Future Star Trek Movies Won’t Be In Theaters
With the future of Star Trek films currently a mystery, a new rumor suggests that the franchise might release new films directly through streaming.
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Star Trek fans have had a lot to get excited about in recent years, with a number of new shows hitting various platforms and a continued commitment to expanding the universe. As the Star Trek television universe keeps growing, a new rumor states that new Star Trek movies are in development which will be planned to go directly to streaming.
It’s not that surprising that there is plenty of work going on into the future of Star Trek. The franchise has gotten something of a revitalization from recent shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard debuting on the streaming platform CBS All Access. There have also been plenty of rumors around future film projects that may or may not be happening. But the rumors that new movies will be made to specifically debut just on streaming is certainly an exciting turn of events, in line with the trajectory of the current movie business.
Details around the actual projects are a bit thin right now though, with Disney+ and HBO Max recently making big splashes around some of their tentpole franchises, it stands to reason CBS All Access is in the same boat with Star Trek. The streaming service is planning a pivot in the not-to-distant future and will rebrand as Paramount Plus, casting a wider net over different productions and properties. Apparently, Star Trek will be one of the core pieces of that transition and potential growth.
What those projects and movies could be is mostly all speculation right now. There was talk of the franchise going the R-rated route with a film written by Quentin Tarantino, which would signal something of a pivot away from what’s mostly been a wholesome franchise. Those two rumors aside, it doesn’t look like a Chris Pine-led continuation of that franchise is in the works, considering all signs point to Star Trek 4 having been shuttered for good. There was also a Noah Hawley-led film project in the works, which had garnered some buzz, but that was recently put on hold.
Currently, CBS All Access is home to Star Trek: Discovery and Picard with a bunch of other shows on the way including Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and Section 31 all confirmed. There are rumors about Star Trek uniting past captains in a big crossover production, although it’s unclear when this could be happening, if at all.
Considering Star Trek’s decades-long staying power and the considerable buzz it still receives when new projects are released, having more movies come directly to streaming makes a lot of sense. While it appears CBS/ Paramount very much wants to continue making these films, the amount of starts and stops around different ideas is more than a little concerning.
But this is a new world when it comes to major films coming to streaming services. Gone are the days when franchises needed to worry about debuting big at the box office to crazy numbers. With more movies and franchises headed straight for dedicated streaming services, Star Trek could be well-positioned to put out a number of smaller films in the franchise that caters to fans, without having to worry as much about mass appeal. Whatever the path this franchise takes, it will almost definitely be great for the Trekkies out there.
