Late last year, JJ Abrams talked a little bit about the Star Trek sequel being shot in 2D and converted to 3D with all the care and attention you might expect from the** Super 8** director. At the time, he dropped mention that he’d like to shoot certain scenes in IMAX format, much as Chris Nolan did for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises and Brad Bird did for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Well, now comes the official word that the new Trek adventure will indeed be projected in IMAX and feature scenes shot using dedicated IMAX cameras.
While Abrams’ first Trek outing was shown on some IMAX screens, the sequel will boast action moments that expand to take full advantage of the huge canvas.
"We were so thrilled with the creative results of shooting IMAX for Mission: Impossible that we jumped at the chance to use the format for Star Trek, says Abrams in a statement picked up by Hitfix. "All expectations were exceeded – the action and resolution is insane at this scale. We cannot wait for audiences to see the crew of the Enterprise in a way they never have before."
Of course, this being JJ, nothing has been revealed about what those scenes might be, though we’re hoping to see that shiny, tech-heavy bridge and whatever deviousness Benedict Cumberbatch’s villain gets up to in the format. So far, all that is concrete about the movie is that the crew is back, joined by Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Peter Weller and Noel Clarke, and that the Klingons will actually make an appearance after being left on the cutting room floor last time. You might be able to glean a few more tidbits in our Simon Pegg podcast of last week, if you're desperate for more.
The movie has recently finished shooting, so we’ll likely have to wait for anything more than a teaser trailer. The finished product will warp onto our screens on May 17 next year.