Guardians Of The Galaxy May Have A Gigantic Effect On Star Trek

As James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy box office numbers began to soar when the film was released this past summer, the big studios began to notice something: audiences really like big, sci-fi space adventures. The Marvel Studios was as much a comedy with oddball characters as it was a big space-set action adventure, and its success has already been having a big impact on the industry.


In a write-up about the shortlist of directors that are currently being looked at to replace Roberto Orci at the helm of the 2016 blockbuster, Badass Digest has revealed insider information regarding what was at the center of the disagreement between the filmmaker and Paramount Pictures, and the answer is Guardians of the Galaxy/em>. According to the site, Paramount wants Star Trek 3 to be made with the same kind of sensibilities as the Marvel Studios blockbuster, and because they felt that Orci didn't share their vision, they "basically forced [him] to quit." There aren't many details beyond that, outside of the mention that the pre-production team working on the movie was completely surprised when reports came down that Orci was no longer going to be at the helm of the project.

While the goal of making Star Trek 3 into something more like Guardians of the Galaxy is certainly a lofty one, as history has shown us it's not always easy to create a perfect blend of comedy, drama and action, but the big thing gnawing here is the scary idea of sci-fi homogenization. There are few genres out there that can really expand the limits of creativity and imagination, and if Hollywood's output all just starts to feeling the same then we will lose something important. I'm not saying that the Star Trek franchise shouldn't take a few pointers from what Guardians of the Galaxy did right, but at the same time there is a very real value in Star Trek being Star Trek, bringing its own voice to the pop culture table (a voice that's been a part of pop culture for nearly half a century.

While Roberto Orci is out of the director's chair on Star Trek 3, Rupert Wyatt (The Gambler), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 6), and Duncan Jones (Source Code) are reportedly now the top candidates to replace him, and there's a good chance one of them will be announced as having the job soon. After all, the production really wants to have a release date lined up with the 50th anniversary of Star Trek in 2016, and in order to do that filming has to start next year - and they can't do that without someone at the helm.

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