First 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Trailer Premiering December 14th With 'The Hobbit'

News that the first nine minutes of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness would screen exclusively with IMAX 3D prints of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on December 14th was either incredibly exciting or incredibly frustrating. If you're one of those lucky few who has a real IMAX theater in your town, you were probably excited. If not, you were probably considering driving to one. Well, don't fret just yet. Paramount will allow everyone to get a dose of Star Trek goodness on December 14.

Non-IMAX screenings of The Hobbit (including those in High Frame Rate) will have the first official trailer for the May 17th film attached. Read more after the jump, including Chris Pine's reaction to the IMAX news.

TrekMovie.com broke the news of the trailer release date and clarified that while the IMAX footage would be the first 9 minutes of the movie, this trailer will be more traditional, comprised of highlights from the entire film.

They also report that while the IMAX footage won't make it online, the trailer will, most likely the Monday after the weekend. It'll then play with other films, such as Paramount's Jack Reacher, the following weekend.

When /Film exclusively revealed that Dark Knight Rises IMAX footage similarly play in front of Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol last year, it seemed very curious. Why would Paramount allow a Warner Bros. film to exclusively advertise in front of it? Well, this new pairing – a Paramount movie on a Warner Bros. film – certainly feels like the second half of this deal.

And you know who else was surprised by all of this news? Star Trek Into Darkness star Chris Pine. He spoke to TrekMovie about the IMAX footage and had no idea about it:

The thing with JJ [Abrams] is that he's like the master puppeteer, so it's like none of us know anything, I didn't know that it was going to be shown, I don't know what the footage is, what's exciting for that for me is that I get excited so I want to go to the theatre to just to check it out. I'm excited for people to see this movie, it's bigger than the last one, we have a great villain, I can't wait until it's released.

As soon as the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer comes online, you can be sure to find it right here. Like you, it's one of our most highly anticipated films of 2013.