Call Quentin Tarantino and tell him to hurry, the future of the “Star Trek” future is in doubt. Today the trades revealed that both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth have walked away from the negotiations table of “Star Trek 4” over a money dispute. With a script already written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay — ironically the writers whose “Star Trek 3” script was ditched in favor of Simon Pegg’s co-written version– “Star Trek 4” is essentially a go movie, but has been stalled now that its leads have walked away. Director S.J. Clarkson (“Orange is the New Black,” “Jessica Jones,” “The Defenders”) will be the first female to direct a film in the franchise’s history if Paramount somehow manages to salvage the movie.
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Hemsworth was set to reprise his role as George Kirk, James Tiberius Kirk’s father, who dies aboard USS Kelvin in 2009’s “Star Trek” reboot and would return via some time travel narrative. But scripts can be rewritten and Pine, as Captain Kirk, the lead character, leaving the project could be a gutting blow to the series that has never quite broken the bank at the box office the way Paramount would like.
READ MORE: Simon Pegg Says He Doubts Quentin Tarantino Will Direct A ‘Star Trek’ Film
THR reports say that talks between the two actors between Paramount Skydance Media, have fallen apart, and both sides have walked away from the table. Critically deals for the rest of the cast – Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and John Cho — were expected to follow, but with Pine in doubt, one wonders if the rest of the cast would want to return if they’re not all under contract (which is unclear).
The sticking points as one might imagine is money, and the offers are lower than usually presumably because “Star Trek” is just not as lucrative as Marvel pictures or the bump in popularity that Pine received in “Wonder Woman.” The trade says Pine is actually signed up for a fourth movie after “Star Trek Beyond” but that the studios are reneging on the money they promised and asking them to take pay cuts.
Pine, at least, has had a deal in place for several years. The actor, now a key player in the Wonder Woman franchise, signed up for a fourth movie when he made his deal for 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. Hemsworth has been attached to Trek 4 since Paramount, then run by the previous regime headed by Brad Grey, announced the fourth installment in 2016, although his exact status remains murky.
The new “Star Trek” films have never been huge money makers and ‘Beyond’ actually lost money making a $343 million worldwide on a budget of $190 million that doesn’t include its promotion and advertising.
It’s unclear what’s next comes next. Do Paramount and Skydance cave and pay the actors or do they recast the Kirk and try and go on from there?
Quentin Tarantino has a “Star Trek” movie in the works that he has devised a story for (but not writing himself), but even Trek actors like Simon Pegg doubt he’ll ever direct it himself. Pegg recently assumed Tarantino would be too busy for several years before the movie could get made, though surely Paramount would love to have that ready to go as an backup option.
So, what’s next in the stalemate? Stay tuned, but a midway recast of the lead character in an established franchise doesn’t seem like the best strategy for any studio trying to improve a B-list franchise. [THR]