One of this year’s biggest names in Hollywood is getting a little bit bigger. Last month, we finally saw the release of Star Trek, the film that set out to rekindle the near-dead sci-fi franchise and succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination. The man responsible for this success is of course, J.J. Abrams.
If you follow film or television news in the slightest bit, then you know this man. On our TV sets, he brought us Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe and on the silver screen, he engineered movies such as Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible 3 and of course, Star Trek.
A god amongst the geek world, Abrams got his first gig as a feature film director directly from Tom Cruise. Cruise watched his show Alias on DVD and fell in love with it. That led to Tom asking J.J. to direct M:i:3 and it turned out very well for the both of them. The film helped erase some of the negatives many folks had with the prior installment and went over well amongst the critics.
Since that time, there’s been plenty of speculation about a Mission: Impossible 4. Back in March we heard a tidbit of information about another M:I where Cruise revealed that he was working out a story for another movie. All three movies made boatloads of cash at the box office and it’s a sure-fire way for Tom to star in blockbuster action flick that’s guaranteed to sell – it was only a matter of time till we saw more movement on this project.
Well, that time has come and we now know that J.J. Abrams will be back to help. However, his involvement as of this time will be of a different sort than that of the last movie. According to the latest issue of TV Guide, Cruise invited Abrams back to produce the next film. There’s no word yet on whether or not he will direct.
“I am incredibly honored that Tom has invited me back as a producer on Mission: Impossible 4… Tom and I have come up with a really cool idea we are pursuing.”
I’m sold. Call me biased but I enjoy all of Abrams’ work and I look forward to seeing another Mission: Impossible if he’s part of the creative team. J.J. has sure found himself nicely nested in some massive franchises with this, Trek having upcoming films and Fringe coming back for a second season.
Are you excited that we’re getting another Mission: Impossible and that J.J. will be a part of it?
Expect Ethan Hunt to kick some more ass in the summer of 2012.
