Star Trek 3

Okay, so it was one of the worst summer movie seasons in recent memory. Trying to find the good blockbusters amongst the last four months releases sometimes felt like trying to find a needle in a stack of s---. But even this year there were diamonds in the rough. Today we’re celebrating the ten best, the summer movies of 2016 that didn’t make us weep for the future of cinema — and note that this list is just movies that got wide releases in at least 500 theaters. We’ll have a separate piece on under-the-radar summer films you might have missed next week on ScreenCrush. In the meantime, let’s celebrate the highlights from a depressing summer before we clear the decks and get ready for the fall.

It’s been a while since the crew of the Starship Enterprise visited a strange new world in search of new life and civilizations. The Star Trek of television was full of strange new worlds; the Enterprise seemed to discover one every single week. The Trek movies, so focused on special effects, violence, and intricate revenge plots, have frequently strayed from Trek’s original mission. And while there’s plenty of action and excitement in Star Trek Beyond, there’s also a clear attempt to return this series to its core principles: Exploration, diplomacy, teamwork, and the hope for a better tomorrow. After the missteps of the punishingly bleak and the unfortunately rehashy Star Trek Into Darkness, it’s a necessary and welcome course correction; a Star Trek back into the light.

It may seem a bit soon to be discussing the future of a franchise when the latest installment hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but the early buzz surrounding Star Trek Beyond is so positive that Paramount has already announced plans for Star Trek 4. Following the recent, tragic passing of Anton Yelchin, some fans have wondered how the Trek universe will address that loss, and producer J.J. Abrams has an answer.

Paramount has released the fourth and final trailer for Star Trek Beyond ahead of the film’s July 22 release, and if early word is to be believed (and we think it is), you have every reason to be optimistic about the new sequel. Shorter, punchier and more action-packed than the first three previews, the latest and last trailer may be the best of the bunch, and if nothing else, it looks like Justin Lin was definitely the right pick to replace J.J. Abrams in the director’s chair.

Good news for Star Trek fans: not only have the early reviews of the film been pretty positive, the last few days saw two final Star Trek Beyond clips hit the internet for those looking to dig a little bit deeper into the movie. So all those coworkers of mine who keep asking me, since I’m a film critic, if they should be worried about the lack of Star Trek Beyond coverage, relax! Things are looking pretty good.

It is interesting that, given a reboot could theoretically go off in any direction it chooses, that the relaunched Star Trek has begun to repeat events from the first Star Trek movie series. Star Trek Into Darkness was essentially a revisitation of The Wrath of Khan; the movie not only reintroduced the title character, it also flip-flopped the famous end of Wrath of Khan where Spock dies saving the Enterprise. (This time around it was Captain Kirk who made the ultimate sacrifice ... for about 8 minutes, and then he got better.) Certainly the circumstances of the film are very different, but Star Trek Beyond shares one crucial ingredient with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, namely the destruction of the Starship Enterprise, and the shipwrecking of its crew on a distant alien planet.

J.J. Abrams’ first two Star Trek films weren’t entirely about spectacle — they certainly dealt with some #issues and bigger ideas, but they were still glossy, big budget blockbusters at the end of the day. Although co-writer Simon Pegg has said that Star Trek Beyond goes back to the series’ roots — more fun, more interesting concepts — his co-star Chris Pine has a slightly more cynical take on the franchise.

The summer movie season is about a month away, kicking off with Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War and continuing through August with Suicide Squad. There are other, non-superhero movies hitting theaters this summer, if you can believe it, and we have some new photos from those and several of this year’s other blockbuster offerings. You’re probably already properly excited for a lot of these movies thanks to their trailers, but if you’re eager for another sneak peek, these photos should do the trick.

Star Trek’s rebooted cinematic tenure under J.J. Abrams has led to diminishing returns, Star Trek 3 just barely making it off the ground, leading many to wonder when Gene Roddenberry’s iconic franchise might return to its TV roots. That time may already be upon us, CBS is reportedly looking to boldly go forward with a new TV Star Trek.

It was good news when Roberto Orci left the director’s chair on Star Trek 3. It was really good news when Fast and Furious franchise director Justin Lin took over. And it was even better news when it was announced that Simon Pegg would take over scripting duties, officially getting us excited for the third installment in the franchise after the somewhat disappointing Star Trek Into Darkness. And now Pegg is getting our hopes up even more, promising that the upcoming sequel is inspired by the original Star Trek television series.

Man, the rebooted Star Trek movie series really has this whole “casting actors we really like” thing down. The latest report from Star Trek 3 has the great Idris Elba cast as the movie’s villain, whose identity remains, for the moment, a mystery.

After the many sins of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ Paramount seems dead set on righting the course of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise with ‘Star Trek 3.’ They ditched controversial director Roberto Orci, hired the great Simon Pegg to co-write the screenplay with Doug Jung, and now, word that hit the internet suggesting that the film will contain three new female characters ... and a villain fit for Bryan Cranston.