Chris Pine Wants To Make A Lower Budget Star Trek Movie For Star Trek Fans

Chris Pine wants to return as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek 4, but he has his own ideas about how to make another Star Trek movie to please the fans. Pine and the cast of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) won over skeptical Trekkers by embodying the iconic characters of Star Trek: The Original Series while injecting them with youth and verve. Pine would play an older Kirk in his 40s if Star Trek 4 gets off the ground, which is an idea that interests him.

Speaking to fans at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024 (as reported by PopVerse), Chris Pine, who recently directed his first feature film, Poolman, spoke his viewpoint about which audience Star Trek 4 should cater to. Not only does Pine think Star Trek 4 should be made for "diehard" Star Trek fans, but he suggests a smaller budgeted film with less action and fewer explosions that's more story and character-driven. Read Chris' quote below:

It was always about getting the audience and building the audience. I think what we’ve found is that we’ve captured an audience with the Trek universe that may not have come to us, but generally speaking, it’s the diehards. I think we should make films that appeal to people who want to see the film. I’m sick of trying to please people who don’t want to see what we do.

We’re at a place where to make a film, you make it for like $500 million. That’s half a billion dollars to make these films that you like. For it to be considered successful and everyone to be paid back, you have to make extraordinary amounts of money. The metrics of it don’t seem to make much sense to me.

I think we [should] just make a much smaller film that’s more story-driven, more character-based, there’s less sh*t exploding, and maybe do it that way. Also, shoot it on film, not digital. And then you have the fanbase. The fanbase has always been very kind to me. Obviously, there’s the trolls that lurk on the internet that hate everything, but generally, I think people really liked [our Star Trek movies].

Will Star Trek 4 Be A Lower Budget Star Trek Movie Made For Fans?

Chris Pine's idea has merit

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies were designed as big-budget action blockbusters, and they brought a scale and cinematic quality the Star Trek franchise never had before. But while Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness were financially successful, Star Trek Beyond underperformed, comparatively. And while Abrams' Star Trek movies did bring in a general audience, they still pale in comparison to the box office numbers Star Wars and Marvel Studios' films achieved at their height, which indicates the limits of Star Trek's audience.

Perhaps Chris Pine's vision for a smaller-scale, more character-driven Star Trek 4 is the right way to go, which could also make the film align with the more story-centric approach of the Star Trek TV series diehard fans prefer. However, it's unclear what Paramount Pictures intends for Star Trek 4 as they continue to develop the next movie over 8 years after Star Trek Beyond left theaters. Paramount considers Star Trek a 'crown jewel' franchise, and it's likely the studio still envisions Star Trek 4 as a blockbuster film instead of the lower budget, story-first approach Chris Pine wants to take.