STAR TREK has been pushed back from a Christmas Day 2008 release, to 8th May 2009… a tactical maneuver for the Starship Enterprise rather than a forced one.

The reason according to Variety is to attract the Summer blockbuster audience and to levitate the film into a position where it’s most likely to make a profit on the risky $150 million+ budget.

STAR TREK: NEMESIS opened in December, and was the lowest TREK movie to date with a $43.2 million final gross… killing the franchise cinematically for six god damn years, and forcing the producers to go ahead with a reboot. The previous movie before that STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, also performed poorly in it’s December release, so this move would seem wise.

There are currently no other films scheduled to be released that day, though TREK will see itself sandwiched between X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (opening week before) and ANGELS & DEMONS (week after). Ironically both of those tentpole releases were pushed to a May 2009 release after also originally being scheduled to open late 2008.

Yeah it sucks we have to wait a few months longer to see TREK but I’m sure we can all survive the extra weeks. And there is no reason to worry about the film’s quality or script problems, this move is only because Paramount’s 2009 schedule was looking thin because of the strike after-effects. In the long term, if TREK makes a profit in it’s Summer release slot, then the added wait will be better for us all.

No TREK fan wants to see this movie flop and not make a profit. It’s hard to resurrect a franchise once, but twice may be impossible!

Here’s the rest of the changes Paramount have made to their 2008-9 line-up…

• Scorsese’s SHUTTER ISLAND will open on October 2nd 2008 (no release date had been given previously)
• David Fincher’s next film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON has moved from November 26th to December 19th 2008.
• TROPIC THUNDER, the Ben Stiller comedy has moved from July 11th 2008 to August 15th.
• REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, starrting the reunion of TITANIC co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and directed by Winslet’s husband Sam Mendes will be distributed by Paramount Vantage. No release date given as of yet, but it’s likely to be the fourth quarter of this year

source - slash film