J.J. Abrams, now one of the big guns in Hollywood, was integral in making Mission: Impossible III not only a success, but a good movie – something we needed after M:I:II.

Over the last year we’ve heard rumblings that Tom Cruise was planning the inevitable fourth installment. Shortly thereafter, it was reported that Cruise had asked Abrams to join him once again to make Mission: Impossible IV. With those two on board, the ball quickly started to roll and Abrams hired the writers in the summer to pen the screenplay.

The one thing we were still unsure of however, was whether or not Abrams would direct again.

Today we have some of J.J. Abrams news about two sequels from two big franchises: Star Trek and Mission: Impossible IV. The Star Trek news hints at what the sequel to Abrams’ successful Star Trek reboot might be about. And the M:I IV update is on the current status of the film, and whether Abrams will be directing or not.

STAR TREK

LA Times Hero Complex got a chance to catch up with Abrams and Trek co-writer, Roberto Orci, on the set of the second season of Fringe, and they naturally got around to asking about the next film in the now rebooted Trek franchise. The replies from both Abrams and Orci were very interesting and exciting. First, here’s what Abrams said:

Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec have chosen to embark on an impossible mission. The duo have been hired by J.J Abrams and Tom Cruise to write the fourth installment of Cruise’s hugely successful Mission: Impossible franchise.

Applebaum and Nemec first came to Abrams’ attention when they wrote for his Jennifer Garner-starring television show, Alias. The pair were also behind the U.S. version of Life on Mars.

One of this year’s biggest names in Hollywood is getting a little bit bigger. Last month, we finally saw the release of Star Trek, the film that set out to rekindle the near-dead sci-fi franchise and succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination. The man responsible for this success is of course, J.J. Abrams.

If you follow film or television news in the slightest bit, then you know this man. On our TV sets, he brought us Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe and on the silver screen, he engineered movies such as Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible 3 and of course, Star Trek.

A reader of Ain’t It Cool News sent in some information about Tom Cruise’s appearance on a popular Japanese television where he was asked about the Mission Impossible franchise. Cruise’s response was that he has started work on the fourth installment and they are planning the story for it.

He also mentioned that he was thinking about planning a big action sequence in Tokyo for the next film – What a coincidence because he was in Japan when he said it! I wonder if he made that up on the spot.