Although the Untitled Star Trek Sequel is still almost a year away and doesn’t even have an official title yet, screenwriter Damon Lindelof is looking toward a possible third movie.  Lindelof is quick to say that a trilogy is not a “foregone conclusion,” but he also expects to be involved in a third film if he should be so lucky.  In a recent interview, Lindelof also talked about the character dynamics of the Star Trek crew, the logistics of shooting Star Trek 2 in 3D and IMAX and where how he thinks the franchise will move forward before he and director J.J. Abrams step aside to allow someone else’s interpretation.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

While you may have to wait a while to find out who the antagonist is in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek sequel, Star Trek the video game has put its villains front and center.  The Gorn, a lizard-like race of alien warriors Hell-bent on conquering the galaxy, will terrorize Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock in the Paramount Pictures and Namco Bandai game.  The cast of Star Trek, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho and Anton Yelchin will lend their voices to the game.  The standalone co-op is based on Abrams’ original Star Trek and continues the adventures of the iconic heroes.  Players will control Kirk and Spock as they traverse across unexplored planets and alien battleships in an attempt to stop the Gorn in an original story written by BAFTA award-winner, Marianne Krawczyk (God of War) with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.  Plenty of new images and concept art await you, along with the fully detailed press release, after the jump.  As this announcement was made as part of the ongoing Electronic Entertainment Expo, catch up on all of our previous coverage of E3 here.

The Klingons pictured above are angry at being left on the cutting room floor of JJ Abrams’ 2009 film, Star Trek; it’s possible the director will make amends by including them in the as-of-yet untitled sequel, Star Trek 2.   At the MTV Movie Awards last night, Abrams participated in a skit that misdirected your attention onto Jennifer Lawrence’s hotness and Joel McHale’s terrible archery skills.  What you may have missed is an intentionally included screenshot of a Klingon warrior on a monitor behind Abrams.  Reportedly, this isn’t an old screenshot from the 2009 film, but an image that was added to the skit on purpose.  Does it confirm that Klingons will be in the sequel? Maybe not, but it does confirm that Abrams likes to dick with us.  Hit the jump to check out the image. (Update: HitFix has confirmed that the image is from the sequel and that it features a real live Klingon.)

Not only are Fringe fans thrilled that the show recently received a 13-episode, fifth and final season to wrap things up, but they are equally as excited for the return of actor Leonard Nimoy, as the ever mysterious William Bell, on the Season 4 finale.  In “Brave New World Pt. 2,” the Fringe team is pushed to their breaking point as they desperately attempt to prevent a catastrophic event that threatens the lives of everyone.

During this recent interview to promote his return to the sci-fi drama, Leonard Nimoy talked about what enticed him to come back, his desire to explore characters with dimension, how long he’s been keeping his appearance a secret, and that he’d be open to returning again in Season 5.  He also talked about his love of comedy, his willingness to take more acting roles if it’s something he’s intrigued by, and that he will not be appearing in the Star Trek sequel.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

If we can trust the Tweet, then Star Trek 2 and Zachary Quinto have officially wrapped.  Quinto sent out an image and a brief message over Twitter today that would suggest the follow up to J.J. Abrams‘ 2009 Star Trek has wrapped.  After these set photos and video initially leaked earlier this year, we haven’t see a whole lot out of the Starfleet camp (here’s a hat).  Quinto stays the course with this Tweet, as far as images go, but it’s good to know the production has wrapped up.  Maybe now we can get an official title.  The Untitled Star Trek Sequel, starring Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, John Cho, Alice Eve, Peter Weller, Noel Clarke, and Benedict Cumberbatch. , opens May 17th, 2013.  Hit the jump to see the image along with a recap of what we know about the sequel.

The nature of the villain role played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the Star Trek sequel may have just been revealed.  In the interests of keeping the front page spoiler-free, I’ll keep this brief and vague with all the important information after the jump.  There are some additional spoiler-y bits that include cameos and alien races that could be featured in the sequel.  And, as always, nothing is confirmed, so file these rumors under “extremely likely.”  The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, John Cho, Alice Eve, Peter Weller and Noel Clarke. Star Trek 2 opens May 17, 2013.  Hit the jump to get spoiled.

With awards-season upon us, I’ve been doing my best to catch up with any potential contenders that I may have missed up to this point. Without a doubt, the standout of late has been writer/director Tate Taylor‘s The Help. I had heard from several friends that the pic was solid but nothing special. After finally getting a chance to sit down with it myself, I have to say that I disagree. I think it’s better than that. Not only is it filled with great performances, but it also finds a way to be more than a story of how a caring white person can help those otherwise hopeless black people. If only 2009′s The Blind Side could go back in time and take note.

But enough of my own cinematic experiences, in this week’s “Top 5″ you’ll find a recap of our visit to the Romanian set of Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance, Benedict Cumberbatch talking about his villainous role in J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek sequel, our interview with Mondo creative director Justin Ishmael, the possibility of a Bridesmaids world without Kristen Wiig, and video interviews with War Horse‘s Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Tom Hiddleston and more. Hit the jump for a brief recap and link to each.

Today, at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, actor Benedict Cumberbatch was via satellite from London, where he is for the British premiere of War Horse, to promote the second season of the hit television series Sherlock. v Having premiered on January 1^st in the UK, and on PBS on May 6^th, Season 2 is stronger, better (yes, it’s true!) and wittier than Season 1.

While we will run what Benedict had to say about playing the iconic detective later, we did want to post his comments on how he feels about being chosen for a lead role in the Star Trek sequel, what he makes of the level of stardom he’s currently experiencing, and whether he might return for a Season 3 of Sherlock. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

I’m writing to you this afternoon in the late stages of a full-on nostalgia buzz. The reason? Last night, I had the pleasure of taking in a performance of the Beauty and the Beast musical at St. Louis’ beautiful The Fabulous Fox theatre. Thanks to Belle’s “Little Town”, “Something There”, and the Academy Award-winning title track, I’m still giddy and in complete tune with my five-year old self nearly 24 hours after the fact. Now, if I could just get my hands on that old Proton Pack I used to lug around at all times, my return trip to the ’90s would be complete…

…In this week’s “Top 5″ you’ll find a collection of items from The Dark Knight Rises, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo interviews with David Fincher, Rooney Mara, and Daniel Craig, tidbits of news from J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek sequel, director Brad Bird talking about Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Incredibles sequel and more, and a recap of what has been yet another crazy week in trailers (Hint: there’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Prometheus, and Wrath of the Titans). Hit the jump for a brief recap and link to each.

In what is probably one of the most non-surprising news bits in recent history, J.J. Abrams has officially committed to directing Star Trek 2. It’s been widely assumed for some time that Abrams would return to helm the sequel to his 2009 blockbuster. However, several delays eventually led Paramount to replace Star Trek 2 with G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation in its June 29th, 2012 release slot and the director told us back in August that he wouldn’t officially sign on until “everything was in place.”

Apparently, that time has come as Vulture reports that said delays are now a thing of the past now that co-writer Alex Kurtman has completed work on his directorial debut, DreamWorks’ Welcome to People. Per the report, Abrams and co. are now ready to focus on Trek 2 and are looking to begin shooting the much-anticipated pic this winter. Now that everything is “official,” Trek fans can finally get back to worrying less about who will direct and more about how they’ll be able to cope with “Average Joe Off the Street” enjoying their beloved franchise.

With Cowboys & Aliens hitting theaters tomorrow, yesterday afternoon I sat down with screenwriters/producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for an extended interview.  During our wide ranging conversation, we discussed Comic-Con, Cowboys & Aliens, balancing the western genre with Sci-Fi, Harrison Ford, Kurtzman’s directorial debut Welcome to People (which stars Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde and Elizabeth Banks), Hawaii Five-0, Fringe, the potential for TV show crossovers, the Star Trek sequel, 3D, Ender’s Game, the Star Trek video game (which takes place after the first movie), and so much more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

At this year’s Comic-Con, I was able to get some time with Damon Lindeloff.  Since I knew Christina was also going to participate in a press conference with him for Prometheus (read it here), I decided to use my limited time to ask other questions.  Some of the things we talked about were Star Wars (would he be willing to make a Star Wars movie if George Lucas asked), the future of Lost, Twitter, what should people be looking forward to about Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, what’s the status of the Star Trek sequel, and would he want to be involved in a new Star Trek TV Show.  Here’s a choice quote on Trek sequel:

“I feel like the bar we’ve set for ourselves is that it has to be better than the first movie.  It has to justify itself for being a sequel and it has to go in a direction that you don’t entirely expect, but feels familiar enough to sort of honor the forty years of tradition that people have invested in this incredible pop culture phenomenon.  The challenge is immense and all I can say is…we’re on it.”

Hit the jump to watch the video interview.

One of my favorite composers is Michael Giacchino.  That’s because in the last decade, Giacchino has written some amazing scores including The Incredibles, Speed Racer, Ratatouille, Up, Star Trek (2009), Super 8, Lost, Alias, Fringe, and so many more.  With Giacchino writing the score for Cars 2, the other day I got to talk to him about his latest soundtrack.  Of course we also talked about other subjects including what the last few years have been like, his writing process, collaborating with directors, the challenge of scoring Star Trek, if he’s coming back for the sequel, working with the Wachowskis on Speed Racer, if he’s started work on Mission Impossible 4, and I also asked what do we have to do to get Brad Bird to make a sequel to The Incredibles.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

With writer-director J.J. Abrams Super 8 opening next week, I was recently able to interview him in London for our partners at Omelete.  While Abrams likes to keep his films under wraps while they’re in production, by now you know Super 8 takes place in the summer of 1979 and it’s about a group of friends that discovers something not from this world while making a super 8 film.  Mix in that it’s produced by Steven Spielberg, uses his Amblin logo (which should clue you into what kind of movie this is), and you’re got a great coming-of-age story that I think audiences are going to love.

During my interview with Abrams we talked about the secrecy surrounding the film, the fact that a super 8 movie is getting released in IMAX, how involved was he in the ARG/viral stuff, what does it mean to use the Amblin logo, and what are the Easter Eggs that people should look out for.  He says “there are a couple of things hidden here and there,” and he also says “Leonard Nimoy is in the movie somewhere if you can find him.”

In addition, I also asked about the Star Trek sequel.  With production not yet underway, I wondered if he’d be able to make the summer 2012 release date.  He said “we’re working really hard to get that movie made as soon as possible, but we don’t want to rush anything.  The worst thing we could possible do would be to put something into production to make a release date instead of a great movie.”  Amen.  Hit the jump to watch.

With director Scott Stewart’s Priest opening this weekend, I was recently able to interview the cast and after the jump is my full conversation with Karl Urban (I posted part of it last week).  During the interview we talked about his reaction to the finished film, how Stewart pitched him on the project, what was it like to film the action sequences, how did his character change once he got involved, what’s his karaoke song, when does he start filming the Star Trek sequel, how did Pete Travis’ Dredd turn out, and will he visit the set of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit while they’re filming.