Summer's Film Fare: Prequels

Hollywood’s set for a summer of prequels, with the backstories of Star Trek, X-Men, and Terminator ripe for the telling. But how do you make a film exciting when everyone knows how it turns out? “We didn’t want to fall into the trap of the first three Star Wars movies, and just make a straight-up reboot,” a Trek writer tells the Wall Street Journal.

He and his colleagues used time travel to “wipe clean the history of the franchise,” he says. But JJ Abrams, Star Trek’s director, is walking a fine line between satisfying the old fans and rejuvenating a story in its 11th installment. Abrams earlier fueled a backlash in admitting he wasn’t a hardcore Trekkie—but peeks at the film have sated serious fans. (More Hollywood stories.)