Back in February we heard screenwriters Damon Lindelof, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman would be submitting their script for Star Trek 2 to Paramount sometime in March. Well we’re now approaching June and the latest on the project is that pre-production is under-way, but it’s based on a 70 page outline, not a full script.

From Trek Movie:

Today in the TrekMovie.com comments section, Orci responded by dismissing notions that their original draft had been rejected and explained what was really going on, saying (in part):

“Just been waiting for JJ to be free to really decide if he likes the story and hear his suggestions before we finish the script. Once he says go, we’ll have it in no time. Meanwhile, our outline is detailed enough (70+ pages!) to do some prep :)”

In an email to TrekMovie today, Orci also noted that even though the team are waiting for JJ Abrams to finish his work on Super 8, he has continued to work with the Star Trek writing team:

“In the meetings we’ve had with JJ, he’s already given us amazing input and ideas, and that’s been while he’s been up to his eyeballs in Super 8.”

With most of J.J. Abrams’ attention on Super 8 it’s understandable that things haven’t been moving as swiftly as they could be, but Super 8 will be out in just over 2 weeks time so we’ll probably get solid news soon. Abrams hasn’t said he’s directing, but it’s likely.

Paramount aim to release Star Trek 2 on June 29, 2012 which is 13 months away. Star Trek took 5 months to shoot, so it’s still possible to have the movie ready for that date. Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho are all expected to return.

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Last month J.J. Abrams said he was still waiting for Damon Lindelof, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman to submit their script to Paramount before deciding whether he’ll direct the Star Trek sequel or not. If they want to hit their June 2012 release date they’ll need to get a suitable draft in pretty soon, and that seems to be the aim as a tweet from Orci suggests their deadline is sometime next month.

From @boborci via Trek Movie:

aiming to turn in first full draft of Star Trek in six weeks or so.

If the script is filmable we should be hearing news on whether Abrams will direct sometime in April. A summer shoot seems likely, but according to Trek Movie that might “slip a bit” in order to accommodate Chris Pine’s schedule. Paramount pushed Star Trek back from December 2008 to May 2009, so there is a possibility they’ll push the sequel back if needed.

As well as Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho are all expected to return.

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With a June 2012 release date currently set for Star Trek 2 Paramount may want to start filming in early Summer or late Spring. However, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are still working on the script and J.J. Abrams has yet to decide whether he’s directing.

He’s the latest on the sequel from Abrams himself, from IGN:

Q: How is Star Trek coming?

Abrams: There’s a script that’s being written by Damon Lindelof and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman and I can’t wait to read it!

Q: So at this point, you’re not quite sure what’s in it?

Abrams: Oh, no. I’ve been developing the story with them, so I know the story. But they’re writing it and obviously I’m on the edge of my seat to crack the script open.

Q: Do you know when you might make the decision on whether you would direct it or not?

Abrams: Well, as soon as I get the script, that will be the thing. It’s just difficult to direct a film when you haven’t read the script, that’s all. But they’re hard at work, so…

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were hired to write Star Trek 2 way back in March 2009, but since then they have written and produced Cowboys and Aliens with Jon Favreau and have a bunch of other movies keeping them busy. Paramount will want to keep that June 2012 release date, so pre-production will likely begin soon and we can assume Abrams will once again be directing.

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UPDATE: Hero Complex has now updated their story, claiming their confirmation that Abrams is back as a director was a mistake. As of now, no director has been officially announced. Original story follows.

Hero Complex spoke with Star Trek 2 writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and revealed an important piece of news I haven’t seen officially confirmed until now: J.J. Abrams will be returning to the director’s chair for the sequel to 2009′s Star Trek. Hit the jump for some more choice quotes about the highly-anticipated sequel.

In the interview, the writing team – one of the most in-demand in the industry right now for blockbusters  - says they “have broken the story, which is very exciting.” But what direction will they take this new film now that the crew has been formed and everyone is together?

We’re looking at a lot of the old episodes for inspiration, still. Whereas the last movie was all about breaking free from “Star Trek” and its canon, now that we can do whatever we want, we still want it to feel like good ol’ “Star Trek” even though it’s a new story.

When asked if Star Trek 2 will have an Empire Strikes Back feel to it, where it’s essentially “Act 2″ in a larger story, the writers had this to say:

Yeah, that is an interesting question. I don’t know that we’ve ever thought of it in terms of a trilogy. We thought of the first one as, “How do we tell how this happened the first time and how do we free it so that it can go on forever without stepping on what came before.” So, if you were thinking of this movie as a second act, yeah, you would think of it as an “Empire Strikes Back” sort of story, but I’m not sure we’re thinking of it as a second act. I can’t speak for everybody on that, though.

Check out the full interview at Hero Complex and let us know in the comments section if you have high hopes for Star Trek 2. With that great ensemble cast and with Abrams at the helm, this is one of my most anticipated movies of the next few years.

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Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen screenwriter Roberto Orci recently sat down to discuss Star Trek 2. Orci was questioned on whether J.J. Abrams has officially signed on to direct the sequel (he hasn’t yet), when filming will begin, and what tone they are aiming for with the next outing.

From IGN:

IGN: J.J. Abrams is about to shoot Super 8. After that, has he decided if he’s going to direct the Star Trek sequel or not?

Orci: You know him. Until he reads the script and gets super excited he’s not going to commit to anything. God Bless him. Just like the first movie.

IGN: Is the next Star Trek still looking to shoot around the middle of next year?

Orci: We’ll work backwards from 2012. So you know, you can do the math. We’ve got to probably turn it in by Christmas and get a pretty good draft by then. And then kind of get it up and running.

IGN: Second movies, including Wrath of Khan, are often the dark chapter. Things often get pretty intense. Are you going to go in that direction?

Orci: Well, it’s weird. We got kind of a mixed review in terms of the darkness or not in the first one. There was genocide of an entire planet, Spock’s freaking mother died, Kirk’s dad died… But it’s like, “Well, it wasn’t very dark!”

So I think maybe thematically, because we don’t have the burden of an origin story, we can play a little bit more with the theme and it can be a little bit more complicated. But I still think we like fun. Star Trek has always been funny. Even Wrath of Khan has got some great great, great fun in it. I think it will be equally confusing for some, but I do think we get to jump right into it now.

Orci also spoke about Jon Favreau’s sci-fi western Cowboys and Aliens which is currently filming with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in New Mexico. Click here to read the full interview!

Paramount has set a June 29th 2012 release date for Star Trek 2.

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During a recent Q&A session with Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman the duo spoke about the sequel, which they are in the process of writing. They said that now the first film has set up the characters the crew members will have to deal with a much more challenging villain next time around, and they also spoke of the pressure due to the success of the first film.

From TrekMovie:

Orci: We would never do a remake….it will be some time in the five year mission. But that is a question. Should we pick them up immediately the next day or should it be later, we are still discussing that.

Kurtzman: I think our idea on this is that the first of any series is about them coming together or the formation. I couldn’t really tell you what Jeff Bridges was doing in Iron Man, but it doesn’t matter at all because it is all about Iron Man becoming Iron Man. Whereas I think sequels are very much about the villain. Because while [in the first one] the villain serves to bring the crew together, the second one I think has to be a true challenging of what that family is about. That is why Wrath of Khan was so amazing. Khan tested each one of them and ultimately asked for the ultimately sacrifice, and that is why that movie held up so well.

Orci: Frankly I fee more pressure because we were so confident when we came up with the idea of how to bridge canon, and yet free ourselves from canon. Now we have no excuses for anything, now we are free. Now we don’t have the benefit of low expectations.

Kurtzman: It is true, I feel much more pressure.

I’m not that knowledgeable when it comes to Star Trek, so are there any villain(s) you’d like to appears in Star Trek 2?

Paramount recently set a release date for June 29, 2012, and filming is expected to start at the beginning of 2011.

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Buried in an article by The Daily Beast (via /Film) about how the success of Avatar is changing movies and 3D, there is a short paragraph that mentions Cowboys and Aliens, which Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau signed up to direct last year. Apparently the film will start shooting in July, and Favreau will be filming it in 3D.

If July is indeed the planned filming date then that will only give Favreau 2 months rest after finishing Iron Man 2 to begin work on the film, which explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies – cowboys and Native Americans – found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona. Robert Downey Jr. has signed up to play a character called Zeke Jackson, who I assume is the lead cowboy, and the script was written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, writers of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek.

The teaming up of Favreau, Downey, Kurtzman, Orci could produce some very exciting results, especially is cowboys, Native Americans and aliens are involved in all out war. However the Transformers 2 script was weak in many areas that didn’t involve explosions, so hopefully Favreau can steer it away from mindless action and add some depth. Even if the plot is ridiculous.

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With nearly $400 million in worldwide box office takings and overwhelmingly positive reviews Paramount are no doubt pleased with the performance of J.J Abrams’ Star Trek this year. Their pride will probably be extended even further knowing that the film is also the most pirated movie of 2009. Or maybe it won’t? Either way they are happy with it enough to green light a sequel, which is currently in the process of being written.

Zoe Saldana, who played Uhura in Star Trek, recently spoke to MTV while on the rounds promoting Avatar and she gave a small update on the sequel:

“I spoke to J.J. and Bryan Burk, his producing partner at Bad Robot, and they are still in the middle of building the script with Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, and we’ll probably be going into pre-production around this time next year.”

So if all goes swimmingly production on Star Trek 2 could begin early 2011. This could mean Paramount are aiming for a Winter 2011 or Summer 2012 release, which is light years away.

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Last week Michael Bay informed the world that he had started working on Transformers 3, and that it would be hitting our screens in 2011. This means they may start hashing out a script over the upcoming months, but who will be writing it? Back in March writers Roberto Orci And Alex Kurtzman hinted that they might not be returning as it was “time for fresh blood!” and they don’t want to risk becoming “stale and comfortable”. Now they have confirmed that their Transformers days are over.

From /Film:

Producer Don Murphy maintains a pretty lively website and forum that was crashed for a bit this morning when Roberto Orci confirmed in a forum post that he and Alex Kurtzman would not return at all for Transformers 3, leaving script duties entirely in the hands of Ehren Kruger. (Well, not entirely, as Michael Bay will have his input.)

2009 was Orci and Kurtzman’s year having written the scripts for both Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, however I’m still not sure if they are any good or not. Star Trek was one of the best reviewed films of the year with 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, while Transformers is one of the worst with a mere 19% and complaints of a bad plot and characters with no depth.

Regardless of talent, their films make money (which is good enough for some) and they will be busy working on the Star Trek sequel, as well as Cowboys and Aliens with Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau.

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A little burst of Star Trek sequel news for everyone, especially since there seems to be a small groundswell of journalistic activity questioning if Michael Bay is really going to step away from Transformers 3 to direct a “smaller movie.” The argument is that Transformers: ROTF stands to make Bay a butt-load of money and that a third film in inevitable. The problem is that pre-production should start in a couple of weeks to make a timely sequel, and screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman are busy working on the upcoming Robert Downey Jr action flick, Cowboys and Aliens as well as actively being in discussions with JJ Abrams about Star Trek 2.

That’s right, stepping away from the Michael Bay question, Orci and Kurtzman have expressed interest in running away from the Transformers franchise, but have promised Paramount a draft of Star Trek 2 by this holiday season.

In a video from Collider at the Saturn Awards, Steve Weintraub asks JJ Abrams about his involvement with the Trek sequel…

[Note: You can watch the video embed, directly to the right of the title in the "media box" area, or you can CLICK HERE to check it out at the source.]

If that wasn’t enough to quench your Star Trek thirst for awhile, or if you’re still blaming Orci and Kurtzman for the failings of T: ROTF (instead of rightfully blaming the WGA Strike), check out THIS POST at TNMC that discusses the scenes cut out of the first Abrams Star Trek film, including a whole Klingon subplot…that actually makes a lot of sense.

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