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Star Trek star Chris Pine stopped by the May 4 Today show for this brief interview – check out the video clip.

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Eric Bana discusses his role in the new “Star Trek” film – check out the Today show interview video clip from April 29.

J.J. Abrams will produce the Star Trek sequel, while Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof will write the screenplay. Details about whether Abrams will direct part 2 are not yet available.

The Star Trek sequel is expected to be in theaters in 2011.

As for what Star Trek 2 will be about…. Lindelof says, “Obviously we discussed ideas, but we are waiting to see how audiences respond next month. With a franchise rebirth, the first movie has to be about origin. But with a second, you have the opportunity to explore incredibly exciting things. We’ll be ambitious about what we’ll do.”

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This Today show video clip of 2009 movie releases is a great rundown of the films opening in 2009, including Watchmen, Duplicity, I Love You Man, Monsters vs. Aliens, 17 Again, Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Terminator Salvation, and Up.

Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrams, will be in theaters May 8, 2009.

The WGA writers’ strike might be coming to an end, with the DGA contract agreement having broken the ice. There’s nothing definite yet, but negotiations are supposedly resuming. Please end this now!! I’m sick of reality shows. [CBS News]

Is the blackjack movie 21 is an example of how Hollywood takes a real story and “glamorizes” it? Top Socialite suggests it is, taking the two Asian main characters in the book and changing their race and even gender, casting Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is offering an interesting new option for obscure DVD titles. Customers will order a title from a retailer, who then orders the exact quantity of discs using HP’s “manufacturing on demand” service. Sony is the first to sign up with HP for this service. No idea if you’ll have to pay a big premium for discs. [The Register]

Browsing through some older posts on io9, I just caught this tidbit: Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes are supposedly going to do a cameo on the new Star Trek movie. [io9]

Wil Wheaton will appear as Lieutenant Commander Wesley Crusher, Assistant Chief Engineer of the USS Titan, in a short video for “Star Trek: The Tour”. This is a Star Trek interactive exhibit that has full-size replicas of the NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-D bridges. This includes captain’s chairs you can sit in while being filmed in a blue screen environment. Imagine being able to “act” in a mini-episode with celluloid Spock and Kirk.

Star Trek: The Tour is a five-year mission. It launches in Long Beach, California, on Thur Jan 17th as part of a forty-city tour through the U.S. and Canada over the next five years.

This will of course be great for creating buzz about the upcoming Star Trek XI movie (Dec 25). Yeah, like Star Trek needs more buzz to get anyone to see it.

[sources: Slice of SciFi, WWdN: In Exile]

William Shatner was recently lamenting on TV the fact that he wasn’t invited to be part of the next Star Trek movie. Worstpreviews has some great insight into this issue.

Apparently since Shatner’s character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, was killed in Star Trek VII: Generations. Co-writer Roberto Orci indicated that they have not figured out to get around this issue without getting fans upset, but that a Shatner cameo is possible. The current Writers Guild of America strike also prevents changes to the script until after the strike is over.

If you watched Generations, you might agree that it’s hard to be 100% sure that Kirk actually died. At any rate, we’re talking science fiction here, with multiple universes and multiple plot devices. It SHOULDN’T BE that hard to have Kirk appear as far as a script goes. Especially since Leonard Nimoy plays an older Spock against Zachary Quinto as a younger Spock. This movie predates the original TV series in terms of timeline. So why not have Shatner play Kirk’s father or grandfather.

Current cast include Leonard Nimoy, Winona Ryder, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Chris Pine as Kirk. Release date is Dec 25th, 2008, though a proper movie name has yet to be chosen. A fan mockup clip is below, entitled Star XI – The Wrath of Kirk. Also check out the parody clip Star Trek: Frasier further below.