Paramount+ Reportedly Planning New Star Trek Movie Every Two Years

Star Trek fans are getting some really exciting news about the future heading into the series finale of Star Trek: Picard – starting with the long-awaited announcement that Michelle Yeoh is getting her own Section 31 movie. However, in a larger report about the Star Trek Universe, it's noted that Paramount+ is looking to release new Star Trek movies every two years!

A report from THR breaks down the reasoning behind Paramount's decision to go with a Section 31 movie instead of a series, with journalist Lesley Goldberg noting the following: 

Sources say Section 31 is being envisioned as Mission: Impossible meets Guardians of the Galaxy, which with the big scope of both films would make doing a weekly series a larger challenge. The plan, sources note, is for Kurtzman and company to do a Star Trek made-for-streaming movie every two years for Paramount+.

Star Wars and Star Trek are oddly in sync right now in terms of franchise viability. Both franchises are seeing strong returns on the TV front these days – especially right now, with The Mandalorian Season 3 and Star Trek: Picard Season 3 both enjoying massive hype heading into their respective finales this week (at the time of writing this). Meanwhile, neither Star Wars nor Star Trek has been able to get new blockbuster films off the ground, making the streaming market even more attractive as the go-to destination for genre franchise universes with niche appeal. 

It seems the view is that while the Star Trek TV Universe might not have blockbuster movie-sized appeal, it has enough to warrant some major event films on streaming. That is a nice middle ground between the more budgeted crossover events fans got in DC's Arrowverse franchise and the obvious cost of doing an actual theatrical feature film. 

Recently there have been numerous announcements about expanding the Star Trek universe. Star Trek: Picard is ending this week; Star Trek: Discovery is ending in 2024; Paramount+ recently renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks for new seasons, and a Starfleet Academy show is in development. There's also a Khan-focused scripted podcast on the way from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer. The news that streaming films will also be part of the plan eases some pressure on Paramount to push out new series and also creates more space for a renewed focus on Star Trek theatrical films. 

Star Trek: Picard will end this week. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 begins in June.