Star Trek 4 officially removed from Paramount release slate

The upcoming Star Trek movie has officially been removed from its December release by Paramount Pictures, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

This news comes a month after Matt Shakman, who was set to direct the next instalment of the Trek movie, exited the franchise. The director had dropped out due to scheduling issues amid his other directorial project, Marvel’s Fantastic Four. Shakman had previously helmed Marvel’s WandaVision.

“Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film,” Paramount Pictures said in a statement. “We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around the world.”

The project, produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, was a top priority at the Melrose Avenue studio and was dated for a December 22, 2023, release.

Earlier in February, Abrams — who rebooted the sci-fi franchise for the big screen in 2009 — revealed that there was a new Star Trek movie in the works. “We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new Star Trek film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast,” Abrams said.

However, the announcement had surprised not just Trekkies across the globe but also the core cast which included Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña and John Cho.

According to THR, sources revealed that most, if not all, teams for the franchise’s primary players were not aware that an announcement for another film was coming, much less that their clients would be touted as a part of the deal, and certainly not that their clients would be shooting a movie by year’s end.