STAR TREK 3 Still Looking for a Director; Paramount Wants Move to Be Like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

While JJ Abrams is over at Lucasfilm basking in the glory of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Paramount finds itself scrambling to keep the sequel to Star Trek Into Darkness together. The studio parted ways with director Roberto Orci recently. With film's release slotted to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the franchise in 2016, the pressure is on to replace Abrams, who passed on Star Trek 3 to direct the upcoming Star Wars sequel.

Paramount has a list of five directors to take Orci's place, according to a Deadline report: Duncan Jones, Rupert Wyatt, Justin Lin, Morten Tyldum and Daniel Espinosa.

Jones is my favorite name on this list. He only has two movies to his name, but they're both fantastic. Jones directed Moon and Source Code, and while I would love to see him direct a Star Trek movie (or a Star Wars movie), he's busy with the Warcraft adaption.

Wyatt's claim to fame is Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a clear sign he could direct Star Trek 3 in a way that juggled a massive CGI project while still injecting character development and heart. Deadline thinks that Wyatt is Paramount's top choice right now.

Lin has become a very popular director over the past few years, helming four Fast and Furious movies, several episodes of Community and signing up to direct the sequel to the Jeremy Renner-led Bourne Legacy sequel. (Not to be confused with the upcoming Bourne sequel starring Matt Damon.) With the Renner Bourne sequel pushed back to make room for the Damon Bourne sequel, Lin could be free to direct Star Trek 3. Lin was actually rumored to among the candidates to direct this movie before Paramount went with Orci.

Tyldum just directed Star Trek Into Darkness star Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game, and Espinosa's big film was Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds' Safe House. I'm not sure if either Tyldum or Espinosa would be the home run Paramount is looking for in a director.

No matter who winds up directing Star Trek 3, they're going to have a bit of a studio issue on their hands. According to a Badass Digest report, Paramount is obsessed with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy to the point where they want the next Star Trek movie to emulate that blockbuster. I'm not the most knowledgeable Star Trek fan, but I'm pretty sure Star Trek and Guardians of the Galaxy aren't the same thing. It's not as easy as a studio head honcho just declaring Star Trek 3 should be Guardians  of the Galaxy.