Paramount originally began work on a Star Trek feature film in 1975 after lobbying by the creator of the franchise, Gene Roddenberry. The studio scrapped the project two years later in favor of creating a television series, Star Trek: Phase II, with the original cast. However, following the huge success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, Paramount changed its mind again, halting production on the television series and adapting its pilot episode into a Star Trek feature film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Five more Star Trek feature films featuring the entire original cast followed. The cast of the 1987 -- 1994 Star Trek spin - off series Star Trek: The Next Generation starred in a further four films. After the release of Star Trek: Nemesis on December 13, 2002, there was a hiatus that lasted almost seven years until a new film was released on May 8, 2009, simply titled Star Trek, serving as a reboot to the franchise with a new cast portraying younger versions of the original series ' characters. A sequel to Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, was released in theaters on May 16, 2013. A second sequel, Star Trek Beyond, was released on July 22, 2016, on the franchise 's 50th anniversary.
when did the first star trek movie come out
1979