On TV, the Star Trek franchise is booming, with two series — Discovery and Picard — on the air. On the big screen, however, we have seen no new addition to the franchise since 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond which didn’t do so well and failed to earn more than $400 million. Now, actor Simon Pegg puts some of the responsibility for the uncertain future of the cinematic branch of the franchise on the shoulders of the studio — Paramount.
In a recent interview with GamesRadar+ and Total Film, Pegg, who’s played Montgomery Scott (“Scotty”) since J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot and even took part in the writing of beyond, claimed that some of the blame for the current status of the franchise and the lack of success of beyond lies on the studio failing to market the movie as effectively as it could have. “They didn’t really take advantage of the 50th anniversary. The regimen at the time dropped the ball on the promo of the film. And we’ve lost momentum.”
The bar for the movies, according to Pegg, is high. “The fact is, ‘Star Trek’ movies don’t make Marvel money,” he said. “They make maybe 500 million dollars at the most, and to make one now, on the scale they’ve set themselves, is 200 million dollars. You have to make three times that to make a profit.”
