The film Star Trek Into Darkness is the sequel to the 2009 movie Star Trek.

These two films are based on the famous television series of the same name, and with a loyal fan base, JJ Abrams the director of the films definitely had his work cut out. The main premise for the films was to recreate the star trek universe and bring it into the modern age with the ability to use new technologies to make the visuals appear more realistic. This film is set 4 years after the previous Star Trek film, which carries on as a prequel to the television series. Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry said as early as the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention that he was interested in doing a prequel to his famous futuristic universe. After many attempts by many producers and interested parties the prequel idea was scrapped because of Star Trek films being made at the time. In 2005, Viacom, which owned Paramount Pictures, expressed interest in making a prequel film. The writers approached to handle the job were Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the writers for Mission: Impossible III, they were asked on their ideas on the project. When they agreed, the director for Mission: Impossible III, JJ Abrams came on board expressing an interest in bringing this universe to life once more. The first film was a major success and in the same year as its release it was commissioned to have a sequel. Star Trek Into Darkness has the same kind of feel and look as the previous one however the storyline is definitely more dramatic and tense as an unstoppable force of terror from within is affecting the state of the futuristic Earth. This film also appears to be a more personal threat to the characters involved, as Captain James Kirk, played by Chris Pine, goes on a manhunt with his starfleet team to retrieve a one man weapon of mass destruction, Khan. The director JJ Abrams is known for his work and interest in the sci-fi genre, as he has just signed up to direct the new Star Wars film. His expertise and vision really help sell the movie. The main production companies to get involved with this film and the previous one as well, was Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions and Abrams own Bad Robot Productions. The main investor being Paramount, one of the highest grossing film studios in the world. Star Trek Into Darkness estimated budget was $190 million and it exceeded that in its profit, making more than $460 million at the box office. The main stars of the film were Chris Pine who played Captain James Kirk, Zachary Quinto who returned to the role of Spock, Zoe Saldana who played Uhura and Simon Pegg who played Scotty. All the cast returned to their roles and it was only the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the villain Khan, that was new in the aspect of the cast list. Principal Photography began on January 12 2012 and the filming was predominantly done in California and in Iceland. Around 30 to 40 minutes of the film was shot with IMAX cameras and the film was also rendered into 3D after filming. The visual effects in the film were very extravagant and well made meaning that to use 3D would enhance the picture making it appear more realistic. The use of IMAX cameras means that a wider angle can be given to the sequence making it appear more human like and natural. The scenes that were captured on this lense were mainly outside the USS Enterprise and a lot of CGI and special effects were used to create the space environment. The only problems really to occur happened before the shoot even began as there were a lot of delays in the actual start up of the film as the script took a long time to write. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of the film, tried to write a preliminary script completed by December 2009 for a 2011 release however the script was more delayed and it was finally finished in March 2011. Also some of the actors crucial to the film had other scheduling arrangements, such as Chris Pine who was scheduled to film 'Jack Ryan' however he decided to film Star Trek first. The film also had a cameo director, Edgar Wright (director of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and he directed one shot in the film. Principal Photography finished in May 2012.This film actually had 1,400 CGI effects whereas compared to the previous Star Trek film which had just 1,000

effects. The film was predominantly filmed in IMAX and this made it harder for the visual effects to be completed because the shots were on such a larger scale so they took longer to create and render. The film was marketed in many different ways as it was such a high profile film, it needed to be in the limelight as they spent $190 million on it the producers would want there to be some sort of profit. Here are some examples of the marketing methods used: JJ Abrams previewed three frames of the film on the Conan O'Brian Show in America on October 4th 2012. Two months later the first official poster depicting Benedict Cumberbatch's then unknown Khan character was released, this would have been to spark a early interest in the film. Also nine minutes of the film was played before showings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which would have sparked crucial interest in fans of the fantasy/sci-fi genre. A 30 second teaser of the film was played at the Superbowl on February 3 2013 during the stadium's blackout. The same day, Paramount released apps for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone which enabled users to unlock tickets for showtimes two days before the film's release date. The film premiered in a lot of places all over the world however the main ones included Tokyo, London and Hollywood.