Paramount has announced a release date for Star Trek 3, according to Collider, only days after announcing that a new director had been signed.  The film is slated for July 8, 2016, which puts it on a quick timeline given that new director Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) just came on board (see "'Star Trek 3' Gets New Director").

That date is an open weekend for geek film releases (see "Best in Shows--Q3 2016"), which may be all we need to know to understand the decision; the calendar is getting pretty crowded in the prime summer months.