Abrams and ‘Star Trek 2’ Inch Closer, ‘G.I. Joe 2’ Takes Its June Release Date

J.J. Abrams appears to finally be ready to make Star Trek 2 happen. After a little vacation at the expense of impatient Trekkies and newly born "Reboot Trekkies," he's ready to get to work, but as previous reports speculated, the film's targeted release date for late June of next year has been scratched. Instead, Paramount will release newly re-titled G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

The first order of business for Abrams is to work with writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof on the script, which as of May was a 70-page outline. Deadline reports production is not expected to begin until January at the earliest (despite what Simon Pegg said last month), which means a late 2012 release would be the earliest possible and that's pushing it. Paramount has no tentpoles positioned for either Holidays 2012 or Summer 2013 and Abrams will likely get whatever time he needs.

Paramount's other sequel to a 2009 hit (if you can call it that), G.I. Joe: Retaliation will move up from August 2012 to take the vacated June 29, 2012 release date. If you think that bodes well for the toy-soldier sequel directed by Jon Chu and welcoming new stars Dwayne Johnson and Adrianne Palicki, think again: The Amazing Spider-Man comes out four days later. The original G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra only grossed $150 million (over a third of that in its opening weekend) and was loathed by critics and most who saw it. With a heavy June slate leading up to it and its business likely to get snuffed after its opening weekend, Chu has an uphill battle.



As for the Star Trek sequel, if Paramount goes for December, the film could reasonably compete on Christmas Day against Django Unchained and return business from Disney's Lone Ranger. Plus, fans would be a lot happier to not have to wait until the following summer.

Looking at the summer, a move to late June of 2013, even the same date as the original release date only a year later, might be possible. Universal plans to release R.I.P.D with Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges that date, but the studio already has four films slated for the summer and would have to respect the presence of a more established Star Trek property.