With J.J. Abrams committed to direct Star Wars: Episode VII it is largely expected another director will step in to help Star Trek 3 and Latino Review is reporting G.I. Joe: Retaliation helmer Jon M. Chu is the top contender for the gig.
Abrams has already, more or less, ruled himself out telling TrekMovie, “If [Paramount wants Star Trek 3 in 2016] and if Star Wars goes forward as planned, it would obviously be a conflict. It depends when this movie would happen. And again as no formal discussions have started it is impossible to know. But in all likelihood if there is a movie sooner, there will be a different director on the film.”
Of course, this news is coming as Star Trek Into Darkness has only made $450.8 million worldwide on a $190 million budget, which is only $65.2 million more than the first. Certainly merchandising, DVDs, Blu-rays and more will make the film profitable, but I wonder just how high these Trek films can go as Paramount has yet to officially green light a third film.
Considering Abrams’ comments above it’s also very likely another Trek film could arrive in 2017 considering it took four years for the sequel to hit theaters. Question is, would Abrams stick around to direct Star Wars: Episode VIII or would he want to finish off a Trek trilogy?
This rumor also comes on the heels of a report in June that Chu would return to direct G.I. Joe 3. How will all the timing work out and is this guy really the kind of director a studio wants to put in charge of two major summer tentpole franchises? I have to assume it would be one or the other, but not both… right?
