Films rushing to meet a release date has almost become a common practice in Hollywood. “X-Men: First Class” will open next week ten months after it started shooting, while “Hunger Games” and ,Tarsem‘s recently moved Snow White film will operate under the same time constraints to meet their March release dates next year. But it’s always a risk to hurry a production, particularly when there are a lot of dollars at stake and with just over a year before “Star Trek 2” is scheduled to land next June, and with no director attached, Paramount may end up pushing back the movie rather than try and crank it out.
Deadline reports that with director J.J. Abrams still not confirmed to direct a rethink is beginning to happen on the film. Yesterday, writer Roberto Orci — who is writing the script with Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof — revealed on Trek Movie that though they already have a 70-page treatment, further work is more or less on hold while everyone waits on Abrams to hear what he wants to do.
“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 :),” Orci posted to the site. He added in a later email, “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.’”
But it’s not just Abrams’ coy attitude regarding the film that is an issue. Apparently, with all three writers busy on various projects (Kurtzman on his directorial debut “Welcome To People“; Orci on “Ender’s Game” and Lindelof on “Prometheus“) there is a worry that the script won’t live up the quality of the first film. A push in the release date would allow time to get it right.
So what will happen next? It’s anyone’s guess. Deadline suggests that a mix of good news/bad news will be along any day now with Paramount saying that nothing will be determined until Abrams gives a firm answer on if he’s directing or not. We have to wonder, if “Super 8” turns out to be a smash hit, will Abrams really want to follow it up with doing a sequel instead of using that leverage to get another original project off the ground? We wonder. And if he bails on directing, we would imagine that will definitely mean the project gets pushed as a search for a new director gets underway. Lots to consider, but for now, “Star Trek 2” is still planned to hit theaters on June 29, 2012.
