When JJ Abrams took on the job of ushering in the next STAR WARS trilogy, it left a void for that other lil’ sci-fi franchise he had been helping, STAR TREK. Those duties have now been handed over to Roberto Orci, confirming rumors swirling in the Bad Robot camp for weeks.
This will be Orci’s first directing assignment, which gave Paramount pause. His bid for directing the as-yet-unwritten film was backed by Skydance Productions, Paramount’s partner in the latest STAR TREK flicks. As the co-writer of the previous two films (along with former partner Alex Kurtzman), Orci has a knowledge of the material and a familiarity with the core cast, which likely swung the opinions of studio brass.
Orci has been a polarizing figure in STAR TREK fan circles, with fans deriding his script choices and penchant for social media outbursts. He deleted his Twitter account last year following a series of posts defending his work on STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. Regardless of your opinion of him, he’s got a solid track record when it comes to box office receipts: the films he’s either written or co-written to date have grossed over $1.6 billion.
Patrick McKay and John D. Payne are working on the script with Orci, with a release date of Summer 2016 being eyed by Paramount.
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