Paramount Outlines Expanded Film Slate And More Streaming Originals… But What About Star Trek? – TrekMovie.com
This week will mark the first 100 days since David Ellison and his Skydance team took over Paramount. For the last three months what Paramount is up to has been a hot topic in Hollywood, Wall Street, and Washington DC, as the new corporate overlords are making moves impacting the creative community, media investors, and politicians. Last week’s big Variety cover story which revealed the new Paramount was looking for a “fresh” idea for the next Star Trek movie was in anticipation of this 100 day point.
Late on Monday, the new leadership team had a chance to speak about the future of the company in their first quarterly investor call since taking over. While Star Trek was not mentioned specifically, some of what was announced yesterday in a letter to investors and in the call with Wall Street analysts provided insights into corporate moves that will presumably end up including Star Trek as well.
Much of yesterday was filled with corporate jargon and vague comments, especially about any potential merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. But the letter to investors made the case that the company, which has struggled over the past decade, is now in the right hands:
Our goal in bringing together Paramount and Skydance was to honor a company with over a century of storied history and profound cultural impact, while transforming it for the future through investments in exceptional storytelling, innovative technology, and strategic growth opportunities that will shape the next era of entertainment. Today, we are confident we are on the right path – taking the necessary steps to build a stronger, more enduring company for the future.
All this talk has impressed Wall Street; many media stock analysists followed up yesterday’s call with recommendations to buy or continue to hold shares of PSKY, which has already jumped over 40% since the takeover. But let’s take a closer look at some specifics that could impact Trek:
Paramount Pictures Melrose Gate
More spending (for more creativity)
This focus on growth was emphasized throughout the call and the investor document. And even though they are making cost-cutting moves that include significant layoffs, the company is also committing to significant additional spending beyond what we have already seen, with some big deals already made in the first 100 days. The investor letter spells out the vision for a focus on creativity:
At Paramount, we are – and always will be – a creative company. Storytelling remains the heart and soul of everything we do. Our mission is to entertain audiences around the world with the best films, television series, sports, news, and games, and we’re committed to continuing to invest boldly in this core strength.
They actually got specific on this additional spending, committing the company to “make incremental programming investments in excess of $1.5 billion across both theatrical and direct-to-consumer platforms,” according to CEO and Chairman David Ellison, adding “These investments are designed to expand our pipeline of premium films, television, sports, news, and gaming content for global audiences.”
Skydance’s David Ellison at the premiere of Star Trek Beyond in 2016
More movies
Paramount Pictures has underperformed on their targets for 2025, but the new team sees this as an opportunity to “recalibrate” in order to make “the necessary improvements to our future slate.” And they got specific with “We plan to grow our theatrical output to at least 15 films annually beginning in 2026.” This is up from around 10 or 11 films in recent years.
Trek fans will remember that 2026 was supposed to include the release of a Star Trek feature film, specifically the “origin” film directed by Toby Haynes. Obviously that is not going to happen. It’s possible that, just like a potential Star Trek 4, the origin movie has also been shelved to make room for the “fresh” take on Star Trek the studio is reportedly seeking.
At the beginning of their first 100 days, the Paramount execs did talk about how getting Star Trek back on the big screen was “absolutely a priority,” and with the spending for an expanded film slate and the stated focus on franchises, it does feel like Star Trek may finally emerge from the development hell it has been locked. Historically the film franchise has been an important part of Paramount, with 13 theatrical releases between 1979 and 2013.
From the UK premiere of Star Trek Beyond in 2016 (Getty)
More streaming
According to Ellison, streaming for Paramount is the company’s “top priority.” The goal is to grow beyond the current 72 million subscribers to take on the big boys of Netflix and Disney, and the key to this subscriber growth and loyalty is “exceptional storytelling,” with a stated commitment to “increasing our investment in quality, exclusive programming across our streaming platforms.”
Before the takeover, the spend on streaming had been cut back across the board for Paramount+, which clearly impacted Star Trek. As of now there are two active shows, with one of the two, Strange New Worlds, currently filming its fifth and final season. This leaves Starfleet Academy as the only Star Trek show with a potential future. Ideally, Paramount will take this moment to assess the value of the franchise that helped launched the streaming service back when it was called CBS All Access.
Since that launch, the growth of the service has been driven by sports, a lot of shows from producer Taylor Sheridan, and more recently, the return of South Park. All of those will be big parts of the growth in coming years (although Sheridan is exiting for NBC Universal in 2029). But with Star Trek a “priority” for the company and the plan for a holistic view across TV and film, we should probably expect more Trek to come, and word on the street is that the new head of scripted streaming is a Star Trek fan. We do know there is no shortage of Star Trek pitches floating around, but they are likely also looking for some of those “fresh” ideas on the TV side as well.
Perhaps related, the investor report also noted the company anticipates “significant expansion of our total television studio output over the coming years, encompassing titles to be distributed both on our own platforms and licensed to third parties.” It’s entirely possible that Paramount and CBS Studios (who produce Trek TV) could chose to work with third parties on future Star Trek series. Over the last decade we saw some of this, like Netflix partnering on Discovery for international releases and Amazon Prime Video partnering on Picard and Lower Decks.
Holly Hunter in season 1, episode 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
There was also some talk of logistics when it comes to how the service will be spreading the release of originals, and “moving away from the historical concentration around the sports season and year-end surge, which has previously led to uneven engagement.” A lot of talk yesterday was also spent on how new technology will be used to improve both the back end and user experience on Paramount+, including more integration with the Pluto TV free (ad-supported) streaming service, although there is no indication yet that Paramount+ and Pluto TV will completely merge together on the front end for users. Oh, and to help pay all this spending on content and tech, the company announced plans to increase the price of Paramount+ in 2026.
More waiting
So there you have it, lots of talk of growth and spending. Star Trek will presumably be part of all that, hopefully both on film and TV. But for now, there isn’t anything specific when it comes to what Paramount plans to do with the franchise. Next year, Star Trek turns 60. The year kicks off with a Star Trek float at the Rose Parade; let’s hope that’s just the beginning of a big year for the final frontier.
Render for the Rose Parade 2026 float
