UPDATE 9/1/2026: The same week The Wrath of Khan returns to theaters, the new movie’s directors describe a film cut from the same cloth: Goldstein and Daley say their Star Trek is a near-real-time Training Day-meets-Crimson Tide thriller about Starfleet.
UPDATE: This is only the beginning, per our source: many more re-release campaigns are coming over the next 6-12 months, and every property from 1970-2000 is getting a second look.
The Star Trek 60th anniversary celebration hits the big screen this week, and the theater listings settle on which versions fans are getting: the director’s cuts.
Per Paramount’s August 27 announcement, more than 750 theaters across the U.S. will screen the first four Star Trek films in restored 4K from September 4-8, each paired with an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series making its theatrical debut.
AMC, Cinemark, Regal, and Alamo Drafthouse are all taking part.
Look at the lineup: Star Trek: The Motion Picture screens as The Director’s Edition, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan screens as the Director’s Cut.
Director’s cuts in theaters with collector’s merchandise attached: that is the exact formula our Hollywood insiders laid out to us on August 11, published August 13.
Four Double Features, Then A Star Trek Day Marathon
The programming pairs each film with the Original Series episode that set it up, with a new double feature starting each day.
Friday, September 4 opens with “The Changeling,” the 1967 episode about the Nomad space probe, followed by Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition, whose V’Ger owes Nomad everything. Combined runtime: 3 hours, 7 minutes.
Saturday, September 5 is the centerpiece: “Space Seed,” Khan’s television debut, followed by Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – The Director’s Cut, at 2 hours, 43 minutes.
Sunday, September 6 pairs “Amok Time,” the episode that introduced pon farr and Vulcan ritual, with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, at 2 hours, 35 minutes.
Monday, September 7 brings the last of the pairings: “The City on the Edge of Forever” and its fellow time-travel story Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, at 2 hours, 49 minutes.
Then on Tuesday, September 8 — Star Trek Day, 60 years to the day after “The Man Trap” premiered on NBC — theaters run the full slate as an all-day marathon. Advance tickets are on sale now.
‘Live Long And Popcorn’ Delivers The Collector’s Items
Theaters are running the concession side under the banner “Live Long and Popcorn,” with 60th anniversary collectibles arriving September 4, only in theaters while supplies last: a Starship Enterprise popcorn vessel, a commemorative cup with one of four mystery toppers, and a 60th anniversary popcorn tin.
Add the Original Series 60th Anniversary Blu-ray sets and Amazon gift set arriving September 8, and the “BluRays & Merch” half of the insider info is accounted for as well.
It also runs straight down Ellison’s stated vision.
As our insiders told us when we reported David Ellison and Mike De Luca are teaming to save Star Trek, the new Paramount is built on live events for communal experiences: “Paramount is already killing it with live events.”
Paramount Is Testing The Star Trek Audience
Track the dates. June 29: Ellison and De Luca teaming to revitalize Star Trek. July 2: the same sources gave the blueprint, taking the franchise back to what made Wrath of Khan through The Next Generation work. August 11: directors’ cuts in theaters with collector merch to follow, published August 13.
Now the 60th anniversary event puts The Wrath of Khan, in its director’s cut, at the center of the celebration, flanked by Enterprise popcorn vessels.
As for what those same sources say now: everything at Paramount is riding on the new movie, which is going with all-new characters set further into the future under directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, while Paramount+ talks to “a lot of writers” about the next series as Alex Kurtzman’s deal runs out.
The celebration rolls on past this week, too, with William Shatner, who says he would still play Kirk at 95, executive producing the anniversary documentary The Sixty-Year Mission, hitting Regal theaters October 9.
The insiders said these releases are about making money from loyal fandoms and gauging demand. Four nights of double features, a Star Trek Day marathon, and a run on Enterprise popcorn vessels should give Paramount a very clear reading.
