Star Trek to have $160 million budget

Friday, October 12, 2007

Melbourne (ANI): JJ Abrams 'Star Trek' is going to have a bigger budget than any of the previous films in the series – reportedly between 150-160 million dollars. According to Moviehole, the sci-fi pic previously had a budget of 130 million dollars, but insiders reveal that the number has now been upped. Simon Pegg has become the most recent addition to the cast. He will be playing Scotty.

Already on board to star in the Paramount Pictures" movie are Eric Bana, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Zoe Saldana and Anton Yelchin. Bana was recently cast as baddie Nero, reports Variety. Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy will both be playing Mr. Spock, while Saldana will be playing Uhura, the communications officer on the USS Enterprise. Yelchin will be playing Pavel Chekov, a Russian Starfleet officer.

Rumours are also abuzz that the highly coveted role of Captain Kirk has been offered to Chris Pine.

Abrams is also producing "Star Trek" through his Paramount-based Bad Robot shingle. The movie will revolve around the crew's early days at Starfleet Academy. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci wrote the screenplay and will exec produce alongside Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof. The film is set for a Christmas Day 2008 release.