The concept of rebooting Star Trek (again) makes sense. All three films in the recent trilogy (which also includes 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond) made over $300 million at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo), and received generally positive reviews from critics. What’s less clear, at least as of this writing, is why the studio would want to start over fresh. Multiple cast members including Quinto and Simon Pegg have spoken enthusiastically about the idea of returning to the Enterprise (per IGN), with Pegg specifically noting that “David Ellison is a big Star Trek fan… So I would love it. I would be delighted if we could make another film.”
While it seems like Pegg may not get his wish, a different actor has been eyeing a return to the Paramount lot. Variety reports that Tom Cruise stopped by the studio to “congratulate” the Skydance team on its takeover and discuss a return to Top Gun and Days Of Thunder, both of which currently have sequels in the works. Other gestating films include James Mangold’s High Side, which has been described as a “motocross thriller” starring Timothée Chalamet, and a movie about a cowboy and his dog searching for his missing daughter that sources have likened to “a Western version of Taken.”
The cowboy movie is one of several recently greenlit films that insiders have described as “America-centric” and aimed at appealing to the middle of the country. Another recent acquisition in this category is Professional Bull Riders (PBR)’s Unleash the Beast tour, which will live at Paramount for the next five years under a newly inked deal, per the trade. Paramount and PBR have not disclosed financial details, but the price tag on the agreement was likely pretty high. PBR is owned by TKO Group, which also represents UFC—the organization Ellison forked $7.7 billion to for a seven-year deal earlier this summer.
“It’s the Wild West, and these are the new cowboys,” former Sony Pictures chief Jon Peters said of the Ellison regime in Variety‘s report. “Things have changed.” We’ll see if the company can actually boldly go where no one has gone before or if the ship crashes and burns as the CEO continues to enact his vision.
