Future of Star Trek 4 still unknown says Karl 'Bones' Urban

Those hoping for a new instalment in the big screen ‘Star Trek’ series may have a bit of a wait on their hands.

According to Karl Urban, who’s played Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy in the three movies so far, the future of the series still lies very much in the balance.

Speaking at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention at the weekend, he said that he’d ‘love to’ do another movie but said that it’s still up to the studio.

“The ball is in Paramount’s court,” he said (via TrekMovie.com).

“There is a new head of Paramount Studios [Jim Gianopulos] – a great guy – and they are just in the process of looking at their slate at what is coming up. So fingers crossed we get to make another one.”

But he also added that if the series ends with three movies, he’s cool with that.

“That being said…if [Star Trek] ‘Beyond’ is the note that we end it on – as sad as that is – I am actually happy with that film.”

He may have been happy with it, but it was a thumping disappointment at the box office, and that may be the deciding factor where further sequels are concerned.

It cost a solid $185 million, but only made $343.5 million back, which when taking into consideration costs of marketing and promotion would mean that it may have only barely crawled into profit.

The first rebooted movie, helmed by J.J. Abrams, and which introduced Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock alongside Urban’s Bones, also didn’t truly set the box office alight, with a $385 million haul but from a $150 production budget.

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ did rather better with a $467 million box office from its $185 million budget, but it will be ‘Beyond’s performance that will likely determine the franchise’s future.

It was also knocked for six following the sudden death of Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Chekov in the films.

He was killed when his car pinned him to a post at his home in Studio City, California, last year.

Both Pine and Quinto are said to have contracts for four movies, while Abrams said last summer that plans were still in place for a fourth outing.

However, as Urban suggests here, things have gone a little quiet since then.

Luckily, Trekkies will be able to gorge themselves on new TV series ‘Star Trek: Discovery’, due to air in September.

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