Yesterday, we questioned a report that GI Joe: Retaliation director Jon M Chu was at the top of Paramount Studios’ shortlist of candidates to helm Star Trek 3, now that franchise revivalist J. J. Abrams had moved on to Star Wars: Episode VII. Seems like a lot of other people questioned that report as well, as an entirely different lead candidate may be starting to emerge – Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes director Rupert Wyatt.
Both the Huffington Post and Collider reached out to Chu’s representatives who stated that their client had not been contacted about the project. That doesn’t mean that he isn’t under consideration by the studio brass, but I would think at this point there would have been some contact, if only to see what Chu’s schedule looked like for the next couple of years.
Meanwhile, Cinematallica is positing a new frontrunner for the Star Trek 3 job in the form of Wyatt and that he “is virtually a lock at this stage in the game.” It also states from their own unnamed source that Chu’s name was floated more so to gauge fan reaction than anything else. Now I should note that Cinematallica is relatively new on the scene, so they don’t have a proven track record one way or another when it comes to this sort of thing.
Wyatt is currently attached to three projects – Birdsong, Night Film, and Agent 13 – though I suppose Paramount could jump them all in favor of getting Trek 3 up and running for what everyone is presuming will be a 2016 release.
Er, I don’t understand. There was a dubious report that Rupert Wyatt was the frontrunner, but now an entirely different frontrunner has emerged, Rupert Wyatt?
Whoops, that should have been Jon Chu. Never post before caffeine!
Oh, OK, that makes a lot more sense! I probably could’ve figured it out on my own if I had any awareness of who’s directed what recently. :)