Paramount hands the new Star Trek movie to J.J. Abrams: Benedict Cumberbatch is cast in new sequel

This ought to cause some talk.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than three years after the last "Star Trek" movie crashed at the box office, the venerable sci-fi franchise is being revived by the director of the upcoming "Mission: Impossible" sequel, Daily Variety reported in its Friday edition.

The as-yet-untitled "Star Trek" feature, the 11th since 1979, is aiming for a fall 2008 release through Paramount Pictures, the Viacom Inc. unit looking to restore its box-office luster under new management, the trade paper said.

The project will be directed by J.J. Abrams, whose Tom Cruise vehicle "Mission: Impossible III" will be released by Paramount on May 5. Abrams, famed for producing the TV shows "Alias" and "Lost," will also help write and produce.

Daily Variety said the action would center on the early days of "Star Trek" characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer-space mission.

The paper described "Star Trek" as Hollywood's most durable performer after James Bond, spawning 10 features that have grossed more than $1 billion and 726 TV episodes from six series.

The 10th film, "Star Trek: Nemesis," bombed at the box office on its December 2002 release, earning just $43 million in North America. Last year, Viacom-owned broadcast network UPN pulled the plug on the low-rated series "Star Trek: Enterprise" following a four-season run.

What do you think everybody?

 

I don't know. To quote another space franchise, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

 

It's an interesting choice, one that I really didn't see coming. Abrams is a good director and writer though, I'm sure that he'd do a good job with it.

 

JJ Abrams is great, but I wonder if he'll be able to pull this one off...

 

So the next Trek film will be about about Kirk and Spock going through Starflet Academy? This could either be great or a disaster. It all depends on the casting, I think.

It seems that this idea has been kicking around for quite awhile.

Click

 

I've got huge faith in JJ's capabilities. He'll be fine and this movie will be great.

A good barometer of JJ's ability at directing a huge motion picture will be M:i:III, but I've got faith in him.

Also, this film had better show Kirk cheating at the Kobiashi Maru scenario. I've always wanted to see how he beat that thing.

 

Both rumours have been around for a while now, especially the Starfleet Academy one (there was a script for that movie written after ST5, but it was replaced with ST6 instead). Should be interesting, anyway.

 

Didn't Kirk and Spock first meet each other on the Enterprise? I wasn't aware they knew each other in the academy

 

Its possible. There is a series of Trek books about the Enterprise D bridge staff going through the Academy, not to all together but they do bump into each other on a few occaisions.

 

I remember reading those for a while.

Wasn't Shatner pushing for a "young Kirk" movie for a while? Interesting that it seemed to have bene pulled off after so long of Paramount saying they weren't doing another Trek.

 

So who will play the "younger" Kirk and Spock?

 

I don't know, but as I said casting will be key.

 

I didn't even know they were making a #11....the "odds" are against it though

 

Paramount must really love what Abrams has done with Mission: Impossible to give him Star Trek.

 

Either that or they want to shake things up by bringing in someone who has a more dynamic style and has no previous experience with Trek, which potentially could be very good.

BTW for those of you who are thinking that this is just a rumor, its not Confirmation cen be found on CNN.com.

 

Yep, fresh blood is good and you'll see, JJ will "get" it.

 

I thought they were done with Star Trek for the moment? Or is that just TV shows?

 

Yeah, that might just be the TV shows, although if done right, this could lead to a Starfleet Academy tv series ro perhaps Kirk's early career. Either way this idea has some intersting possibilities.

 

I'm a little meh on the story, but JJ is a great choice. I'll be pulling for him.

 

I wonder what happened to Paramount's fair-haired Star Trek overseer,
Rick Berman? There's no mention of him at all.

And that's probably for the best.

They need fresh blood and ideas.

 

StarTrek.com has confirmed the news.

$50 says that the numbers will appear

 

Also, this film had better show Kirk cheating at the Kobiashi Maru scenario. I've always wanted to see how he beat that thing.

Didn't he just reprogram it so that it was a winnable scenario?

 

We know that he reprogrammed the similator, but we don't know EXACTLY what he did to win.

 

Yeah, he failed it twice and then hacked the program. He received a commendation for original thinking.