Last year, we had made our readers aware that the three-times Emmy-nominated filmmaker Matt Shakman, who had recently directed the critically acclaimed Marvel superhero show ‘WandaVision’, was roped in to helm the next ‘Star Trek’ movie for Paramount Pictures and franchise veteran J.J. Abrams.
However, as per the latest statement by Paramount, Matt Shakman will no longer be directing the ‘Star Trek’ movie. The apparent reason is because of scheduling conflicts with a high-profile Marvel film ‘Fantastic Four’, which Matt Shakman is in early discussions to direct.
Although an official confirmation is still awaited in this regard, Matt Shakman exiting the ‘Star Trek’ film is an indication of him boarding the ‘Fantastic Four’ project as its director. Now, the next ‘Fantastic Four’ movie would be his second feature film directorial outing after the Liam Hemsworth starrer ‘Cut Bank’ (2014).
Before Matt Shakman had helmed ‘WandaVision’, Matt Shakman’s television shows’ directorial credits include ‘The Great’, ‘The Boys’, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Fargo’, ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’, ‘Six Feet Under’, and ‘House M.D.’, etc. Amongst his upcoming projects is the eagerly anticipated Apple TV+ Godzilla and the Titans series.
Coming back to ‘Star Trek’, the cult franchise started off as a television series in the 1960s and was based on space exploration adventures that took place in the 23rd century. The franchise was taken forward by seven spin-off series and thirteen films. The last film titled ‘Star Trek Beyond’ came out in the year 2016. The combined box office earnings of the last three ‘Star Trek’ movies grossed over a whopping $1 billion worldwide.
The first two Kelvin timeline’s 21st century reboot films were helmed by J.J. Abrams himself while the third film was directed by Justin Lin. These three films featured Chris Pine in the lead role, and he is expected to reprise his role in the next ‘Star Trek’ movie as well.
The new ‘Star Trek’ movie is slated to release on 22nd December 2023. And the next ‘Fantastic Four’ film is scheduled for a theatrical release on 8th November 2024 and it will be the first film of MCU’s Phase-6.