Olympic Opening Ceremony 2012 Start Time: When and Where to Watch the Spectacle

The 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony will have an extremely difficult task to outdo the stellar and absolutely breathtaking performance put on in Beijing four years ago, but as usual, it'll make for must-see television. 

The highly anticipated ceremony will take place on Friday, July 27 at 9 p.m. London Time, which is 4 p.m. ET.

The ceremony will air on NBC at 7 p.m. ET. 

Academy Award winning filmmaker Danny Boyle has directed what will be known as the "Isles of Wonder," to officially kick off the London Games. 

According to the Olympics official site, London2012.com, "a cast of 15,000 people will take place in the opening and closing ceremonies, which will be watched by an estimated four billion."

Boyle had this to say in regards to the opening spectacle, (via London2012.com): "Our 'Isles of Wonder' salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an Opening Ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people."

The athletes from each country will parade through the stadium in alphabetical order, and Great Britain, the host country, will be last. 

No one's sure who'll be the last person to light the Olympic Flame that will burn for the duration the games, though history tells us it'll likely be a famous British athlete or cultural icon. 

Beijing's opening ceremony took our collective breath away. Will London's production do the same?

Follow @ChrisTrapasso