Release Date set for 'Star Trek 3' which Roberto Orci won't be Writing

When does Paramount go ahead and  completely do away with Roberto Orci's involvement with Star Trek 3? A few weeks ago he was removed as director of the film, which the studio is trying to have ready by the franchise's 50th anniversary celebration in 2016. That's a pretty big move to make with such a time crunch, and the rumors were that Orci's screenplay, written along with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, was the big problem. Now that Justin Lin has been brought on to replace him, Orci has revealed just how far his current involvement with the film goes, just as Paramount is feeling confident enough to set a firm release date.

First up, Star Trek 3 will beam into theaters on July 8th 2016. The sequel to Star Trek into Darkness is still untitled and apparently has some script issues to be ironed out. While making one of his frequent comments on the TrekMovie.com site, Orci revealed he's no longer writing the screenplay, saying...

""I'm producing. Nothing more or less."

But does that mean McKay and Payne are out, as well? The rumored plotline would have involved time travel, Vulcans, and a possible encounter with William Shatner as Captain Kirk. That all may be out the window now, but Orci still gets testy when longtime fans ask him about the decision to play with time travel and alternate timelines in the Star Trek universe. He replied to one commenter's question with....

“Stop blaming [Bad Robot]. It was my idea so that you would not know what was gonna happen next. Nothing more or less. I stand behind it. And it, again, is the reason why I make movies and you don’t.”

Orci's had a bad run of luck lately and it may be getting the better of him. Maybe it would be a good idea not to hang around the Star Trek message boards?