New "Star Trek" movie cast boldly goes to Australia

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The cast of a new "Star Trek" movie, eagerly awaited by fans of the science fiction saga, is to go where no USS Enterprise crew has been before: Australia.

Paramount Pictures Australia on Friday said the action adventure movie by J.J. Abrams, director of "Mission: Impossible III" and co-creator of the series "Lost," would make its world premiere at the Sydney Opera House on April 7.

This will kick off a world tour that touches down in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Spain and Britain.

"Not only are we honored to have J.J. Abrams and the cast here in Sydney for the world premiere of the stunning new 'Star Trek,' we are also very excited to present this event at one of Australia's -- and the world's -- most famous locations, Sydney Opera House," said Mike Selwyn of Paramount Pictures Australia.

The movie, starring Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock and Eric Bana as the villain Nero, is a reimagined story based on creator Gene Roddenberry's original TV series that dates back to 1966 and which created a cult phenomenon.

The film chronicles the early days of Kirk and the starship USS Enterprise.

Leonard Nimoy, 77, who first portrayed the Vulcan Mr. Spock, is the only original cast member who appears in the film, which is the 11th "Star Trek" movie. He makes a cameo appearance.

He had joined a campaign for the movie to hold its premiere in the small farming town of Vulcan in Alberta, Canada, that proved unsuccessful, partly because the town has no movie theater.

"Star Trek" opens in Australian cinemas on May 7, one day before opening in the United States.

A trailer for the new movie broke records when it was downloaded 1.8 million times in the first 24 hours after being released earlier this month.

Paramount Pictures Corp. is a unit of Viacom.

(Editing by Miral Fahmy)