Fans rousingly showed their support this weekend making Star Trek Beyond the number one movie at the box-office with an opening weekend gross of $59.6 million domestically. Although now a record-breaking number, it proves that the franchise -- one of the most enduring in Hollywood -- is still profitable. The film should easily pull a respectable number once the international returns are in, solidifying plans for its next sequel.
The continuing adventures of Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew of the Starship Enterprise have already expressed a very creative plan for their next episode on the big screen, which is expected to prominently feature a story that will focus on Kirk's father who was played in the first reboot by the star of Marvel's Thor Chris Hemsworth. With Beyond garnering much critical acclaim and a steady box office, that new installment should soon get the green light.
In the midst of it all, the 50th Anniversary of the Star Trekfranchise is in full swing, and a special panel was held this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con to celebrate all things Trek and to introduce the next phase of the franchise. Earlier this year CBS announced that they would be producing a new series to run on their subscription site CBS All Access and SDCC attendees got their first glimpse of what the future will look like when the Star Trek: Discovery was taken out on a test flight...
The impressive bit has generated a lot of buzz especially choosing a design for the Starship Discovery NCC-1031 that is reminiscent of an abandoned design for a refit Enterprise during the formative years when Star Trek Phase 2 was deciding whether to take the missions back to television or to theaters. Ultimately the decisions was made to go forward with Star Trek: The Motion Picture launching the Original Series to the big screen.
Based on the design it's still very difficult to discern where in the continuity Discovery will exactly fit in, and whether the series which is being produced by super-producer Bryan Fuller will take place in either the "prime" universe of the television series or the more recent alternate timeline established by the reboot of the films. Fuller did promise that the style of the show will be "very true" to Star Trek and faithful to its enduring legacy, and that the stories will be told in a "novel-like" style.
Star Trek: Discovery will be premiering on CBS in January 2017 with subsequent episodes premiering on CBS All Access.