While cast and crew have assembled in Vancouver this week to begin production on the third film in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Beyond, it seems the studio is looking to the future in a whole different manner.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the franchise’s two main stars, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, have re-negotiated their contracts for the upcoming film and netted themselves a hefty amount money in the process. What this re-negotiation also did was allow Paramount to add in a piece to their contracts that optioned a fourth sequel in the franchise, if the studios decide to do so. While most of the main cast had re-negotiated contracts, Paramount made sure that the contracts locked in Kirk and Spock if there were to be a fourth film. Sorry, Bones, looks like the original trio is more of a duo now.
The contract re-negotiations came about after the original contracts signed by the cast from 2007 expired under California law. The expiration, of course, was caused by the many production delays that pushed the film back. Thanks to the studio’s struggle to lock down a director for the threequel, Pine was able to net a sum of $6 million for the potential fourth film, thanks to his rising star power. That would mean if a fourth film were to happen, Pine would walk about with ten times the amount he earned for the original rebooted film in 2009. If the Green Lantern rumors prove true on top of this, we could be seeing a lot of Mr. Pine in space in the coming years.
What do you think the name of a fourth Star Trek should be? Let us know in the comments below or tweet them at me, @MattDelhauer.
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HT: THR
IMAGE: Overdue Review
