Set to open July 2016, the cast of Star Trek with their new director, Justin Lin (Fast and Furious 3-6) has began filming in Vancouver, Squamish. Actor Zachary Quinto (Spock) posted in his Instagram (zacharyquinto) account a photo of him as he prepares for his role:
JJ Abrams who directed the first two Star Trek films still serves as a producer on the still untitled Star Trek sequel.
Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the new series of films, co-wrote the script for Star Trek 3. Chris Pine (Captain Kirk), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Bones), John Cho (Sulu), and Anton Yelchin (Chekov) all return to their posts on the Enterprise, while Britsh actor Idris Elba (The Wire, Prometheus, Luther) is rumoured to be playing a villain.
THR reports that Paramount and producer-financier Skydance Entertainment recently completed last-minute renegotiations with the Star Trek stars, a move that has added as much as $10 million to $15 million to the budget. The project’s slow development process may have been partly to blame, as well as the rising star power of the actors, especially Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana.
When the original cast — Pine, Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho — signed on for the movie that re-launched the franchise in 2009, they did so with options for two sequels. Despite the fact that studios often will give stars big new deals in case of success, no re-negotiations took place for 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. Instead, the Trek cast is said to have received only the nominal raises built into their original contracts. According to sources, Paramount argued that the J.J. Abrams-directed 2009 movie, while well-received, was not a huge blockbuster, grossing $385.7 million (a relative pittance compared to Paramount’s billion-dollarTransformers series or even its Mission: Impossible movies).
Star Trek 3 arrives in cinemas July 2016.
Source: THR