gave a tremendous performance and the scene at the beginning of the film was heartbreakingly sad. It is unfortunate that they won’t revisit the character and now Hemsworth’s career is going to explode when Thor is released, it is highly unlikely he will ever reprise the role. It would have been good to have even done a film centred on George Kirk and shown how he got together with Jennifer Morrison’s character, Winona Kirk. When it was announced that James Kirk’s parents would be included in the film, it seemed that there would be several flashbacks with his parents in them but this did not turn out to be the case.
There better not be any scenes cut from the sequel. All of the cut scenes should have been included in the last film. J.J. Abrams made a bad call removing the Rura Penthe scenes. He said that the test audiences were confused by those scenes in particular. I am at a loss as to what was so confusing about the inclusion of the Klingons in the film. It was absolutely shocking to leave such a huge plot hole regarding where the villains were for 25 years. It makes them look lazy and stupid on top of the fact that they were superficial. Nero and Ayel would have had more depth at least as well.
Whether they admit it or not, when J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman came up with the alternative reality idea, they automatically came up with a way to include William Shatner in the film series. As this is an alternative reality, this new James Kirk can go on to live a long, full, rich and happy life, get married and have a family. A flashforward of an old James Kirk played by William Shatner would suffice just like when Harrison Ford made a special guest appearance on The Indiana Jones Chronicles television series.
This is either brilliant satire — in which case I applaud you. Or else it is the worst collection of bad ideas and dumb suggestions I’ve ever seen. (Music from Insurrection? Lady Gaga? No cut scenes? WHAT?!)
Either way, it gave me a good chuckle, so thanks.
How do you go up against the Hobbit? You really think the people who are choosing between Star Trek and The Hobbit are going to go see Star Trek, NO!
The few that make that mistake will be telling all their friends how bad the Star Trek movie was and their friends will be telling them how good The Hobbit was so come the second weekend when Star Trek drops like a rock the Hobbit will be locked in at number one again.
So only one movie can be released in December? All other movies are “going up against” that one movie? LOL. December only has one date all movies must be released on? LOL. Why wouldn’t they release Star Trek on a different week than Hobbit? Gasp! Such a mind-bending idea! Or hey, they can put it against Superman. Star Trek will crush that.
Relax, dude. If the movie is good it will find it’s audience.
I’m just glad they have a 70-page outline. How about a full script? Let’s stop making movies from 1/2 page treatments.
this all just makes me laugh, the lack of vision from the bone heads at paramount is just staggering.
To be clear, if this report is accurate paramont is taking the position that they only have 3 writers that they have any competence in for this project.
What inept management, its no wonder at all that the industry as a whole is in so much trouble.
keep it up numb nutts, soon apple will step in to own the wreckage that your industry is fast becoming
Paramount should wait for a tight screenplay, otherwise they would really be shooting themselves in the foot. I’d rather wait a few months to enjoy a great movie experience, as I did with the first STAR TREK, than to watch what could possibly be a brilliant franchise crash and burn from greedy carelessness. Just give them the time they need, then schedule it accordingly.
JJ now believes his own preferred plot devices involving tiem travel. He’ll simply take as much time as needed to make the Star Trek sequel, then go back in time to June 2012.
And JJ, please, not in 3D!