Are you simply unable (or, more precisely, unwilling) to wait until May of next year to see more of J.J. Abrams‘ patented lens flares, Chris Pine’s tight pants, and Zachary Quinto‘s perfectly pointy ears? Desperate to find out just what sort of “darkness” we’re “trekking” into? Do you just like going to movie theaters to see tiny slices of footage from full-sized features? You’re in such luck! Paramount Pictures has just announced that they will show the first nine minutes of Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness on no less than 500 IMAX 3D screens beginning on December 14.
Variety reports that the footage will “act as an extended trailer in front of The Hobbit when it bows Dec. 14.” Paramount and Warner Bros. (the home studio of The Hobbit) appear to be in the business of trading these mega-trailer favors: last year, a six-minute “prologue” for Warner’s The Dark Knight Rises played in front of IMAX prints of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Isn’t synergy fun?
The film utilized IMAX cameras for a number of sequences, and Greg Foster, Chairman and President, IMAX Filmed Entertainment, said of the footage: “Our longtime partners J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and the Bad Robot team have really hit it out of the park – the footage is absolutely incredible. Their use of the IMAX Camera and canvas is sure to impress current and future Star Trek fans alike, and we’re thrilled to once again work with our friends at Paramount Pictures to offer this extended ‘first look’ at this highly anticipated summer blockbuster.”
Other projects have gone a similar “first look” route as of late, including The Dark Knight Rises and Avatar. This Star Trek Into Darkness footage is, however, the first IMAX 3D preview event.
Star Trek Into Darkness will open on May 17, 2013. [Press Release]