The newest Star Trek film was delayed and that’s not good.
The Star Trek film franchise is undergoing its potential fourth reboot, which was supposed to happen in June of 2023, but the latest Transformers film, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, was moved to that spot instead. A bad sign for Trek fans who were hoping to see Trek sooner rather than later.
While you can argue that this gives the filmmakers more opportunities to make a film that fans will love, what it actually is saying is that the studio doesn’t have the same faith in it as it does in the Transformer film.
Sure, the new Transformer film will introduce the classic Beast Wars crop of characters into the film universe for the first time ever, but that’s not exactly as big of a deal as say the first Transformers film. It’s more of a gimmick than anything. If the latest Trek film was trending positively inside Paramount, it wouldn’t have been moved.
Star Trek being moved does have a silver lining
While it’s not a good thing that Star Trek got delayed, it does give the team a bit more time to work on the project. While the summer blockbuster is the best time to release a new film financially, the early winter months aren’t bad either. Especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
So there is a silver lining but it’s not much of one. The franchise has two films that are rumored to be in active development depending on who you ask, a fourth Star Trek film featuring Chris Pine and company and a brand new film with a new cast.
The delay could be a sign that they’re either unable to get the cast and crew from the last film, Star Trek: Beyond on new contracts, or it could be that the new head of Paramount Pictures doesn’t like the script(s) that he has for the upcoming film.
If it’s the latter, then the franchise may again get paused as the studio figures out what to do with the property.
It’s also possible that it isn’t anything to worry about and that they’re trying to reduplicate the successful formula Disney had with Star Wars by releasing Star Trek in December.