J.J. Abrams Will Work On Star Wars 7, Star Trek 3 At the Same Time

In spite of reports that he'll direct Star Wars Episode VII for Disney, filmmaker J.J. Abrams will remain involved with the Star Trek and Mission: Impossible franchises for Paramount, the studio says. Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore, said this afternoon that Abrams — who directed Star Trek and the upcoming sequel Star Trek Into Darkness — will still be involved with any third big-screen outing with the Enterprise, at least as a producer, if not also as director. "J.J. will continue to develop projects for us including a new Mission: Impossible, and he is committed to produce another Star Trek," Moore told the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex blog. A writer for Variety confirmed "Star Wars doesn't kill his involvement" via Twitter. "I'm committed to three [films]," Abrams told Empire last month. "That's the contract I signed. And as far as I know, everyone else is in the same situation. But there's obviously room for both Star Trek and Star Wars. We both have plenty of things to offer sci-fi. But I'm not saying any more that that! There are more than enough Star Wars stories around at the moment!" Back then, though, he wasn't talking about room in high schedule but room in the marketplace. At that point, he had reportedly rejected the Star Wars job. "There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to Star Trek, and also just being a fan, I wouldn't even want to be involved in the next version of those things," Abrams said. "I declined any involvement very early on. I'd rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them."