After Disney confirmed the rumors that director J.J. Abrams will direct the next Star Wars film — the long-awaited Episode VII — the only sound that threatened to drown out fan boy speculation about what that installment would be is fan boy speculation over who might take over the next Star Trek film.

Mind you, Abrams already has a sequel to his incredibly successful 2009 franchise reboot in the can, so fans can at least rest easy knowing he at least made two Trek films before taking on George Lucas‘ legacy.

But assuming that he does not return to finish a Trek trilogy, Celebuzz decided to assemble a shortlist of filmmakers who might be well-suited to step into Abrams’ admittedly-enormous shoes.

Click here to launch Celebuzz’ Star Trek directors’ wish-list gallery

The choice of Abrams for Star Wars more or less confirms Hollywood’s penchant for trying to find hitmakers, and have them recreate that magic over and over again — if possible, anyway.

So for our list, we chose a cross-section of possibly obvious helmers who could do the material justice, as well as a few left-field choices who could bring the franchise some different elements — or perhaps simply emphasize certain ones that have been Trek hallmarks since the series began, but we buried beneath the muscle of blockbuster moviemaking.

So click through our gallery, watch the trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness and then let us know — who do you think would make the best director for a future Star Trek film? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

A long-in-the-tooth franchise found its way to the top of the box office even as a highly-anticipated, original work broke records in limited release.

The fifth installment in director Paul W.S. Anderson’s indefatigable zombie-action series, Resident Evil: Retribution, earned the Number One spot with a modest $21.1 million – and average of just over $7,000 per screen.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson, on the other hand, brought in a record-breaking $147,262 on each of only five screens, for a total of $736,311 during The Master’s limited-release opening weekend.

What else brought people to theaters over the weekend?

Although Andrew Stanton’s first live-action effort, John Carter, failed to attract moviegoers, the filmmaker’s newly-enhanced Finding Nemo 3D brought in some $17.5 million in receipts, landing at Number Two behind Resident Evil.

After two weeks at Number One, The Possession tumbled to Number Three with a haul of $5.8 million. With a reported budget of $14 million, the film has performed well, earning more than $41 million in just three weeks.

Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy’s Lawless came in at Number Four, earning $4.3 million for a cumulative haul of $30.2 million.

And the oddball animated movie ParaNorman earned $3.039 million, which was just enough more than The Expendables 2’s $3.03 million, to claim the Number Five spot.

Although The Master’s weekend gross set a new bar for per-screen average, the film opened at Number 18. But as the critically-acclaimed drama, which stars Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, expands to other cities and more theaters in the coming weeks, it should be interesting to see how the film performs with mainstream moviegoers.

In the meantime, watch the theatrical trailer for The Master below: