The U.S.S. Enterprise captain, James Kirk and his dad, George Kirk, may not return for Star Trek 4. Chris Pine, who played James, in the first three films, and Chris Hemsworth, who played Kirk’s dad in Star Trek, have walked away from contract negotiations with Paramount Studios and Skydance Media.

What Pine and Hemsworth are asking from Paramount is to stick to the existing deals that they originally signed on for. The studio wanted to renegotiate with the actors in order to contain their spending on the budget. The Star Trek franchise is not at the same status as a Marvel or Star Wars film has.

According to the Hollywood Reporter’s sources, they say that the Thor (Hemsworth) and Wonder Woman (Pine) stars had pre-existing deals in place, but the studios are going against their word in hopes of renegotiating contracts in efforts to stay within the budget for Star Trek 4.

Paramount has been standing their ground in contract talks by using their performance numbers from their past films. Star Trek made $386 million in 2009. In 2013, Star Trek Into Darkness made $467 million. In 2016, Star Trek Beyond only made $343 million worldwide which is a big drop from Into Darkness.

Star Trek 4 remains a priority project at Paramount and Skydance despite the fallout between the two sides. There still is a possibility that Hemsworth and Pine could renew contract negotiations with Paramount or they will get recast. Paramount still has to negotiate new deals for the other cast members in John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and Karl Urban.

Are you hopeful that Hemsworth and Pine will come to terms with the studio to return for Star Trek 4? Let us know by tweeting @SuperBroMovies on Twitter!

— Lucas Talbot

Source: The Hollywood Reporter