I think it is a mistake to not a have a big-name star.

[22 Stars]

DeafPoet said:
People may not be familiar with JJ as such, but I bet the trailer's going to have an ominous trailer-guy voice saying 'From the director of Mission: Impossible III...'

As far as not having any huge stars in there, it's not really a big deal. How many of the actors from LOTR were the public really familiar with? Shit, I'd say most of the actors from that trilogy with the exception of Orlando Bloom and maybe Viggo Mortensen are still anonymous several years later. And those movies made piles of money.

People will go see something that looks cool, stars or no. So, all that remains for JJ is just to make it look cool.

Which should be easy

This is so simple and right on the money!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Of course, LOTR was pre-sold as a property that tens of millions of people all over the world loved and were enormously interested in seeing done well as a movie. It was a self-generating publicity vehicle, and once folks came to see it what was important was that the movies be good.

"Star Trek," OTOH, has been done hundreds of times. Its fandom has declined for fifteen years and honestly almost no one cares or wants to see it any more - least of all on the big screen. Abrams has his work cut out for him.