14 DAY TRIAL // After months of speculation and probably some derailed plans when J.J. Abrams, who directed the first two “Star Trek” movies in the rebooted series, chose “Star Wars” over the third installment, production on the latter is finally underway.
Paramount Pictures has set a release date for “Star Trek 3,” which is yet to receive an official name: look for it in theaters starting July 8, 2016, Variety confirms. If you’re a Trekkie, you probably guessed the significance of that date, as it marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the original, iconic TV series.
Roberto Orci, who worked as producer on the first two films, was supposed to make his directorial debut on the third, but a couple of weeks ago, he dropped out. He stays on as producer, as also does J.J. Abrams, who wrapped production on Disney’s rebooted “Star Wars” in London a while back.
Patrick McKay and John D. Payne are credited for the most recent draft of the script.
“Star Trek 3” has a new director in Justin Lin, who helmed “Fast & Furious” 3, 4, 5 and 6. We’ll see what his vision brings new to the franchise when the film comes out, but his involvement suggests that Paramount is looking to make “Star Trek” even more action-packed than it already is.
“Star Trek 3” will see Chris Pine, Zacchary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban and Simon Pegg reprise their roles. Rumor has it that William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, the original Captain Kirk and Spock from the TV series and spinoff films, will also be joining the cast for cameos.
That is yet to be confirmed but what is certain at this point is that the 3 leads only signed 3-picture deals, and because of the long development stage of each film, they’re not exactly dying to have their contracts renewed once they’re done with the third film.
