Chris Pine is James T Kirk in Star Trek Movie

Smokin Joe Carnaghan today let the word out that Chris Pine will star in the upcoming Star Trek movie as James T. Kirk. Here is what Joe Posted on his blog:

The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to 'boldly go where no man has gone before' and thus, had to bow out of WHITE JAZZ. I've been talking to him this past week and knew how tough the decision had to be for him.
I don't envy ever being in that spot but I gave him my full support, even if it meant he didn't do JAZZ. I get it.

You don't get opportunities like that
often and I told him as long as he could control as much of that process as possible and not get sucked into doing lesser sequels as a result of taking this gig, then good luck and God bless.

Also remember as we told you earlier that Simon Pegg ( Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead ) has signed on to play Scotty in the upcoming JJ Abrams Star Trek movie. Also John Cho will play Sulu and Eric Bana has signed on to play the villain in the upcoming Star Trek movie being directed by the esteemed JJ Abrams. Nothing is known about his character other then his name is Nero... distant cousin of Neo from the Matrix? All joking aside he plays a Romulan named Nero who sets out to kill Captain Kirk according to our friends at BeyondHollywood.   JJ Abrams told Star Trek Magazine that indeed, the upcoming Star Trek XI Movie will be about Captain Kirk. Will William Shatner play a role? Will be he the Kirk? Franky I think its unlikely. Hard to relaunch a series that way. Still no word on a plot at all at this point. "Star Trek,” one of the most popular and successful franchises in the history of movies and television, returns to the big screen under the creative vision of J.J. Abrams, the force behind "Lost,” "Alias” and "Mission Impossible III” for Paramount Pictures.

The team behind the film will include Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (‘Mission Impossible III”) who wrote the screenplay and will executive produce with Bryan Burk. JJ Abrams and "Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof will produce. The film will begin shooting this fall for a Christmas Day 2008 release.

One of the most popular film and television franchises of all time, "Star Trek” has encompassed 726 total episodes for television in six different series, beginning with the original 1966-1969 series created by Gene Roddenberry. The 10 "Star Trek” films have grossed in excess of $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The original characters have been named among the 50 greatest TV characters of all time and the Enterprise has lent its name to two proposed spacecrafts.

"If there's something I'm dying to see, it's the brilliance and optimism of Roddenberry's world brought back to the big screen,” said Abrams. "Alex and Bob wrote an amazing script that embraces and respects Trek canon, but charts its own course. Our goal is to make a picture for everyone -- life-long fans and the uninitiated. Needless to say, I am honored and excited to be part of this next chapter of Star Trek."

Brad Grey, chairman and CEO, Paramount Pictures, said, "We could not be more thrilled to be back in business with J.J. Abrams. The revival of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise is an important part of Paramount’s turnaround.”