Star Trek 4 Loses Its Chrises

The currently untitled Star Trek 4 has all but lost two of its leading men. Both Chris Pine (Captain James T. Kirk) and Chris Hemsworth (Captain Kirk’s father) have walked away from negotiations with Paramount Pictures due to money differences. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Chrises “insist they have deals in place and that the studios are reneging on them, forcing them to take pay cuts.”

To be honest, I’m having a tough time deciding whose side I should land on here. Obviously, I’d like to see both of these guys back for another Trek, but they have the right to stand their ground and want the studio to stick to the already agreed upon contracts.

On the one hand, it’s pretty tough luck that Paramount managed to lose one half of the Hollywood Chrises. But on the other hand, you have to wonder why the Chrises wouldn’t take pay cuts to keep the series afloat (to be fair, it wasn’t divulged just how far apart the two sides were). Both of them have places in popular big budget superhero franchises. Even though Disney is known for smaller salaries, compared to other studios, Hemsworth is making enough money to be more than comfortable. Meanwhile, Pine was in 2017’s Wonder Woman, which was also a box office juggernaut. And even though his character died in the film, he will still be appearing in the sequel.

So these are two actors who are by no means pressed for work, which makes it slightly confusing why they wouldn’t take a pay cut. But Hemsworth may be done as Thor following next year’s Avengers 4. It’s been rumored for a while that a new guard is officially going to be taking over the Avengers. Over the last five years, his non-Thor roles have included the likes of Rush, In the Heart of the Sea, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Ghostbusters, and 12 Strong. The only one of those that performed well at the box office was Ghostbusters. Because of that, you could understand why he would want to make his money on Trek. During the same amount of time, Pine’s biggest worldwide gross came from Into the Woods, so he could have the same mindset as Hemsworth.

Paramount’s position is that they just don’t have the budget to pay the amount of money that these two want. Star Trek movies don’t make as much money as, say, MCU or Star Wars movies, so they don’t feel like the actors should be demanding to be paid as if they do. They are the only actors that are causing problems with their negotiations – the rest of the main cast will all be back. That makes it even less understandable.

In the end, it probably isn’t about who is right and who is wrong in this situation. Both sides have understandable positions, from a business perspective. I’m just hoping for some way that these two actors will be back (or at least just Pine). Pine’s Kirk is excellent and is a big part of what makes these Trek movies so good. But if they aren’t back, at least we know Hemsworth can play Deadpool.

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