Star Trek Fans eagerly awaiting J.J. Abrams’ big-screen franchise reboot will have to wait until next year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount pictures has done some major reshuffling of its release slate, pushing Trek from Christmas Day, 2008 to May 8, 2009. While a number of movies are being rescheduled due to the now ended writer’s strike, Paramount says it’s deploying Captain Kirk and crew on a summer mission because of the film’s blockbuster potential.
Paramount spokesman Michael Vollman told the trade that the Star Trek script didn’t require any script doctoring during the strike, and that the film is two-thirds in the can and would have been ready for a December bow. To fill its spot in the holiday lineup, the studio has moved The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a comedy starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, from Nov. 26 to Dec. 19.
Directed by Abrams, Star Trek will focus on the early voyages of James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise. Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces), who bares a passing resemblance to a young William Shatner, is playing Kirk, while Zachary Quinto from TV’s Heroes dons a set of pointy ears as Mr. Spock. Simon Peg (Shaun of the Dead) is Scotty, Karl Urban (Doom) is Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, John Cho (Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanimo Bay) is Sulu, Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlet) is Pavel Chekov and Zoe Saldana (Avatar) is Nyota Uhura. The cast also includes Winnona Ryder, Bruce Greenwood and Eric Bana.
Creator and exec producer of the ABC series Lost and Alias, Abrams directed the third installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise and produced Paramount’s recently released giant moster movie, Cloverfield. Among his various irons in the fire is a sequel to the horror pic, which was made for roughly $25 million and has grossed more than $133 million worldwide to date.
