An animated Star Trek movie? EP Alex Kurtzman and Paramount CEO Brian Robbins discuss exploring the idea
NOVEMBER 2, 2021 - Animated Star Trek has been around since Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973. While it has taken almost 50 years, animated Trek is revived and is evolving quickly. It is also serving as a basis for the future of Star Trek on both the big and small screens, according to Paramount Pictures CEO and Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins and Star Trek producer Alex Kurtzman.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Robbins and Kurtzman last week, and they described some of their vision and strategy for the future of the franchise. They described how Star Trek: Prodigy came to be and noted that while Prodigy is designed to bring kids into the Star Trek universe, it also has its appeal to adults. Part of its appeal are the cinematic production values, and they went on to say that future versions of Prodigy could end up in the theater. Robbins said, “To be honest, we’ve talked about it as a theatrical movie. I can’t lie, when I sat there at [New York] Comic-Con, I wished it was.”
Based on his experience seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in the theater, Kurtzman said about the potential broad appeal of an animated Prodigy film, “Ultimately, Star Trek is about family, it’s about these giant universal themes. Getting to tell a story like that, especially given the level of cinema we’ve already brought to the television show, is a wonderful opportunity. It would thrill me to do that.”
Robbins and Kurtzman had a lot more to say about the movie side of the franchise at large, how the other series fit into their plans, and more. To read the entire interview, head over to HollywoodReporter.com.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.