Updates on Star Trek 2 and G.I. Joe 2

While a lot of you might have thought JJ Abrams directing STAR TREK 2 was an inevitability, the filmmaker has played coy in regards to making it official. He certainly ruminated on the idea long enough to make the studio’s planned June 2012 release date highly questionable.

Now the delay and the filmmaker’s involvement are all but assured, as Deadline says that Abrams “just returned from vacation and is hunkering down with writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to work on the TREK script,” with the intent of beginning production early next year for a late 2012 or Summer 2013 release.

That left a vacancy next June 29th, so Paramount has shifted their G.I. JOE sequel into that slot. The movie is now apparently going by the title G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (and not the subtitle COBRA STRIKES, as had often been mentioned).

Director Jon M. Chu (STEP UP 2 & 3D, JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER) is stepping in to deliver Channing Tatum’s next mission, along with Ray Park and Byung-hun Lee coming back as rival ninjas. Added to the roster are Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, DJ Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Joe Mazzello and The RZA, who will face COBRA, Ray Stevenson’s Firefly and other unrevealed villains.