‘Star Trek 3’: Orci Out, New Director Yet To Be Revealed

Star Trek 3 is currently without a director, as Variety reports Roberto Orci has exited the role. The powers that be “have to act quickly” to get another director, as the movie is set for 2016 release.

Orci was set to replace J.J. Abrams, who directed the first two reboots of the Star Trek franchise, but left to work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Although Orci is no longer directing Star Trek 3, he will stay on as producer. He co-wrote the first Star Trek reboot and its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.

When Orci was first named as director, Entertainment Weekly commentator Darren Franich said not all were happy with the appointment, due to Orci’s tendency to upset some followers of the Star Trek series. Orci’s direct and sometimes hostile interactions with fans over the internet, along with his rumored political beliefs influencing the movies in part, led to the negative reaction.

In September 2013, Orci apologized for lashing out at fans online after some called Star Trek Into Darkness the worst-ever Trek film. Blastr wrote that Orci “is not exactly apologizing to fans for having told them to basically #@&! off — but he is saying he’s sorry he reacted the way that he did.”

Back in September, Zachary Quinto was quoted in Variety as saying the film would likely start production in the next six months because “things are rumbling.” Whether Quinto had firm knowledge of that timeline is unclear from the piece, and it is not known if Orci’s departure would delay the filmmaking process further.

Star Trek Into Darkness did a respectable box office of $467 million worldwide but, according to Franich, that is not good enough; it is actually “bizarrely not-great according to the sad-clown economics of modern Hollywood.” The movie got decent reviews from critics, but fans quickly piled on to discredit the movie’s quality. For his part, J.J. Abrams blamed the Star Trek video game, which was released prior to the movie and received a bad reception, for the movie’s low box office.

IGN notes that despite Orci’s history with the franchise and his relationships with the film’s other producers, taking the reins of such a large project is a hefty task for a first-time director. Deadline called his original appointment “a career coup,” the latest in a string of first-time directors taking on big films. The website also said Edgar Wright is on a short list to replace Orci.

[Roberto Orci Image: IGN]