Chris Pine
Actor Chris Pine, cast member of the new film "Star Trek Into Darkness", poses as he arrives at the film's premiere in Hollywood May 14, 2013. Reuters/Fred Prouser

“Star Trek 4” is about to lose its Chrises. Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth have reportedly walked away from the negotiating table after their talks fell apart.

Pine and Hemsworth were set to reprise their roles in the fourth instalment of the rebooted “Star Trek” film series. Pine would have reprised his starring role as Captain James T Kirk, while Hemsworth would play again George Kirk, James’ father who died in the first few minutes of the first film in 2009.

They were both in negotiation to star in the fourth film, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the talks between them and the companies making the new instalment, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media, have fallen apart. This apparently resulted in the actors walking away from their roles.

The Chrises, who are both A-listers in their own right, allegedly asked the studios to stick to their existing deals. But sources claimed Paramount reneged on their deals because it wanted to enforce a budget because “Trek” is apparently not like a Marvel movie or “Star Wars.”

75th Golden Globe Awards – Photo Room – Beverly Hills, California, U.S., 07/01/2018 – Presenter Chris Hemsworth
75th Golden Globe Awards – Photo Room – Beverly Hills, California, U.S., 07/01/2018 – Presenter Chris Hemsworth Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

The sources told THR that the actors “insist that they have deals in place and that the studios are reneging on them, forcing them to take pay cuts as they try to budget a movie that is following a mediocre performer.”

Paramount was reportedly insisting that since the last film, “Star Trek Beyond,” grossed only US$343 million (AU$470 million) against a US$190 million (AU$260 million) budget, it was just reasonable to impose a lower budget this time around.

THR said the role of the Kirks father and son could be recast or maybe the studios could begin a new negotiation with Pine and Hemsworth.

As for their co-stars, there were apparently no problems that they were expecting in the negotiations with Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and John Cho. The stars are expected to return to the film, with their deals about to close.

Actors Chris Pine (L), Karl Urban and John Cho
Actors Chris Pine (L), Karl Urban and John Cho arrive for the world premiere of "Star Trek Beyond" at Comic Con in San Diego, California U.S., July 20, 2016. Reuters/Mike Blake

“Star Trek 4” will be directed by “Jessica Jones” helmer S.J. Clarkson from a script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. There is no release date yet.

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