It’s true that a lot of Star Trek’s praise came from its stellar cast and the visual flare of its director, JJ Abrams, and that most of its criticisms came from the holes and coincidences in its plot, but one can’t discount the role that the story Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s script told had in taking a property that was traditionally thought of as being a niche thing for sci-fi geeks and turning it into a summer blockbuster that appealed to mainstream audiences. So it might be interesting to hear what else they have up their sleeves when it comes to ideas for science fiction movies.
Universal, at least, seems to have liked something that they’ve heard, because Deadline is reporting that they’ve just purchased a pitch from the writing duo that’s tentatively titled Sagittarius A. It’s described as being a sci-fi thriller, and reportedly the idea is being fleshed out into a full screenplay by Steven Karczynski, who developed it alongside Kurtzman and Orci, and who’s the writer of a Black List script called The Umbra.
While it’s true that, in addition to writing a script like Star Trek, that was enjoyed by fans of film and fans of expensive popcorn alike, Kurtzman and Orci have also gotten writing credits on things like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which didn’t really play to many people other than teens and teens at heart, it shouldn’t be discounted that Karczynski has done work that the all-knowing Black List has deemed to be quality in the past, and he’s the one who’s actually going to be doing the heavy lifting here. The talent on board in addition to Universal’s willingness to jump on an original idea points to the possibility that this could be a project sci-fi fans are going to want to keep their eyes on. It’s rare that a studio is willing to take a risk on a movie that doesn’t bring any recognizable brand name to the table these days