Star Trek 4 "Getting Close To the Starting Line" Says Paramount President

By Jamie Lovett

It sounds like the next Star Trek movie is nearing its start date. Despite doubts from its stars, recently appointed Paramount Pictures President Brian Robbins tells Variety that the fourth Star Trek movie featuring the "Kelvin Timeline" cast is "getting close to the starting line." Producer J.J. Abrams announced the film during a Paramount investor day presentation, catching the returning cast off-guard. Since then, Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires have been revising the film's original script by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and WandaVision's Matt Shakman has signed on to direct. Robbins didn't offer any specific dates, but it sounds like the film is nearing production, and why the studio decided to bring back Chris Pine and crew after all.

"We're deep into it with J.J. Abrams, and it feels like we're getting close to the starting line and excited about where we're going creatively," Robbins says. "I'm a research nerd, and what the data tells me is that the audience wants that cast in this movie."

Robbins is also looking ahead. During the interview, he touched on how he has multi-year plans in the works for all of the studio's major franchises, including Star Trek.

"Going forward, I'm focused on our franchises," Robbins says. "We are fortunate in that we have amazing franchises, which we need to lean into. We have adult franchises like Mission: Impossible, A Quiet Place, Transformers and Star Trek. And we have family franchises with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and SpongeBob. You've got to have multi-year plans for these franchises. You can't just make a movie, see how it does, and then decide to make another one, because if you do that, it will be years between sequels. Like Sonic, we're going to take a spinoff character Knuckles, and do a miniseries on Paramount+, which will transition us into the third Sonic movie with lots of Easter eggs. That planning is what I'm focused on, as well as filling out the slate with filmmakers that we're passionate about who want to tell stories that they have passion for. That allows us to greenlight things like the new movie we have from Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the South Park guys, who are working on a movie with Kendrick Lamar that's so far out, it could break through the zeitgeist."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section. Star Trek 4 is scheduled to open in theaters on December 22, 2023.

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