Paramount has to get on their horse now if they want to get Star Trek 3 ready by 2016. That means finding a new director as word broke last week that Roberto Orci, a surprise choice to helm the film some months back, had exited the project. Reasons for it have ranged from his lack of directing experience to problems with the screenplay, but whatever the real cause is must not have been too bad because Orci claims he's still involved.
Orci made some comments over at Trek Movie, and in response to commenters said "I will be very involved :)", and yes that emoticon is his. It never really made much sense for Orci to be the choice for such a large studio film as he's never directed anything before; not commercials, short films, or anything to show what he can do. Whether Orci or Paramount admits it that had to factor in to the decision to find someone new, but it remains to be seen whether Edgar Wright will be the guy.
So what it sounds like is Orci will remain on board as a producer, and he'll probably have a hand in writing a new screenplay. The original one, which Orci says wouldn't have included any time travel, was apparently a major problem that forced Paramount to shut down production. Since then they've been trying to figure out the direction the story should take, and with Star Trek 3 marking the franchise's 50th anniversary it has to be something huge. That's another reason why this was too big of a film for Orci. Paramount can't trust a milestone film like this to anybody. Expect them to hire somebody of prominence for the job, somebody at least on Abrams' level.
