Abrams To Promote ‘Into Darkness’ In Japan (& Beyond?) + Paramount Announces Int’l Release Dates

Once again director JJ Abrams is going global and taking footage on the road to help build buzz for his new movie. JJ will be in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday meeting with the press and showing off the preview of the Star Trek Into Darkness movie which will be shared with the public with IMAX screenings of The Hobbit, starting December 14th. More details on that below, plus Paramount has announced the international release dates for Into Darkness

 

JJ Abrams Taking Star Trek Into Darkness On The Road

The Japanese site rengo-tsushin.com is reporting that Star Trek: Into Darkness producer/director JJ Abrams will be appearing in Japan at a "special footage presentation" at an IMAX theater in Tokyo on Tuesday December 4th. The event is just for invited press. Joining JJ will be Star Trek Into Darkness stars Chris Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch along with fellow producer Bryan Burk.

TrekMovie has confirmed that Abrams will be showing the same 9-minute preview of Star Trek Into Darkness that will be seen at IMAX screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey starting on December 14th.

Traveling across the globe to promote his Trek film months before release is actually part of a pattern for Abrams. In late 2008 and early 2009 Abrams and some cast members went on a couple of press tours for Star Trek where he showed off footage to build buzz for the film. The tours eventually visited Japan, Korea, Italy, Germany, London, and Madrid, along with stops in both NYC and Los Angeles. TrekMovie doesn’t have the exact details on JJ’s itinerary for Star Trek Into Darkness, but it is logical to assume Japan is not the only stop for this new press tour.

Like with that last press tour we could expect some reports coming from international press and possibly some press conference images of the attendees (like below).


Abrams with "Star Trek" castmembers Zoe Saldana and Chris Pine at press event in Seoul, S. Korea (February 25, 2009)

Paramount Announces International Release Dates

In addition to the new poster being released today there is a bit of new info on the official Star Trek movie site (StarTrekMovie.com), listing all the international release dates. The official opening for domestic showings (US and Canada) is Friday May 17th. For most territories around the world the film opens the same weekend, although it is traditional in many markets to open films on Thursdays or Wednesdays so some locations (like Norway) get the film on Wednesday May 15th or Thursday May 16th (like Germany).  However, there are a few places that will have to wait for the movie with some openings in June or later. The last country to get Star Trek Into Darkness will be Japan, where the movie won’t be opening until September 13.

The full list of international release dates (along with official global FaceBook pages and sites) is available by CLICKING HERE

Thanks to Ateban for Japanese link and translation

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If I get all dressed up like JJ can I go as well?

Star Trek (2009) did very very poorly in Japan making only like $6 million, and it didn’t do spectacularly business worldwide in general despite their global blitz last time. Let’s hope this one can do better.

I said, right?… ;-) :-)

Chris Pine arriving in Tokyo, December 2

https://twitpic.com/biq1nr

Let’s get the “Gary Mitchell” thing out of the way. It’s very painful listening to people with 94 IQs saying it’s “Garth” with passion.

Any idea why it’s opening so late in Japan? Does this typically happen with other movies ?

Any idea if the press be able to report on this right away or will it be under embargo until the footage is released with the Hobbit?

It isn’t Gary Mitchell. Rick, 94 would be good on you

Can’t Wait. Comes out on my Birthday in Canada, best present I could get is to have a Trek open on my Birthday. Opening night show, here I come!

Love Chris’ sneakers. **runs behind a bush, loses lunch, runs back**

So Japan has to wait for the open until five months after Hong Kong floods the market with knock-off DVD’s? Not really following the logic here.

Egypt gets it first? Explain this outrage!

IQ test = 137 , not being egotistical, but Gary Mitchell is obviously the villain.

Please mock me when this is shown to be untrue (it won’t be: CONVENIENT HINT.)

Chris looks like he’s wearing two AMT Interplanetary UFO models on his feet.

@2 MattR,

Yup, building an international audience is exactly why they were looking at Benecio Del Toro, and the other rumored Latinos, and why they ultimately hired Comberbatch … It’s NOT Khan, it never was.

It really happened! people are commenting around the web!

;-) :-)

14. Curious Cadet

Agreed! I have been saying that all along. They had Del Toro in mind for the role because he is a great actor with international appeal… huge box office draw!

Anthony P.: You still haven’t told us when (and with what film) the teaser trailer will be released.

#7 I have the same question. Will this be embargoed or reported to the wider public straight away.

Secondly, it is already the fourth in Japan. Has the conference already been held or is it on later today?

@6 not sure if it’s the norm, but while the rest of the world got Skyfall quite early, Japan’s release date was 1 December, quite a bit later than everyone else.

We should know by tomorrow night then who the villain is.

All the secrecy had gotten me so frustrated that I decided to go ‘full Vulcan’ with this movie and chill. But this news and the poster and the 9-minute teaser that I WILL be seeing on or about Dec. 14 is some tasty awesome sauce that’s got me approaching giddy!

And as I type this The Wrath of Khan is on SyFy. The Reliant is a beautiful vessel. And Khan has just just reminded me, though stated ironically, “Of course! We are one big happy fleet!”

The word is given, my friends. And that word is – YES!

It is 4 December, 6.00pm here in NZ. I believe that Japan is about 4-5 hours behind us timewise.

It is 4 December, 7.00pm here in NZ. I believe that Japan is about 4-5 hours behind us timewise.

Other countries that get the movie before we do will ensure it will be spoiled before we get the chance to see it and all of JJ’s vaunted secrecy will go for naught.

Why is Japan seeing the movie so much later than the rest of the world? Anyone?

@Dee – You really expect people here to acknowledge those who bring them news of real interest or who make a suggestion to this site more than 18 months ago that Star Trek should be run alongside the Hobbit in some form. Then, coincidentally or not, we are told of a nine minute preview being shown preceding the Hobbit movie. Certainly more than even I had expected. Sorry – that sort of acknowledgement does not seem to happen around here.

In my case, my prediction/suggestion was not even acknowledged/noted by anyone, but two or three posters crapped on me on the very thread that announced the preview preceding the Hobbit screenings.

Not nice at all.

Rose, are you saying they took your idea for releasing the clip with the hobbit?

I have no idea who did it first, but a bunch of people suggested here that the hobbit seemed like a prime piece of real estate for a Trek trailer.

Everyone shoots everything down here. Slash film (I’m too sleepy to look up the proper spelling) had a bit about how the poster resembles plenty of other recent posters, like Battleship, as much as TDKR. I posted it on another thread and somebody said the site’s observation was incorrect — because JJ never said Battleship or the other films were an inspiration for ID. Sigh.

What?

Well it is now almost 4pm on tues the 4th, So i take it that 9:50 japan time on December 4th wasnt AM,
since there is no news out yet does this mean it is infact 9:50 PM japan time which will be coming up in almost 6 hours? seems kind of late for a press conference?

@27 Mark James Tucker

I`ve already seen photos of the press event elswhere,
it already happened ;-)

Where at can you provide a link?
9:50 am definately made more sense i just cant believe no one is really reporting on it since that was 7 hours ago

There are some photos of the event on this Cumberbatch-fansite
http://cumberbatchcoffeeklatch.tumblr.com/

IPUIL thanks for posting that, why hasnt this been turned into a article yet on this site, is anyones guess.

So JJ does a international press event for the movie with Cumberbatch, and still no official word on his name,come on man.

Also here are links to press photos from the event via wireimage from the press conference that occured 7 hours ago.
http://www.wireimage.com/search/#events?q=%5B157822479%5D&s=3

IN those pics we see jj talking into a mic, and Bendict walking up with a mic, come on surely the characters name had to be revealed.

Yes! Israel a day early. I’m tempted to go to Egypt…

Is there reason to believe (Abrams history, for example) that the 14 Dec. trailers will actually reveal Cumberbatch’s villain’s identity? I wonder if they’ll give us a trailer that doesn’t. Opinions, please? I really don’t know.

It’s clearly not Garth of Izar. I can’t believe people are even joking about it.

YES! may, 16th. love living in europe :)

It could be Landru…

Frankly I’m surprised that this movie is not being released earlier at the foriegn markets. This was a new trend with some big tentpole movies recently, and it worked like gang busters. Of course, Star Trek never really played well over-seas, which I still don’t get.

no buzz on the imax footage that was shown, I take it?

Those release dates are pretty much a joke. I realize Star Trek is no Harry Potter to warrant a midnight premiere – but waiting from three weeks to four months? Paramount’s apparently still living in 1982… back then, people just had to wait. In 2012, however, it is no longer acceptable to suck when it comes to overseas distribution. If you don’t bring the movie in time, someone else will, and you’ll be getting no money from it. :-P

Jack – I don’t know if they used my idea or not. All I remember was that I think I was the first to write here about Star Trek running alongside the Hobbit and clearly setting out my reasons for it. Whether my idea coincided with what others were also thinking at the time, I don’t know. Possibly. However, I do recall most posters here disagreeing with my idea, some quite vehemently, even harshly.

August in Chile !!!!!!!!! Blody thing !

I’m sticking with landru too

Ripper!!!- Oz gets to see it before the USA- nice for a change :) We normally get the short straw for most things here.

Rick, 137? Really? You can’t even spell your first name right. Obviously, based on your conduct, the first letter isn’t R.

@Anthony Pascale

Those international dates are somewhat bogus.

For instance, “16 MAY” is listed for Poland. However, if you follow the link that takes you to startrek-film.pl (official website!), it lists JUNE 21st.

Which one is correct? This is 2009 all over again. Can TrekMovie, as a reputable and known service, give Paramount a nudge so that they correct this and there is ONE single CONFIRMED date per country?

Thanks in advance.

@36 Rendered Toast… Captain Garth is described in TOS as their greatest tactical genius, the inspiration to a generation of young officers who goes mad and commits genocide against a lesser developed people. So if they went looking for the Col. Kurtz of the Star Trek universe — as suggested by the movie’s title and synopsis — then I’d argue (I think persuasively) that Captain Garth is their man.

What I like about the idea is that Kirk would have to confront his hero gone bad, and understand that there but for the grace of god, that could be his fate, too. He was so sure he was ready to be captain, despite his youth and inexperience. Now he’s got to grapple with the possibility that he may be in over his head — and millions could pay the price for his arrogance, his hubris. This would be consistent with a storyline about Kirk “earning” the chair (as Pine termed it).

Others have suggested, reasonably, that having the baddie be a friend of Kirk’s plays better than having him be Kirk’s hero, and that makes sense — it’s a much more personal connection — but for me I think it’s mostly Alice Eve who tips it to Mitchell. (We’ve been told that they are the only two main guest stars who play canon characters, IIRC.)

If Cumberbatch is Mitchell, it becomes very clear who Eve is playing–and indeed, they seem to have given her a haircut that virtually matches Sally Kellerman’s in “Where No Man….” Also, note that Dr Dehner does NOT appear in the Ongoing Comic’s adaption of “Where No Man…”

But it’s less obvious who she is playing if Cumberbatch is Garth. Not Yvonne Craig/Marta, certainly, since Eve is not painted green in the leaked set pics and perhaps more to the point, if they’re doing Garth, they’re NOT doing “Dagger of the Mind.” They’re doing a prequel to it. Maybe he would end up in the Elba II asylum at the end.

Whether it’s Mitchell or Garth or someone we haven’t guessed, Eve could be playing someone completely unrelated to the heavy’s previous appearance, of course. Could she be playing Carol Marcus? (If so, I’ll bet real money that the movie ends with them discovering the Botany Bay, which they almost did over the end credits last time.)

Anyway, those are my two cents.

Oh, BTW, I do think that a storyline where Kirk must confront the possibility of his own failure and make his promotion real works with Mitchell too, since Mitchell’s story is all about power corrupting.

40 Anthony’s article was written hours after the thing took place, and is written like it hasn’t even happened yet.

the photos from the event are all over the internet now, and there is still no update with even the photos.

a pretty big press conference in Japan and yet pretty much zero coverage on here. My guess would be since its now clear that cumby is NOT khan, there is a bit of hesitation in wanting to write about something that is shows the earlier OFFICALLY Confirm its Khan story was not correct. just a theory