Cumberbatch is the voice of Smaug in the upcoming Hobbit trilogy, and the as-of-yet unnamed villain in the Star Trek sequel.

FORBES: Check Out The New 'Star Trek: Into Darkness' Teaser Poster

Personally, I hope that the new Star Trek sequel slows things down a little bit and pulls something interesting from the depths of the Trek canon.

FORBES: 'Sherlock' Star Benedict Cumberbatch Is The Next Star Trek Villain

In the original, the characters are played by voice actor Nolan North - who also portrays Nathan Drake in the Uncharted games, and who recently won his first on-screen role in JJ Abrams Star Trek sequel.

BBC: Michael Fassbender

Abrams directed the Star Trek reboot in 2009 and its upcoming sequel, Star Trek into Darkness, to be released May.

BBC: Star Wars 3D release postponed

This frees up Paramount executives to work on in-house franchises like Star Trek (a sequel is slotted for 2012) and Mission: Impossible 4 with Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner which is already filming.

FORBES: Disney Makes a Good (But Expensive) Deal for 'The Avengers' and 'Iron Man 3'

The studio reported that its science-fiction sequel grossed 70% more than 2009's "Star Trek" reboot, also directed by J.

WSJ: 'Iron Man' Tops Box Office; 'Gatsby' Enjoys Strong Debut