J.J. Abrams Directing Another Film Before Star Trek Sequel?

Yesterday, the New York Times did an article on Paramount Pictures. In what appears to be an otherwise by-the-numbers puff piece on the studio comes a tiny nugget of information on their current golden-boy J.J. Abrams:

"As for J. J. Abrams, a producer and the director of 'Star Trek,' Mr. Grey is looking for 'Star Trek 2.' And 'Mission: Impossible IV.' And possibly before either, what he called another 'tentpole' film to be directed by Mr. Abrams, and yet to be announced."

Don’t start having a shit-fits wondering what this means for the Star Trek sequel. It appears all but certain that the high-profile follow-up will beam into cinemas for summer 2012 instead of 2011. Just as we told you, good folks, it would months ago. Whenever we see Captain Kirk, Spock and the gang again, people will show up in droves to see it rest assured.

As for M:I 4, I don’t think anyone seriously thinks he will be calling the shots on that one. My guess is he hands that off to one of his guys like Matt Reeves.

It’s not like we could easily guesstimate what this mystery "tentpole" is at the moment. Abrams only has about fifty billion projects on his slate. Whatever it is, Abrams will most likely churn it out quickly before boarding the U.S.S. Enterprise for its sophomore voyage. If you’ll remember he actually finished his well-received Trek reboot in early December of last year.