Quentin Tarantino expressed interest several times on working on a Star Trek movie, and now that is becoming a reality. Earlier this week, it was reported that Tarantino had successfully pitched his idea for the next theatrical Star Trek tale to Paramount Pictures, and now a writers room is being assembled to hash this out further. It remains to be seen if Tarantino will direct this installment or if those duties will be passed to someone else, but either way, it will be R-rated. In other words, the next Star Trek movie will boldly go where no Star Trek movie has gone before.
One of Quentin Tarantino's requirements for working on this Star Trek movie is that like the rest of his movies, it needs to be stamped with an R rating, and J.J. Abrams and Paramount have agreed to that condition. Until now, the Star Trek movies, from 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture to 2016's Star Trek Beyond, have all been rated either PG or PG-13, so this will be new territory for the Gene Roddenberry-created franchise. (Though it is worth noting that CBS All Access' Star Trek Discovery recently dropped an f-bomb, an R-parallel first.) While PG-13 blockbusters are usually better at drawing in bigger crowds, there are some exceptions to this, like last year's Deadpool. Perhaps Star Trek can similarly be lucky. For Tarantino, nailing down the R rating now is important should he end up sitting in the director's chair, as it will allow him the same type of creative freedom that he's had with all his other cinematic projects, like Pulp Fiction and The Hateful Eight.
Along with Quentin Tarantino's rating demand, Deadline also reported that the Star Trek movie's writers room included Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer and Drew Pearce. Those three shared ideas with Tarantino, but only one of them will get the job of penning the script. As things stand now, it looks like Smith is the frontrunner for the gig. His previous work includes Vacancy, Martyrs, The Revenant and the upcoming Overlord. Whether Smith gets the job or one of the other two candidates, they'll be drafting the new Star Trek movie while Tarantino works on his ninth movie, which is set in 1969 and will explore events like the Manson Family murders.
Shortly before Star Trek Beyond's release in July 2016, it was announced that the fourth movie set in the Star Trek Kelvin timeline series would see James T. Kirk meeting his father, Chris Hemsworth's George Kirk. However, with Quentin Tarantino's idea picking up steam, it would appear that this family reunion story has been thrown out the airlock. We'll be sure to keep you updated as more details about the next Star Trek movie come in.
The new Star Trek movie doesn't have a set release date yet, but you can see Quentin Tarantino's next movie on August 9, 2019. To find out what's hitting theaters sooner, look through our 2018 premiere guide.
