Paramount Wants STAR TREK 3 to be like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Yesterday we learned that Paramount Pictures is looking to hire one of these five directors to direct Star Trek 3: Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious), and Duncan Jones (Moon, Warcraft).
Out of those directors I'd love to see Jones take on the project, but he's probably going to be busy developing Warcraft. Wyatt is the next best choice, and perhaps he's the studio's favorite as he just made The Gambler with Mark Wahlberg for them. Thanks to Badass Digest, we have some information on why the previously attached director, Roberto Orci, is no longer attached. One of those reasons was because the studio wanted Star Trek 3 to be more like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and Orci wasn't on board with the idea so he walked.
The site reports that Orci quit "because Paramount's notes on his script were untenable and the other was that Paramount shut the picture down a month ago and spent the time talking to other filmmakers before officially taking Orci off the project." Edgar Wright was apparently offered the opportunity to direct the movie, but his experience with Marvel and Ant-Man may have affected his decision, and he turned it down.
As for Guardians of the Galaxy being the reason why Orci quit, the site says:
"That's the movie that has a bug up Paramount's ass, and they want Star Trek 3 to feel more like Guardians. This comes on the heels of the first two movies being respectable, solid earners but not the kind of home runs Paramount needs. They want the third film to be huge, and they want it to be huge overseas especially. They look at Rocket and Groot and then they look at Keenser and they wonder why he doesn't have more of a role."
I could see the studio being inspired by Guardians, just like the rest of the studios in Hollywood. I think they could easily implement certain aspects of the Marvel movie into Star Trek, but Star Trek is its own thing. Other than giving Keenser, the small alien with silver beady-eyes, a more prominent role, there's no word on exactly how they want to make Star Trek feel more like Guardians. It could be more humor or introducing more interesting characters in the franchise like Harry Mudd.
There's no official confirmation on if any of this is true, but the site that the news came from is reliable. It's kind of weird that Orci would walk away over something like this, but maybe he was pushed to a breaking point by the studio to quit. Or maybe the pressures of developing a huge tentpole blockbuster movie like this was too much for him. He's still involved as a producer though. I personally think Paramount and J.J. Abrams have handled the resurgence of the franchise incredibly well up until this point. They shouldn't let Guardians get in the way of what they have been planning.
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, and John Cho are all expected to reprise their roles as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. No plot details have been released. No release date has been set yet, but it's believed that the plan is to release the film in 2016, as that year marks the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise.