Star Trek 3 Is Finding Its Way Back to Theaters

Between now-classic movies like the Spider-Man films and the 1999 Mummy flick, it’s been a spring of re-releases. Most of them have been from studios like Sony and Disney, but now Paramount is making a play by returning Star Trek III: The Search for Spock to the silver screen.

To commemorate the film’s upcoming 40th anniversary—it hit theaters June 1, 1984—the film will be playing in theaters June 14. At time of writing, it’s not clear if it’ll be just June 14 or if it will stick around longer, something that’s happening more now with re-releases; The Phantom Menace had a two-week run. What is known is that Matt Ferguson, who drew a special poster for Phantom and other re-released Star Wars films, has crafted a special poster for Search for Spock, which you can see below.

Search for Spock was the middle chapter in a three-part story arc that began with 1982’s Wrath of Khan. Spock died at the end of that film, but his living spirit (or katra) was transferred into McCoy’s mind. Disbanded by the Federation after beating Khan, the Enterprise crew reunited to return Spock’s body back to Vulcan as a way to possibly bring him back from the dead. The only thing in their way is a group of hostile Klingons (led by Christopher Lloyd) who want to steal the Genesis terraforming device that Khan tried using.

Spock was fittingly directed by Leonard Nimoy, and it was his first time behind the camera. He’d become the first Star Trek cast member to get a shot at directing for the franchise, and would later be followed by Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and Patrick Stewart, and plenty more. When it released, it got fairly solid reviews and made $87 million, a response that meant Nimoy got to be involved in more films beyond just being the ever-stoic Vulcan: he directed and conceived the story for 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and wrote 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. (Outside the franchise, he also directed movies like Three Men and a Baby, The Good Mother, and Holy Matrimony.)

Between this, the almost-ended final season of Star Trek: Discovery, and the recent 15th anniversary of the 2009 reboot film, among other Star Trek news of late, it’s an eventful time for the franchise.

[via Empire Magazine]

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