With Star Trek 4 being the final chapter in the Kelvin Timeline, the movie needs to excel in every way.

Even though Star Trek: Beyond grossed $343.5 million against a budget of $185 million, it was considered an underperformer at the box office while its predecessor, Star Trek Into Darkness, earned over $467 million against an approximate budget of $185 million. Into Darkness was the top performer out of all three of J.J. Abrams' films, and it was loosely based on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, with Benedict Cumberbatch playing Captain Kirk's nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh. It ended up being the highest grossing film of the franchise.

Now that Star Trek 4 is essentially a go (although we'll actually believe it when we see it), and is being written as the final chapter in the Kelvin Timeline movies, it's important that the franchise go out with a bang. There have been plenty of potential script options, including one by Quentin Tarantino, but so far, we know nothing about what will actually take place on screen. Will we have another story similar to a Star Trek: The Original Series film? And will that be enough to satisfy fans on a final note?

According to Buzzfeed, J.J. Abrams admitted that Star Trek (2009) was a "little bit lightweight" in that there wasn't really a problem that needed to be solved. It was more about Kirk and Spock defining their friendship. And though it was the best-reviewed movie, it didn't match up to the box office success like Star Trek Into Darkness did.

So, being that Star Trek 4 is finally moving toward something resembling production, it's important that the final movie ring the bell, so to speak, much like Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Territory did when it wrapped up The Original Series cast. It can't go limping out like Star Trek; Nemesis did as there won't be another chance for the crew to come together again. Star Trek: Picard enabled The Next Generation crew to fix the issues from Nemesis. Chris Pine's Captain Kirk and his crew won't have that opportunity.

Star Trek 4 could set the tone for future installments released on the big screen, and should it fail to entertain or overwhelm fans, it's entirely possible Paramount will reconsider putting another movie onscreen for a long, long time even though it has already greenlit a prequel film as the last thing Paramount can afford right now is to lose money.