Chris Pine Wants Star Trek Movies To Be Much Smaller
Chris Pine wants to make a major change to Star Trek movies, one that could have ramifications on the entire franchise.
“Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.” As long as the budget isn’t too big. In a discussion with Deadline, Chris Pine feels that the upcoming and unexpected Star Trek 4 should be produced on a much smaller scale than other tentpole science fiction movies.
The 21st Century Captain James T. Kirk Chris Pine sat with Deadline in a tell-all Q&A which naturally came round to the new Star Trek movie. On the upcoming project, which Paramount announced will start shooting at the end of this year with eyes on a late 2023 release, Chris Pine has hopes to make the film on a smaller scale than its predecessors. It would be an interesting, though possibly unwelcome move for many fans who have waited for years for another big-screen installment. Check out what Chris Pine had to say:
“We always tried to get the huge international market. It was always about making the billion dollars. It was always this billion-dollar mark because Marvel was making a billion. Billion, billion, billion…I’ve always thought that Star Trek should operate in the zone that is smaller. You know, it’s not a Marvel appeal. It’s like, let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek. Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great. But make it for a price and make it…”
Chris Pine’s take is refreshingly pragmatic though Paramount may still be aiming for the biggest box-office numbers imaginable in order to fight the likes of Marvel and Star Wars. Pine alluded to the fact that these are the major players and perhaps have a much wider fanbase, citing that Star Trek has a slightly more niche group of fans.
That difficulty in the fight at the box office was evident in Star Trek: Beyond, the last movie Chris Pine and his crew appeared in. The film grossed approximately $343 million worldwide, which would usually be considered a huge return, save for the fact the film had a rumored budget of $185 million, which put it firmly in the realms of Marvel territory when it comes to expense spared. Paramount was surely hoping for more on that release, so perhaps Pine’s cautious approach is one that should be followed, especially as he mentioned making it small scale for the fans that love Star Trek.
Star Trek 4 is most definitely an intriguing proposition, especially since Paramounts announcement came just two months ago. That recent announcement makes the target of a December 2023 release quite tight, especially for a big science fiction film, unless it really is going down the path of the Chris Pine smaller approach. Another incredible facet of Paramount’s announcement was that when they told the world Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto and company were returning. This was genuine news to the cast themselves. Not only this but there is reportedly no script for Star Trek 4 at this time.
The lack of script is another thing that Chris Pine addressed when discussing the return of Star Trek, citing that without a script to look at, he is still reluctant to confirm his reprisal of spaces’ most iconic captain: “I met the director, Matt [Shakman], who I really like. I met a producer on it that I really like. I know JJ [Abrams] is involved in it in some respects. I met the new people over at Paramount, which is many different kind of relations. I really liked them. Everybody seems excited about the prospect of it. There’s just simply no — I don’t have a tangible script to look at.”
Fans will be hoping the team at Paramount has a Star Trek 4 script to work with soon, as the longer the production goes without it, the more time fans will have to wait for Chris Pine to commit to the project. However, if people are feeling nervy that Pine doesn’t have love for Star Trek, think again, as the star went on to say how proud he is to be associated with the long-running space saga; “Conceptually, I love it. I love Star Trek. Again, I love the messaging of it. I love the character. I love my friends with whom I get to play. It’s a great gig. I mean, it’s a gig I’ve had, working and not working, for 15-plus years. It cemented the career that I have now. I’m honored to be a part of it. It’s given me so much.”
There are plenty more people that share Chris Pine’s love for Star Trek and are awaiting more news on the upcoming fourth installment of the JJ Abrams reboot of the franchise. Big budget or small scale, they will all be hoping that Chris Pine is the guy in the chair.
