Welcome to the future, a world where it is news that a feature film is being shot on 35mm film instead of digital or in 3D. We now know that the new Star Trek film will be one of those such films, although that doesn’t mean we will be spared the 3-D post conversion.

MTV recently talked with J.J. Abrams about the 2013 film:

“I’m sure, like many people, you see what you do and you go, ‘I really could have done that one better, I should have done that, that was a mistake, more of this, less of that.’ You always do that… I’m hoping that as we do the next one, all the mistakes that I’ve made that I’ve hopefully learned from, I can bring to this one and hope make it better.

We’re shooting on film, 2-D, and then we’ll do a good high-end conversion like the ‘Harry Potter’ movie and all that. Luckily, with our release date now we have the months needed to do it right because if you rush it, it never looks good.

We were talking about [shooting in IMAX] and I would love to do it. IMAX is my favorite format; I’m a huge fan,”

While it is nice that J.J. is looking to get into the IMAX business, post conversion 3D has a rocky history. He sited the most recent Harry Potter film as the standard he expects, but even then shooting for 2D and converting it after the fact never looks as good.

We told told you recently that Peter Weller and Alice Eve had signed on to the cast of the new Star Trek sequel, joining the original crew and Benicio Del Toro who was in talks to play the villain. The speculation ran wild that Del Toro would be playing Kirk nemesis extraordinaire Kahn Noonian Singh. The one thing we can now know for certain is that Del Toro will not be Kahn, because he will not be in the movie.

Vulture is reporting that the talks between the actor and the producers broke down due to monetary issues. The speculation of the movie’s villain being Kahn had a lot to do with the fact that Del Toro fits the same mold that Ricardo Montalban so famously inhabited. J.J. Abrams has denied these rumors, but J.J. loves to keep things secret and anything he says about a movie in this stage of development is far from an official proclamation.

Those rumors might just get another boost as Variety reports Edgar Ramirez is now in talks to take over Del Toro’s assumed role. There is enough in common between Del Toro, Ramirez and Montalban that should keep the flames of Kahn hope alive and well for a few more weeks. 

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In what could be called a bit of sci-fi synergy, original Robocop actor Peter Weller is reportedly joining the cast of J.J. Abrams upcoming sequel to Star Trek. While no other details are available at the moment as to what type or size of role Weller will be taking on in the film, you can be assured it will probably not be that of a robot or cyborg.

Of course, now that Weller is being cast in the film, speculation as to his role can begin in earnest, even without any “official” word. That’s just part of the fun. In addition to him most likely not being any sort of robot, bad or otherwise, It’s likely Weller will not play Kahn Noonian Singh — even if that role also doesn’t go to Benicio del Toro.

Weller will more likely take on a smaller yet pivotal role as a Starfleet officer or recognizable alien species who helps (or hinders) Kirk and company’s fight to destroy the greater evil threatening them and Earth. We have nothing to base that on of course, just spitballing here and trying to fill some column inches. That’s just how we roll. Who do you think Weller should play?

Paramount will release the Star Trek sequel May 17, 2013. Weller joins recently announced new cast members Alice Eve and del Toro and the returning Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, John Cho and Simon Pegg.

He may have his hands in half a dozen TV projects, and Zach Quinto may want to quit acting, but that isn’t stopping J.J. Abrams from continuing in his reimagined world of Star Trek with a second film.

First, Abrams announces that he wants She’s Out of My League starlet Alice Eve to have a juicy role in the upcoming sequel. This is the first hard confirmation of new casting news, seeing as the deal with Benicio del Toro has yet to solidify. From Variety.

As is common with Abrams, secrecy has surrounded the pic since the helmer officially announced he would be back — including which characters the new actors will play. Sources say Eve’s character is new to the “Star Trek” universe, unlike del Toro, would insiders believe will be playing someone familiar to Trekkies.

As if that isn’t juicy enough for all you diehards out there, an official date has also been announced, which will make it hard for actors like Quinto to continue to drag their heals.

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To boldly be published in comic book format!

Star Trek #1 is an ongoing series by IDW Publishing. The new comic book series is based on J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek while telling stories that are “re-imaginings” of the adventures of the 1960′s classic Star Trek TV show. Basically, take the fun, hip crew you liked from the 2009 film, mix them with the classic, brilliant drama of the 1960′s TV show, and you have an intriguing concept that appeals to new and old Star Trek fans alike.

Based on the original series episode titled Where No Man Has Gone Before, Star Trek #1 begins with the Enterprise finding the distress beacon from the Valiant, a vessel thought to be lost. After crossing the galactic barrier, Enterprise crewman and one of Kirk’s best friends, Gary Mitchell gets sick and begins to display psychic and telekinetic powers. Gary is now temparmental and angry. Captain Kirk has decide what to do about his good friend before he harms himself or worse, the Enterprise.

The issue follows the same basic first act of the episode it is based on with minor changes. Spock and Uhura are still dating like in the movie, and Kirk is still very new to command. Gary Mitchell even makes a joke about how he was ahead of Kirk in the Academy, and now Kirk is his superior officer. Robert Orci, one of the screenwriters for the 2009 Star Trek, is listed as creative consultant on the issue which I believe is the reason why the story feels fresh and modern even though it’s based on an episode over 40 years old.

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While most analysts thought that the famous team-up of JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg would be box office gold, but it looked like the film failed to draw a massive audience, as Super 8 only opened to an estimated $38 million this weekend.

The film only cost roughly $50 million to make, so the profit margin is larger than it would be on a bigger blockbuster. With critics knocking last week’s X-Men: First Class opening weekend draw of $55 million, this measly $38 million is just that. It turns out mediocre marketing and nameless on-screen talent isn’t all you need to have a big box office weekend.

After it’s big(ger) first weekend, First Class dropped about fifty percent, bringing it to $25 million in the domestic box office and almost $100 million worldwide since last weekend. Coming up in third place this week is the ever popular The Hangover Part 2 with an estimated $18 million.

Next week, we expect big things for the box office as Warner Bros’ Green Lantern opens in over 3,000 screens, and is one fourth of the big superhero blockbusters of 2011.

J.J. Abrams latest film Super 8 is not E.T., to which it doubtless will be compared. Nor is it Close Encounters of the Third Kind, another film in the Steven Spielberg oeuvre to which it also owes a great debt. Heck, it isn’t even The Goonies. It is not any of these films.

Instead, it’s a stark reminder that having all the tricks in the bag doesn’t necessarily mean you can make magic. Being a fan of Abrams and his previous efforts, I went into Super 8 optimistic and enthusiastic that I was in for a great movie.

What I got instead was a shrill effort that accomplishes almost nothing except to demonstrate a filmmaker obviously at the top of his game technically, but seemingly lacking a grasp on what true human interaction, characters and to the greatest extent, story, are supposed to look like. I had a hard time caring about anyone in this movie, especially most of the kids. They all seem to exhist in the film mostly to fill a quota for a particular type of character.

You have the quiet kid who suffered a recent loss, the fat kid who tries to make up for it by being loud and bossy, the awkward kid who’s extremely nervous, the kid with braces who likes to blow stuff up because, as evidenced by the fact that you never see his parents, he’s obviously acting out. You also have the lonely, beautiful girl with the angry, drunk father.

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I’m hesitant to write a summary of Super 8 because I went in knowing nothing about it, had some reservations at first, but was so surprised at around the 10-minute mark that I immediately came on board. So if you’d like to enjoy it cold, read no further. Though I suspect that warning could apply to any film.

Super 8 takes place during the summer of 1979 and follows an outcast group of kids deeply engaged in one of the great pleasures of childhood: making movies. There’s the director Charles (Riley Griffiths), Joe, the makeup guy (Joel Courtney), a few of their bucktoothed, gangly friends, and the female lead Alice (Elle Fanning). Of course, these kids invest much more into their movies than my friends and I ever did (makeup? Multiple angles?), and one of the running gags is Charles’ insistence on production values, regardless of whether it endangers the cast and crew.

While shooting one of the scenes at an abandoned depot, a train barrels past and is derailed by a truck driving down the tracks. The magnificent crash is caught on film and the kids discover that the driver of the truck, who miraculously survives, is their science teacher Mr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), who tells them to get the hell out of there just as the feds arrive.

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While we may have a pretty deep review of the flick later today, there are still plenty of us who are waiting impatiently to see exactly what kind of magic can happen when screen legends J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg team up on a sci-fi picture in Super 8.

Much like Abrams’ last big original sci-fi flick Cloverfield, this film has been shrouded in some pretty deep mystery since we first got a glimpse of the trailer back in January. Here’s what we have for a synopsis, in case you still aren’t up to speed.

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

Filled with no-name child actors who will most likely steal the show, the film is as pure as Spielberg’s E.T. was nearly 30 years ago. Check out a brand new featurette on the film after the jump, and be sure to catch Super 8 in theaters starting today.

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Earlier in the week we brought you news that Paramount Digital Entertainment was going to preview a new Star Trek Game at E3. Now, we’ve got the trailer to prove it.

In case you missed the earlier announcement, the game “continue the adventure that J.J. Abrams J.J. Abrams envisioned with Star Trek” and “boasts a stand alone story filled with action-packed combat as Kirk and Spock must work together to stop a legendary enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy.”

“Star Trek challenges the boundaries of co-op gameplay with a galactic adventure that gamers and fans have never experienced,” said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Working closely with the Star Trek filmmaking team throughout development, the game is sure to deliver AAA production values, a wide variety of gameplay and all the action you would expect from the hit franchise. This will be the definitive Star Trek gaming experience.”

The game features an original story by God of War writer Marianne Krawczyk, in collaboration with the writer/producers of the new Star Trek films, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Click through to check out the trailer. Expect the new Star Trek game to arrive later this year. Let’s hope the sequel to the movie comes out before this does.

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If you are one of the people out there who’s love for Star Trek is only matched by your love of video games, this post is directly straight at you. Paramount Digital Entertainment announced today a brand new action adventure co-op game that will allow players to take on the roles of some of their favorite classic Trek characters including Spock and Kirk.

The game is set to debut next week at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles and will “continue the adventure that J.J. Abrams J.J. Abrams envisioned with Star Trek” and “boasts a stand alone story filled with action-packed combat as Kirk and Spock must work together to stop a legendary enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy.”

“Star Trek challenges the boundaries of co-op gameplay with a galactic adventure that gamers and fans have never experienced,” said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Working closely with the Star Trek filmmaking team throughout development, the game is sure to deliver AAA production values, a wide variety of gameplay and all the action you would expect from the hit franchise. This will be the definitive Star Trek gaming experience.”

The game features an original story by BAFTA award winner, and God of War writer, Marianne Krawczyk, in collaboration with the writer/producers of the new Star Trek films, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

If we can find this booth at E3 next week we’ll try to get a look at the game itself and bring you more details.

Bad news for the new batch of Trekkies today, as Paramount and J.J. Abrams are close to announcing that the sequel to 2009′s blockbuster Star Trek will be pushed back another 6 months from June 29th, 2012 to a Holiday 2012 release. Deadline has the details.

This comes after Paramount pushed back the other franchise film in its arsenal that has Chris Pine as its star. Pine’s also playing Jack Ryan in the reboot of the Tom Clancy-created series. Pine was expected to shoot that film first, but the script wasn’t ready. Paramount hired David Koepp to rewrite Adam Cozad’s script. Koepp just began writing this week after completing his film Premium Rush.

Why is Star Trek in such precarious shape, just 13 months before its release date? The film has three top-flight writers in Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Like Abrams, all of them have been busy on other films. Kurtzman directed Welcome to People. Orci has been busy on Cowboys & Aliens and in prepping the Gavin Hood-directed sci-fi epic Ender’s Game.

Lindelof has been busy working on Prometheus, the Ridley Scott film for Fox that was conceived as a 3D prequel until Lindelof came on to do a rewrite and changed the concept so much that they consider it an original. The result? It doesn’t sound like they are close to having a script that will live up to the high quality of the first film that revived a dead franchise. On the Trekkie fan site Trekmovie.com, Orci confessed this week that they have a 70-page outline, and are waiting for Abrams to commit so that they can really get going. Well, that is hardly an enviable position to be in, exactly 13 months before the release of the film.

So it looks like while Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman are off making tons of over multi-million dollar sci-fi blockbusters, our favorite crew trekking across the stars will have to wait. We’ll be sure to be on this as close as we can while a confirmation comes through.