Star Trek director J.J. Abrams tells TV Guide that he will be producing the fourth “Mission: Impossible” film. “I am incredibly honored that Tom Cruise has invited me back as a producer on ‘Mission: Impossible 4,’” said Abrams, who directed 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, but hasn’t yet committed to directing the fourth.

“Tom and I have come up with a really cool idea we are pursuing,” he added. The third film cost about $150 million to make and earned $397.8 million worldwide. The first pic pulled in $457.7 million worldwide on a $80 million budget and the second took in $546.3 million on a $125 million budget.

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I haven’t seen Cloverfield yet, and it pains me.  I know I would love it - it’s totally my kind of movie.  But I have vertigo really bad… and I would seriously be barfing 10 minutes into it.  I’ve had to walk out of the theater for far less.  People who don’t even suffer from vertigo (basically motion sickness) were throwing up in the aisles.  Don’t sound fun to me!  Damn you J.J.!

So tell me - did you see it?  How was it!

Matt Reeves, director of the J.J. Abrams-produced Cloverfield, is in talks with Paramount to helm a sequel.

On a $25 million budget, using a cast of unknowns, Cloverfield scored a $46 million opening weekend, setting a record for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Reeves has also cut a deal with GreeneStreet Films to direct The Invisible Woman, a thriller about a beauty queen-turned-criminal he wrote and will produce with Abrams. If Paramount can quickly work out a deal for a sequel with Reeves, Abrams, and Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard, the director would likely make that his next project and begin Invisible Woman afterward.

Variety

Having scored a box office bull’s-eye with Cloverfield, producer J.J.Abrams is now turning his attention to Fringe, his two-hour pilot for Fox that focuses on a trio of investigators who solve supernatural and sci-fi mysteries.

Production on the project, which stars Mark Valley (Boston Legal, above left) and Kirk Acevedo (The Black Donnellys, above right), is expected to start as early as Feb. 1 and could cost Fox up to $10 million for the pilot alone. (Abrams told Hollywood Insider that he had cast a British actor on Wednesday for another key role, but refused to elaborate.)

Fringe, which earned a series commitment from Fox, is slated for a fall bow, though the 2008–09 season could be disrupted by the writers’ strike. Says a source close to the project, “The best way to work with J.J. is to not put him in a position where he feels forced.”

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If you’re dying to know what the Cloverfield monster looks like, here’s your chance! It’s not terribly clear, but you get the idea. Answer after the jump!

PS: Are you going to see Cloverfield? I will fo sho.

UPDATE:  Well, I hope you got to see it.  Paramount sent me a HUGE email telling me I better take it down immediately.  So - that really WAS the Cloverfield monster, and now I have to remove it.  Sorry guys!

5 Minute Sneak Peek!

ABC has greenlit Boundaries, a one-hour comedy pilot from director/producer J.J. Abrams, to be written by Grey’s Anatomy writer-producer Jill Soloway, who will also produce.

The show is about a failing cable access psychologist who rediscovers her true purpose when she is forced to take a job as a mobile notary.

It is the first major broadcast project to stem from Abrams’ six-year deal, signed in 2006, between his Bad Robot and Warner Bros. TV. A previous pilot, medical drama The Anatomy of Hope, based on Jerome Groopman’s book, went to HBO earlier this year.

Abrams has worked extensively with ABC as executive producer of the series Lost, Alias, What About Brian, and Six Degrees. He is currently developing a new Star Trek movie for Paramount Pictures.

Soloway, a former writer-producer for Six Feet Under, is working on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy as a consulting producer. During her three-year stint on Six Feet, she earned three best drama series Emmy nominations as part of the show’s producing team.

Source

J. J. Abrams, the 40-year-old writer-producer who co-created ABC’s Lost and went on to direct Paramount’s Mission: Impossible 3, has signed separate deals with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. TV that together are worth more than $55 million, published reports said over the weekend.

The two deals make Abrams, in the words of today’s (Monday) Los Angeles Times, “one of the entertainment industry’s most highly paid auteurs.” Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. TV, told the Times that “an opportunity presented itself” to woo Abrams away from Disney “and we went for it.” Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey added that he believes Abrams will become “the next Steven Spielberg” and called him “a triple threat: a great writer, producer and now, a first-class movie director.” His first assignment for Paramount, the Times said, is likely to be a film that will revive the Star Trek franchise.