Another piece in the puzzle that is the Star Trek sequel has fallen into place as JJ Abrams has now confirmed that, although he is co-producing, he will not return to the director’s chair for the fourth Mission: Impossible film. More details on that below, plus comments from Abrams on Superman
Abrams not directing MI4
JJ Abrams first feature film as a director was 2006’s Mission: Impossible: III. Earlier this year it was announced that JJ Abrams and Tom Cruise would be co-producing a fourth film, with Abrams developing a story with Alias vets Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, who are now writing the screenplay. There had been some speculation that Abrams would also return to direct, however, in a new interview with MTV Abrams stated:
I’m producing with Tom. My guess is, given other things, that I will not be directing the movie.
Abrams also noted that he hopes to have the film go into production "soon" as well as giving some details on the plans for the film not being a reboot, more on that at MTV.
Co-producing a Mission: Impossible film going into production in 2010 for a likely 2011 release will still take up a good amount of time for Abrams, and he has also recently stated that he hopes to direct another unnamed film in 2010.
With regards to Star Trek, it seems clear that the M:I:4 project is now further along at Paramount, already in the scripting phase. So, if Abrams is going to return to direct the Star Trek sequel, the best bet still seems to be for that film to go into production in 2011 for a 2012 release, although 2011 is possible, but would likely require a different director.
Abrams Superman?
In 2002 JJ Abrams was one of many who took a crack at a Superman Script before Warner Brothers finally settled on what became Superman Returns. In a separate article at MTV Abrams says that he hasn’t been contacted by Warner Brother’s about taking another crack, but discussed some of the controversey regarding his last script and still seemed open to taking it on some day:
That version of the movie—the one that was reviewed and vilified—was actually not the latest draft we had at the time and we worked on it well after that. I do think there’s a version of that movie that could be really fun to see," said Abrams. "You never really know. Everything happens for a reason
More from Abrams on Superman at MTV.
So Abrams is a busy guy. Hope he finds the tim to direct the new star trek movie. I realy liked what he did with star trek 2009.
So fingers crossed
His Superman script made me utterly terrified he’d make a complete mess of Star Trek, but thankfully he made a fantastic Trek movie.
However I still wouldn’t want him to go near Supes as WB are far too interfering in their projects, and wouldn’t support and guide him the way Paramount seems to have done with Trek.
Roll on Star Trek : Something Something!!
Yeah he’s one a role
*fingers crossed he directs the next Trek movie!!*
Here’s an idea for the next Superman film- make it true to the comics we grew up with, not some homogenized safe little namby-pamby Superman tale.
There were parts of Superman Returns that I liked- saving the space plane sequence, chucking the kryptonite island out into space, and yes, Brandon Routh as Superman… but a lot that made me think I was watching a film that had the script rewritten by the hags on The View.
#4: I’d like to see Michael Bay direct the next TREK film.
I’d also like to see Roland Emmerich’s team produce it too.
(cough)
I am so KIDDING!
#5: “but a lot that made me think I was watching a film that had the script rewritten by the hags on The View.”
that was kind of rude… and uncalled for, don’t you think?
Superman Returns had it moments but were far and inbetween. I think That we should have Sam Raimi do it as I think he would make a better Director for the next Film. J.J I hope you do Star Trek and I love the Lense Flaires. So keep that as well. Roland Emerich needs to do the Sequal to Independence Day.
#7 – Agreed. I enjoyed Superman Returns, and it had *nothing* to do with anyone on The View! :-)
Superman Returns was fantastic. It was something sorely lacking in the movies these days, it felt mature…and sincere.
I think the thrashing it gets from some of the nay sayers on line simply shows how hollow society is a lot of the time.
Nice to see some appreciation for the film on here.
Superman Returns was really great stuff
Superman returns was a chick flick…nothing wrong with that, but not the reboot Warner Brothers expected.
#2. Yeah, the draft that was leaked of Abrams’ Superman script was an EPIC FAIL. Even if it was changed, there was so many things wrong with it, edits couldn’t have saved it.
– Lex Luthor as a Kryptonian who crash landed on Earth?
– Mid-air martial arts fights
– Krypton not being destroyed
I’m glad his work his that draft of Superman has been exceptional.
Let’s hope this means JJ is available to direct the next Star Trek movie! Would be awesome to see him make Superman as well!!
And for those that may be interesting STAR TREK came out two days early here in Australia and I have already purchased the movie on both DVD and Blu Ray which both have some awesome sprecial features! :)
Anyone else out there got their hands on the DVD or Blu Ray yet?
JJ Abrams won’t direct the next “Star Trek” film either. He’s “lazy” like that!
To be quite honest, I hope Paramount puts Abrams, Kurtzman, and Orci on a slow boat to China by the time the next “Star Trek” is made!
They could screw up a train wreck!
Oh wait! They already did! It was called “Star Trek XI!”
Regarding Supes: Bring back Brandon Routh and Bryan Singer!
Superman Returns was what it was…an attempt to get new viewers to see the magic that Superman the Movie had…unfortunately, for a lot of people it came across as a psuedo-remake. I saw it more as a way to humanize a character who was seperated from his adopted hime for a long time. In a way, they tried to put the ‘Man’ before the ‘Super’ to show us this guy is more than the ‘S’ and the cape.
as far as Abrams goes with Superman, there was a reason that his version didn’t get made, and instead we got ‘Star Trek’. I call it a win. And I thought that the plot wasn’t THAT bad…
SR had the basics but it had no heart. Batman Begins handled the reintroduction of an icon so much better. The sequel to SR needs to do for Superman what The Dark Knight did for Batman: take it to the next level with solid writing, acting, and direction. As for STXII, I’m hoping pretty much the same concept. The first movie handles the introductory stories and the sequels jump off from there with the potential for even better films to follow.
Star Trek: Given Other Things
Yeah, that works. K/O have sandbagged us, and the script’s almost done. That way we don’t pester them if they keep saying “we’re digging deeper, working on where we want to go with this.” Yet, they’ve already got it ready for delivery in December. Then the shooting schedule Zoe seems to know makes sense (and I’m sure she won’t make this mistake again to speak to the issue!).
The wiggle of a notion Shatner has talked to someone is interesting. Think about it… if you’re going to shoot Trek Mark 2 with Shatner involved, and you want to keep it on the q.t., you totally want to go the “Blue Harvest” route.
So, they get us thinking (with the help of here and other sites unknowingly) that the release will be for Christmas 2012, and thus filming is in 2011… and all the while….
Star Trek: Given Other Things is in full production.
If Abrams is not going to direct MI4, wouldn’t it seem likely that he would have more time to direct a ST film in mid to late 2010 if the script is to be ready by the spring of 2010 at the latest?
If the Superman film were to happen it seems like it would be three years away at best. I would think given his schedule that Superman wouldn’t be ready to go before the cameras until after ST is shot.
Superman Returns did have it’s moments. I liked the plane crash sequence and especially liked Brandon R.’s portrayal of Supes when the script had his character right. Bad part was, the script messed up a couple of things…first and worst was him eavesdropping on Lois and her new main squeeze. That was just childish and immature. Superman might have been intent on winning her back, but not sulking, listening in, and being so worried in a “golly gee what do I do” type of mode.
Even though I think Lex Luthor is overused, I thought the character was superbly done by the writers and actor. Lois, on the other hand, was a pathetic failure by the writers and the actress. She was the worst part of the movie, far beyond annoying. Even the kid didn’t rub me the wrong way like she did. I thought everyone else was written and portrayed well.
I think JJ will direct Trek, whenever it is, if at all possible. I really do think he’s damn proud of the film and he ought to be. Besides some of the naysayers on this board and others (no names needed), it has been widely accepted as the rebirth of Trek. It has made Trek popular again and I have a hunch it’s given Trek “legs” again.
I grew up with TOS Star Trek and love it to this day, but JJ did what had to be done. Trek has evolved into something relevant for this whacky world we live in today. Keep it up JJ, Bob, Alex, and company!!!!
#12 “Superman returns was a chick flick”
I never thought of it like that, but you might be right. My sister and I *loved* Superman Returns
No personal offense intended, but Singerman Returns brought true meaning to the term “A big budget movie with a story that goes nowhere”.
Superman returns was a mixed bag because they tried to service too many portrayals of the same character. They tried to make him his own, and Lois & Clark, and orig. Supes in first 4 films. It was pulling the actor Brandon in too many directions…Am I Chritopher Reeves? Amd I Brandon Routh?..am I Dean Cain? If I were Brandon, I’d have been confused on how to play the part!
Batman Begins – 350m ww – great reviews – sequel granted
Star Trek – 385m ww – great reviews – sequel granted
Superman Returns – 390m ww – great reviews – NO sequel….
funny that…
all they had to do for a great sequel was to brighten everything up abit (SR was abit too dark), alter the suit slightly (bigger \S/, brighter colours), up the action with a supervillian or 2, maybe recast Lois (older), dump the kid and curb the homages to the Reeve films (just the odd one – not base the whole film on them)
but no – WBros look to be viewing SR as a failure and are going to reboot in a few years Incredible Hulk style :(
Brandon Routh was the “KEN DOLL” choice to play Superman. Terrible, no wonder their branding it a chick flick here, Their right.
#25 SR didn’t break 200 million in the US. The only profit came from international ticket sales. It just wasn’t enough, and has been univerally panned as a failure. Tom Welling is Superman for this generation. His portrayal of Clark has changed the image of Superman. The audience will no longer accept the “LONG UNDERWEAR” in bright colors and take a live action version seriously. Animation is the only place you can still get away with that portrayal. A Smallville movie would be better, with Michael Rosenbaum back to play Lex.
27 –
SR = 200m (US) 191m (overseas) – opening near Pirates 2 didnt help
SR got great reviews from all the big publications like Time, Newsweek, Empire etc…
Smallville The Movie? – no thanks
I would still like to see a Steven Spielberg directed Star Trek movie.
JJ showed real growth as a director from mi3 to trek-i also hope he directs the new trek movie as jj got most of it right–superman returns-paid too much homage to donners superman film even stealing lines of dialogue from that film instead of writing good and original dialogue for their movie-b routh was ok but again reminded us of reeves without being as good as reeves-reeves gave clark kent the different personality from superman-hes been the only one that really made kent different from superman other than just wearing glasses-i also didnt like yet another lex again after land-enjoying pounding and beating up superman til he was bloody-the new lois was lousy-the only original plot/story point was the kid-the v.effex were great and the moment when supes flew up above the clouds and his fistand body healed and gaines strength from the sun that was the only time that superman returns equaled the old movie, aside from the shuttle/airplane rescue scenes which were suitably epic–imo-Donner remains the best superman director making him the most human which was why the first superman movie is still the best-the lois/clark love story shined there thanx to donner and reeves/kidder-
Too bad. I really liked the directing job Abrams did on MI:III and was hoping to see him do another one.
But as long as he directs the Trek sequel, I’ll be happy. I think it’s still a little too soon to risk getting another director with a different directing style.
#25- The problem with Superman Returns was how much it cost to make. It cost well over $270 million. Star Trek & Batman Begins cost $150 million each. You do the math and you can see why Warner’s were disappointed. If they’d brought it in for $150 and made the same profits, you probably already would have seen a sequel.
Frankly, I can take a superhero like Supes serious. Look at Spidey in his jammies and so on. There are other superheroes that dress strangely. It’s all in the stories, not the clothes.
#32 Spidey isn’t wearing red fruit of the looms over his skin tight blue long underwear. I agree the stories are where its at, but even Batman ditched the undies.
#28 You can keep making excuses, but SR was just a bad movie that failed to make money.
#32 The budget was too much for SR, but can you imagine that horrible movie without that plane crash scene in the beginning?
32 – SR cost about 200m – the extra 70m was on all the failed attempts throughout the years – Burton/Cage, Abrams/McG/Ratner, Peterson etc
– a bit like what happened with Star Trek: TMP
but yeah thats obviously the reason…if it had cost 150m and made 390m then yeah sequel…or if it had cost what it did and made 500m (what the studio were at least expecting) – therefore sequel
Please, please, please direct the next Trek, JJ. Enough said I think!
#33-I wasn’t meaning to imply that they couldn’t do a better job updating his “suit”, I’m just saying that for me, it doesn’t matter what he wears if the character and story is well written. Heck, in “Watchmen” you have a nude guy……not exactly something I wanted to sit through (and frankly, I thought Watchmen was awful, IMO). Anyway…………………
29 – me too….hes never done a space set Sci Fi movie has he – CE3K, ET, JPs, AI, Minority Report, WOTW, Indy 4 – all earth based SF. I think he came close to doing Return of the Jedi and then a Star Wars prequel but it just didnt happen…
wasnt spielberg approached to direct TMP? im sure he was for Superman The Movie but im pretty sure i read he was at least on the short list for Trek I…(mustve been busy with 1941 – heh, bet he wished hed done Trek!)
he visited the Trek 09 set and helped with a scene, plus there was the underlying Trek reference with Zoe in The Terminal…maybe hes a huge fan who would jump at the chance to direct a Trek movie??
We’ve had WAAAY too many contemporary super heroes.
So:
Do Superman as a period piece set in the 30’s. (I’m gonna keep saying it.)
I believe that’s the only way to truly reboot the franchise.
maybe if Warners had gone ahead with JJ and McG or Ratner and rebooted Superman as a fun, colourful action fest and Singer had completed X Men then perhaps Superman wouldve been huge and the X Trilogy would be mentioned in the same breath as LOTR, Indy etc (instead of Godfather, Superman I-III, Spidey I-III etc)
hmmm
“Superman” is its own worst enemy. I mean, how many truly cinema-worthy stories can you get out of Ma & Pa, Lois, Lana, Lex, Jimmy, Perry and the Daily Planet before you die of boredom?
JJ was merely thinking outside the box.
JJ’s Superman draft that was leaked and vilified was an experimental one where he was seeing how far he could push things. Later drafts apparently were closer to the classic Superman feel.
As usual, the nerds went berserk with only a tenth of the information and the whole project was replaced by Singer’s film, which, while reasonably enjoyable in a nostalgic way, was otherwise a feeble retread.
Then again, I’d happily take a Singer Superman sequel if it puts the kibosh on the Galactica movie!
Simple answer: bring in Brainiac trying to steal Metropolis like he did Kandor and I smell epic!
Completely off topic….
Happy Birthday Robert Picardo!
There are times I think that “Superman Returns” was the most expensive fan-made film, ever!
They should bring back Routh, but just tell a story that is fresh and new. Singer’s film was beautifully nostalgic, but Batman Begins showed that we can appreciate a reinterpretation.
Do a good Superman/Batman movie and they’ll be ‘rich beyond the dreams of avarice.’
37. I agree about the 30’s thing (still!).
If you ask me, though, just give it to TOm Welling already so we can finally end Smallville! I’ve been sucked into that stinkin show for waaaayyyy too long! Besides, he does it pretty well and this season is actually getting closer to the comic book action of the old days!
The next Superman movie should have someone OTHER than Lex Luthor as the villain. He’s been in every Superman movie since 1978 except #3. I mean, I know he’s #1 in Supes’ rouges gallery, but enough already. How about Braniac?
Is subtitle could just be XII
@#6
Michal Bay? He can barely direct a Transformers film much less someting as big as Star Trek! He would become the next Stuart Baier! It would be just like Nemesis, big on action and nothing else eccept Uhura’s dress might be shorter and use some CGI to make her sexier! (refrence to Megan Fox’s CGI body lift!) JJ and his team can do anything and hopefuly bring Shat back!
Put Megan Fox in the new Superman movie then Harry Ballz can complain about her and give Erica Durance a break.