Paramount Pictures has officially announced that J.J. Abrams will direct the next STAR TREK feature.
The team behind the film will include Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III) who wrote the screenplay and will exec produce with Bryan Burk. Abrams and LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof will produce. The film will begin shooting this fall for a Christmas Day 2008 release.
"If there's something I'm dying to see, it's the brilliance and optimism of Roddenberry's world brought back to the big screen," said Abrams. "Alex and Bob wrote an amazing script that embraces and respects Trek canon, but charts its own course. Our goal is to make a picture for everyone -- life-long fans and the uninitiated. Needless to say, I am honored and excited to be part of this next chapter of STAR TREK."
Brad Grey, chairman/ceo, Paramount Pictures, said, "We could not be more thrilled to be back in business with J.J. Abrams. The revival of the STAR TREK franchise is an important part of Paramount's turnaround."
On the heels of Paramount's confirmation that Abrams had been selected to direct, reports began circulating on several movie and sci-fi websites that the studio was in talks with Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise to play the roles of Capt. Kirk, Dr. Spock and Dr. McCoy respectively. First reported by IGN Movies, a unit of Fox Interactive, and attributed to unnamed studio sources, the stories also indicated that James McAvoy, who co-starred in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, was "in the mix" to play the role of Enterprise engineer Scotty.
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