Justin Lin is directing Star Trek XIII

[Relayer1]

I love F&F movies. And not just because I'm a petrolhead.

They are more substantive than some people give them credit it for. While they're not great dramatic film by any stretch, they're definitely more than just "random action scenes cut together."

More importantly though, Lin seems to have improved with each outing. The first two he did were a little rough around the edges, but last two have both been solid films anyone should be proud of. This shows he's growing as a filmmaker.

I'm far from a petrolhead - I can't even drive !

I avoided the F & F movies for years before I caved. I loved them - far more than the dumb sh!t I expected, and they get better as you go. There's a really neat retcon with the 3rd movie and it's 'follow ups' that I doubt the minds behind most franchises would come up with or have the nerve to do. It shows an unexpected degree of care and attention.

They're a lot of fun and better than you might expect...

 

[Cinema Geekly]

I'm a little more than surprised that several people think making Lin the Director will somehow earn Trek more money.

At the end of the day Trek is still what it is. Granted it is doing monetarily better than ever as a property but it's a Sci-Fi franchise and it's not even on the top of the heap for said films. I'd say most casual moviegoers would easily pick Star Wars or GotG over a Trek if given the choice. Oh.....and especially Transformers.

For as wide as Bad Robot has made the door for Trek fandom it is certainly nowhere near as wide as the door for the F&F movies. Cars, babes, manly men with guns, scene after scene of crazy stunts, and lots of non outer space related booms.

So unless Lin is putting Trek on the ground, back in time, and with the cast of the F&F movies it isn't going to approach those numbers.

I think Trek 3 has the potential to earn more than STID but I can't imagine it being much more.

 

[CorporalClegg]

"Not much more" pushes it over $500m world wide. That puts it in a different class.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Justin Lin? Why not.

 

[fireproof78]

I'm a little more than surprised that several people think making Lin the Director will somehow earn Trek more money.

At the end of the day Trek is still what it is. Granted it is doing monetarily better than ever as a property but it's a Sci-Fi franchise and it's not even on the top of the heap for said films. I'd say most casual moviegoers would easily pick Star Wars or GotG over a Trek if given the choice. Oh.....and especially Transformers.

For as wide as Bad Robot has made the door for Trek fandom it is certainly nowhere near as wide as the door for the F&F movies. Cars, babes, manly men with guns, scene after scene of crazy stunts, and lots of non outer space related booms.

So unless Lin is putting Trek on the ground, back in time, and with the cast of the F&F movies it isn't going to approach those numbers.

I think Trek 3 has the potential to earn more than STID but I can't imagine it being much more.

I'm not sure I agree. If the point was to make Star Trek more audience friendly, Abrams already set the ground work for that.

I am not a huge F&F fan, but Fast Five was a bit of a gut punch for me in terms of showcasing some more character moments. As much as Lin relies upon the marketing of cars, babes and guns, there is a lot of heart underlying these films.

I think it shortchanges Lin to say that he has to make Star Trek 3 like F&F 7. The two are two different genres and should be treated differently. I just did a quick read of Lin's work, and he doesn't read like a one trick pony-he has a variety of credits to his name, including both TV, documentary and movie work.

To be quite blunt, I think he deserves a chance to show his stuff.

 

[Cyrus]

I haven't seen any F&F movies, but I guess I will give it a try now. Lin's directing resume is better than previous Trek directors except Wise and maybe Abrams.

 

[Ryan8bit]

I'm a little more than surprised that several people think making Lin the Director will somehow earn Trek more money.

I think it's more surprising that they care.

 

[Cyke101]

once again. Trek has finished second to star wars. star wars gets the big guns critically acclaimed director like JJ abrams

Umm, Trek had Abrams first...twice. Star Wars is getting our sloppy thirds.

and trek gets a nobody.

Director of one of Hollywood's most succesful franchises. And his last 3 F&F movies made about 1.7 billion worldwide.

For me box office is irrelevant. box office has never shown quality. a film can earn loads of money and still be terrible. I am scared so much that I am shaking in my legs I thought STID was really a shallow film and now trek 3 may be even more shallow.judging from the director. having sex on top of a car, women there just to be sexy (and you think carol's strip scene was bad), silly action scenes. should I go on?

this is bad to me. I have a bad feeling and most of the time I am right.

also trek in not like F&F , if trek does not have a good word of mouth. it will collapse at the box office.

I feel like at this point, you'll say the opposite as long as it's a negative response. If, in some alternate world, Lin had a string of critical arthouse darlings but didn't pull in big numbers (like Better Luck Tomorrow), your complaints would likewise reverse so as to put down NuTrek yet again.

Obviously, this is terrible news.

Lin's movies are pathetic. His cringe-worthy list of credits are as bad as Orci's.

Paramount was disappointed STID was unable to get the younger demographic of other big budget summer movies. I think they hope to change that by hiring Lin.

Oh yeah, I know. STID sucked so bad it only made half a billion dollars, and achieved critical acclaim, like its predecessor. Now they think they can make a third movie using that loser formula that has failed them so far? Hah! Well, I'll show them: I'm only going to go see the movie four or five times. That will show them.

I didn't like STID, but this news makes me almost as hopeful as when news about Abrams and ST09 first broke out. They can't all be winners in my book but I'd love to see Lin give it a shot nonetheless. And I really do hope (and am confident) that he'll pull out some great performances from the rest of the senior crew.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Losing a loved one is terrible news. This is just a movie.

CONTEXT
con·text
noun

the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.

We're on a message board talking about a film franchise.

Yep. And "terrible news" still is a poor way to express your displeasure over a movie. Tends to make one look like one of the "Roddenberry's Vision" loons.

And if Brad Bird got the gig and I called it great news would you dismiss that with "having a baby is great news. This is just a movie"? Is "great news" a poor way of expressing one's excitement over a movie?

Come on, it's fine to look to this film either with optimism or cynicism. I'm sort of a mix. I like Lin's work, and FAST FIVE was actually the reason I bothered plowing through the first four films because of how good I heard it was. It certainly is the best of that franchise (never saw 6). At the same time, however, Orci's involved, and that puts a lot of doubt on this project for me unless Lin overrides him.

 

[Smellmet]

I haven't seen any F&F movies, but I guess I will give it a try now. Lin's directing resume is better than previous Trek directors except Wise and maybe Abrams.

I've only seen the first one years ago, so I'm gonna do the same. At least we've got an experienced director with a proven track record signed up, I'm much more confident about the project than I was with it stumbling about with Orci at the helm.

 

[Amaris]

I feel like at this point, you'll say the opposite as long as it's a negative response. If, in some alternate world, Lin had a string of critical arthouse darlings but didn't pull in big numbers (like Better Luck Tomorrow), your complaints would likewise reverse so as to put down NuTrek yet again.

I've been seeing this all over Facebook, too:

"Hey guys, Bob Orci may direct!"
"Oh no, we're doomed!"
"Bob is off the project! Justin Lin will be directing the film!"
"Oh no, we're doomed!"

Many of these people are also saying "Bring in Frakes" which is silly. Don't get me wrong, I love Jonathan Frakes, and if he did get it, I think it would turn out okay, but the last major motion picture he directed was 10 years ago, and it bombed. The previous film he directed 12 years ago bombed, and the movie he directed 16 years ago, which was a Star Trek film, bombed.

That's one out of four from 1996 to 2014. If anything, it shows that such people don't want new, they want the same taste, with the same ingredients, and the same recipe, just with "new and improved!" on the label. That's why every new tidbit of information brings out the calls of doom from these same people, because anything other than "we're abandoning this JJTrek!" is going to be met with that fear of something different.

I didn't like STID, but this news makes me almost as hopeful as when news about Abrams and ST09 first broke out. They can't all be winners in my book but I'd love to see Lin give it a shot nonetheless. And I really do hope (and am confident) that he'll pull out some great performances from the rest of the senior crew.

Which is a healthy mindset to have. I guess I don't get the desire for some to openly hope against hope that the new movie fails. They don't realize that if the new movie fails, we're not going back to good ol' Star Trek as they know it. Likely, Paramount would just shelve it for a while, figuring absence would make the heart grow fonder.

CBS, upon seeing the pretty new movie hit the dirt hard, won't even consider dropping money on a series. What people don't realize is that the TOS crew aren't coming back as a whole. The TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT crew are not coming back as a whole. That ship has sailed, the chapter is complete, the book is closed. It is done. Finished. No mas.

What people need to hope for is a well written, enjoyable engaging action/adventure science fiction movie with great characters and an engrossing story. Whether they like it or not, if it happens, it will happen with this crew, and these actors. People need to wish them well, not hope to bury them.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Speaking of Orci...

Thank goodness he's not directing this. It would have been an utter disaster with him directing. And yes, I know that for a fact because I have mutant powers that can predict tomatometers and box office grossings in the hypothetical future.

 

[Greg Cox]

I think it shortchanges Lin to say that he has to make Star Trek 3 like F&F 7. The two are two different genres and should be treated differently. I just did a quick read of Lin's work, and he doesn't read like a one trick pony-he has a variety of credits to his name, including both TV, documentary and movie work.

To be quite blunt, I think he deserves a chance to show his stuff.

Amen.

Hiring Lin doesn't mean that the next movie is going to be "The Fast and the Furious" in space any more than, say, hiring Meyer meant that THE WRATH OF KHAN was going to be "The Seven-Percent Solution in Space."

Heck, Robert Wise had previously directed sci-fi, horror, and two Oscar-winning musicals. Yet nobody worried that TMP was going to be "West Side Story in Space."

Directors can be more versatile than people want to think. And it can be a mistake to take a young director's resume as proof that he's a one-trick pony.

I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Cinema Geekly]

I'm a little more than surprised that several people think making Lin the Director will somehow earn Trek more money.

At the end of the day Trek is still what it is. Granted it is doing monetarily better than ever as a property but it's a Sci-Fi franchise and it's not even on the top of the heap for said films. I'd say most casual moviegoers would easily pick Star Wars or GotG over a Trek if given the choice. Oh.....and especially Transformers.

For as wide as Bad Robot has made the door for Trek fandom it is certainly nowhere near as wide as the door for the F&F movies. Cars, babes, manly men with guns, scene after scene of crazy stunts, and lots of non outer space related booms.

So unless Lin is putting Trek on the ground, back in time, and with the cast of the F&F movies it isn't going to approach those numbers.

I think Trek 3 has the potential to earn more than STID but I can't imagine it being much more.

I think it shortchanges Lin to say that he has to make Star Trek 3 like F&F 7. The two are two different genres and should be treated differently.

To be quite blunt, I think he deserves a chance to show his stuff.

Oh they definitely are. I just get the sense that a few people think he can bring Trek F&F type numbers..... I don't think you can do that without not making a Trek and just literally making another F&F movie. They just appeal to a wider audience than Trek does.

I think he should get a chance and I'm definitely giving him one....I'm just not overly confident about the end result.

 

[Franklin]

Not to change the subject, because it is somewhat director-dependent, but I haven't seen anything on how the choice of Lin will affect scoring the movie. Brian Tyler would be a logical choice considering he worked on F&F movies with Lin and scored episodes of ENT. The problem is he has a conflict because he's already committed to score "Now You See Me 2", set to be released in June 2016.

Not that I'm going to cry if Giacchino is asked back, but Tyler would be an interesting choice.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not to change the subject, because it is somewhat director-dependent, but I haven't seen anything on how the choice of Lin will affect scoring the movie. Brian Tyler would be a logical choice considering he worked on F&F movies with Lin and scored episodes of ENT. The problem is he has a conflict because he's already committed to score "Now You See Me 2", set to be released in June 2016.

Not that I'm going to cry if Giacchino is asked back, but Tyler would be an interesting choice.

I suspect they'll likely stick with Giacchino. Why wouldn't they? His music, specifically "Enterprising Young Men" is the identity of this series. Can you imagine a Star Wars movie with someone other than John Williams doing the score? He's even coming back for Episode VII!

 

[Mudd]

So, I liked the first F&F movie enough to download the score from Amazon - then discovered that no, no I should not be playing it with the top down in city traffic. It's a bit unseemly for an elderly white dude to be blaring hip-hop that uses racial epithets so freely and frequently.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

That wouldn't be the score, then, that'd be the soundtrack.

...tie-in soundtracks are always a gamble, let's be honest.

 

[siskokid888]

the Kahn blood? that's the kind of nonsense I expect from a film for toddlers not Trek.

I never understood this criticism of the film. The fact that Khan's blood had special properties is the first thing established in the movie, and in fact is the concept that sets the whole plot in motion.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

The fact that Khan's blood had special properties is the first thing established in the movie, and in fact is the concept that sets the whole plot in motion.

I actually did not connect the dots on that one.

I probably need to watch STID again, sadly.