Variety: Trek XI a go

Superman_Alpha · 04-21-2006, 04:23 PM

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...0&cs=1&s=h&p=0

Quote:

J.J. Abrams is becoming the next Gene Roddenberry.

Paramount is breathing life into its "Star Trek" franchise by setting "Mission: Impossible III" helmer J.J. Abrams to produce and direct the 11th "Trek" feature, aiming for a 2008 release.

Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, Abrams' producing team from "Lost," also will produce the yet-to-be-titled feature.

Project, to be penned by Abrams and "MI3" scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, will center on the early days of seminal "Trek" characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.

Deal reflects Par's bullishness on "MI3," which launches worldwide next weekend, and underlines the goal of Paramount chief Brad Grey and prexy Gail Berman to re-energize the pipeline via high-profile tentpoles while revitalizing the Par brand with top-tier talent such as Abrams.

"MI3" is the first pic to be released that's been greenlit by Grey.

"Star Trek" has been Hollywood's most durable performer other than James Bond, spawning 10 features that have grossed more than $1 billion and 726 TV episodes from six series.

Decision to relaunch "Star Trek" comes less than a year after UPN pulled the plug on "Star Trek: Enterprise" amid dismal ratings following a four-season run and four years after "Star Trek: Nemesis"turned in the worst performance of the 10 films with $43 million domestic.

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Brave Magnus · 04-21-2006, 04:29 PM

Huh...I didn't expect this. Cool! A new Star Trek movie!!!!

P.S: Star Trek Nemesis rocks!!!!

flamepanther · 04-21-2006, 04:30 PM

Wait, so they're going to have to cast new people as Kirk and Spock? That's going to be touigh.

RabidYak · 04-21-2006, 05:03 PM

On the off chance that this is actually true, fingers crossed that the concept will get shelved in favor of something interesting like it did the last time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brave Magnus

P.S: Star Trek Nemesis rocks!!!!

I'd agree, but only if the definition of rocks was changed to utterly contrived pish.

Ra88 · 04-21-2006, 05:22 PM

So if the last one sucked, does that mean that the uneven and even rule has been switched? Hope so, want to see a good ST movie again.

And I have a failing that the young Spock and Kirk will cause more controversy then the new Bond actor.

Lance Halberd · 04-21-2006, 05:27 PM

Given the advances in cgi, maybe they can create believable enough digital actors, and just have Shatner and Nimoy dub the voices.

It would be better than sitting through two hours of "good enough for Hollywood" Kirk and Spock impressions.

Omnibus Prime · 04-21-2006, 05:45 PM

Thhbbtt. While Nemesis was meh, I was hoping this was another TNG movie as I'm not ready for them to hang it up quite yet. This could be good, but I have serious doubts.

Ops_was_a_truck · 04-21-2006, 05:51 PM

Okay, having been a devoted "behind-the-scenes" Trek fanatic for years, the first thing that comes to mind is "Finally." This Kirk & Spock at the Academy idea has been something they've been bouncing around since Star Trek 6, where they wanted to use the 6th and final movie as a "reflective" piece on the lives of the original Enterprise crew and show how they had grown to be such a close-knit family over the years. (Er, at least, that's what I remember it being described as in The Art of Star Trek, Star Trek: Phase 2 and Star Trek Creator...which I all read cover to cover, back when I didn't know about alcohol and sex.)

If this is anything close to the Harve Bennett script, which a lot of Trek in-house folks have lauded as amazing and very faithful to the Kirk & Spock characters, (see the above books,) then I think we'll be in for a real treat. How they'll pull off these characters as young men...I dunno. Shatner was in his 30s when they did the original Star Trek, so not much would have changed, facially, between Academy and Kirk's first stint on the Enterprise.

We'll see. I'll remain optimistic. Anything's better than...Enterprise. Ugh.

Superman_Alpha · 04-21-2006, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RabidYak

On the off chance that this is actually true,

Being in the UK, you may not have heard of Variety, but it is a fairly well regarded Hollywood trade paper and is hardly a source to publish rumors without openly stating it. They would do nothing but damage their own credibility within an industry they depend upon for their survival.

Ops_was_a_truck · 04-21-2006, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superman_Alpha

Being in the UK, you may not have heard of Variety, but it is a fairly well regarded Hollywood trade paper and is hardly a source to publish rumors without openly stating it. They would do nothing but damage their own credibility within an industry they depend upon for their survival.

Word. Variety could be considered The Official News of Hollywood.