Please Explain to Me Why ‘Section 31’ is Streaming and Not in Theaters

It’s January, the perfect month to dump a science fiction movie about insider lore from the Star Trek universe. So why is Section 31 - a feature film starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh, streaming on Paramount Plus?

Fans have been waiting 11 years for a new theatrical Star Trek film, but after the “disappointing” box office of Star Trek: Into Darkness, and the contract negotiations with the film’s stars that have seemingly gone nowhere, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be plunking ourselves down in an AMC to watch Kirk, Bones, and Spock go on another adventure any time soon.

This makes the decision to kick Section 31 to Paramount Plus all the more confounding. Starring Michelle Yeoh, who reprises her role of Phillipa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery, the film look to codify, or at least offer a fun, in canon explanation of Starfleet’s shadowy, CIA-like secret military agency. Or something like that? Star Trek writers have been coy with information about Section 31 since it was first mentioned in the Deep Space Nine episode, “Inquisition.”

Is all of this in-universe lore the reason that Section 31 isn’t going to theaters? It’s clear that the film was put into production following Yeoh’s star turn in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, but after she took home the Oscar for Best Actress for the same role it’s mind boggling that Paramount didn’t throw a bucket of money at the production. We likely won’t ever get an explanation why Section 31 is being shunted to streaming, but it likely has something to do with the possibility of growing subscribers for the streaming app. Bummer.