Attention impatient sequelphiles: Vulture can confirm that J.J. Abrams has finally committed to shooting Star Trek 2. Insiders familiar with the director’s plans tell Vulture that pre-production is underway, that the script will be done by month’s end and that Abrams will start shooting this winter.

While many assumed he would make the follow-up to his 2009 hit, he would never give a date for the project, or actually say for sure that he would be the one directing. In July, reports elsewhere surfaced that Abrams was “moving towards a commitment” to direct the sequel (which, of course, is Internet for “hasn’t committed yet”) but his delay had pushed a nervous Paramount Pictures to give Trek 2’s late June 2012 release date to a G.I. Joe sequel.

Part of the hold-up has been that Alex Kurtzman, who wrote Abrams’ first Trek with Roberto “Bob” Orci, has been busy editing and posting Welcome to People, his directing debut at DreamWorks Pictures. We’re told that now that Kurtzman is finished with those duties, he is back in his office and the team is ready to work. Plug in the Starbucks I.V., lads! These new life-forms and new civilizations aren’t going to seek out themselves!

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Director J.J. Abrams’ latest film, “Super 8,” comes out this Friday, but what about the highly-anticipated sequel to his 2009 take on “Star Trek”? Will it still be released next summer, as planned?

“I’m not so sure, but I know that we’re trying,” Abrams told CNN on Sunday at the press junket for “Super 8.” “We’re working on the script and story and doing everything we can to make it well. I would just so much rather make a movie that’s worth people’s time than make a movie that’s on time.”

The sequel is currently set for a June 29, 2012 release. Abrams has plenty on his plate, including the upcoming TV shows “Person of Interest” and “Alcatraz,” and he reiterated that he wants the next “Star Trek” to be a worthy sequel.

“I’m not inclined to push it. I’m inclined to make a movie that’s good and if it works out in that timetable then we’ll all be thrilled,” he said. “If it doesn’t, when the movie comes out it’ll be worth the wait.”

One can only assume that there will be no appearances by Captain Kirk’s arch-enemy Khan in this “Star Trek 2.”

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As his star has risen in the last few years, Chris Pine has become known primarily for action roles — his reprisal of the Capt. Kirk character in “Star Trek” in 2009, or as the upstart train man to Denzel Washington’s veteran rail rat in “Unstoppable.”

But those who have sensed that Pine has more serious acting chops could get a chance to see them in a new drama.

The actor is in talks to star in a new movie called “Mud,” a coming-of-age story that will be written and directed by emerging Cannes director Jeff Nichols and produced by “Memento” producer Aaron Ryder, according to a source close to the project who asked not to be identified because talks were ongoing.

In an interview Sunday, Ryder declined to comment on the status of the Pine talks. But he did confirm the project and described it as in the vein of “Stand by Me,” essentially a drama about figuring out one’s place in the world.

Nichols is the filmmaker behind the supernatural-tinged drama “Take Shelter,” which is playing in the Critics Week section at the Cannes Film Festival. (The movie, which stars Michael Sheen and Jessica Chastain, had a strong showing at Sundance and will hit theaters later this year.)

Nichols’ new movie will center on two 14-year-boys who come across an adult fugitive of the law, the titular Mud (who would be played by Pine) and must help him escape off an island in the Mississippi. The ambiguity of the story lies with Mud, who is both an unsavory and a redemptive character and who teaches the boys as much as he learns from them.

The riverside setting and coming-of-age motif will inevitably draw comparisons to Huckleberry Finn, though the film will be set in the contemporary world.

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20th Century Fox has announced release dates for its upcoming films This Means War and Chronicle. According to Box Office Mojo, This Means War is set for February 17, 2012. Directed by McG, the film is an action-romantic-comedy that stars Chris Pine and Tom Hardy as former black-ops agents who go to war with each other when the fall for the same woman (Reese Witherspoon).

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CloneWeb got a chance to talk to I Am Number Four director D.J. Caruso and star Alex Pettyfer, and the conversation lead to the Preacher adaptation that Caruso will concentrate on next.

In the interview, he mentions that he wants Chris Pine (Star Trek) for the lead role of Jesse Custer, that Shia LaBeouf is interested in playing Arseface and that Alex Pettyfer could play the Saint of Killers. The casting is, of course, nothing official, though it’s interesting to hear what direction Caruso may take.

The Sony project is an adaptation of the popular 1990s Vertigo series created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

You can watch the interview using the player below!

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I’ve added 662 1080i HD captures from ‘Unstoppable’ into the gallery. Enjoy!

Gallery Link:
– Unstoppable (2010) > Movie Captures