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What is Super 8? Details on J.J. Abrams' Secret Trailer Emerge

by Alex Billington
May 6, 2010
Source: SlashFilm

It begins. Are you ready for this? If you want to wait to hear details about J.J. Abrams' new secret sci-fi project Super 8 until everyone sees this trailer in front of Iron Man 2 tomorrow night, then stop reading. Otherwise (and for everyone who has seen the trailer), it's time to begin speculating, because it's Cloverfield all over again as details have emerged on what his secret new trailer shows and it's creepy, it's awesome, and it's still a mystery. I absolutely love this kind of stuff and I'm so excited to get into this again. I can't believe Abrams and Steven Spielberg could pull off something like this again, but bring it on. So what is Super 8?

Truthfully, we don't really know what it is yet, but it's a new creature movie about an alien from Area 51. Our friends at SlashFilm got a scoop on the trailer and gave a rundown on what it shows. It starts out with: "In 1979, the Air Force closed a section of Area 51. All materials were to be transported to a secure facility in Ohio." It shows a train carrying lots of cargo and all of a sudden a truck jumps the tracks driving towards it, colliding with the train, causing it to derail in a huge fiery explosion. The camera slowly zooms in one of the tipped over cargo cars and "Next Summer" and "It Arrives" both flash. Then we see something start punching on the walls trying to get out and it cuts to the title Super 8 through a Super 8 video camera lens.

Abrams probably won't show us what this alien creature looks like until, well, the movie comes out. But I'm already getting chills just thinking about it because aliens scare the shit out of me. The trailer also confirms that this was written and directed by J.J. Abrams, so those rumors about Abrams not directing this were inaccurate. We also know that this is not a Cloverfield sequel/prequel. Vulture talked with Abrams at an event last night where he said that "it has nothing whatsoever to do with Cloverfield" and he can't even tell them what it is about "until it's done" (since he hasn't even started shooting the actual full-length version yet, I guess). This is also the same Spielberg collaboration and tribute project we wrote about last week.

I don't what everyone else thinks, but this is just awesome. I can't wait to see this trailer with an audience tomorrow night and hear their reaction, because it's the perfect trailer to capture everyone's interest again and make them go "what the fuck" just like with Cloverfield. Beyond that, we really don't know what this is about, but the Abrams/Spielberg news from last week had this quote: "[The project will] deal with everyday people whose personal relationships are tested when they are thrown up against extraordinarily fantastic, and possibly other-worldly, events." I think it's more than a possibility that it's "other-worldly!" It also said that "this is really an interpretation of some of Spielberg's earlier films, but done in a personal way."

That's all we really know about Super 8 for now, but I'm fully engaged in this and will be following it from start to finish. An interesting thing to note is that the trailer mentions a summer release next year, so this will definitely be in theaters in the summer of 2011. Be sure to see the Super 8 trailer yourself in theaters in front of Iron Man 2 starting tomorrow night and come back here to talk more about it after you've seen it!

Update #1: After this news first hit last night, Heat Vision (and a few other websites) posted big updates with their versions of "we've got info" on this. They did, however, confirm that it will have a budget of $45 to $50 million and be shot traditionally, not with a Super 8 camera or handheld (like Cloverfield). As for the actual plot of the movie, they think it might start with this: "A group of kids in 1979 are playing around making movies with their Super 8 cameras (as Abrams and Spielberg did as kids) and accidentally capture something... sinister, on film." Sounds like it is definitely a throwback to Spielberg of the 70's/80's and I'm excited to see more, including a look at this alien creature. What did everyone think of the trailer?

Filed under Discuss, Hype, Movie News

From around the web:

Ravster

Sucks they didn't show the Super 8 trailer in front of IM2 here in the UK.
- IFuckNiggers
  
  Shut up. No one cares, at all.
Jake

Sounds like a typical Abrams project.. get a great idea, shoot a great trailer/pilot, knowing about 10 minutes of exact details, build hysterical suspense and buzz, and then fill in the details as he goes along.. (While denying it of course)
Cineprog

Super 8 trailer might be better than Iron man 2. I saw it yesterday at the local pictures and i was disapointed with it. the story is two fragmented it all over the place, Mickey Rourk has whiplash isn't evil enough, you don't see enough of Iron Man, Sam Rockwell has Hammer he isn't in it Much,he another one that isn't evil enough. it was just so disapointing from the first film. all and all a waste of money.
Maro Leon

JJ will bring the goods like always.
Ben

Sounds like the teaser trailer for Ang Lee's Hulk.
Big r

I love the sound of this. Someone mentioned this before, love trailers for movies you heard nothing about.
Voice of Reason

Man, I just don't like the association with Spielberg. It's absolutely not a selling point unless the thing that's breaking out of the cargo car is a Nazi Shark. Once I ignore this movie being build from the Berg, I'm totally into this flick.
jake the snake

Always down with Spielberg, Abrams and an alien flick. Bring it on.
Jones

It's a new Indiana jones movie. They saw how jj abrams totally re did star trek so they gave him the power to do a Indiana film.
Roderick

i wanna see another cloverfield movie....
Dustin Fuston

speilberg tribute?.........E.T. gone bad, anyone? lol
germs

I already know what this is: it's a 30 second trailer of random stuff happening. Then six months of speculation and hype. Followed by another trailer that shows a bit more but never really lets us in on the truth. More hype. Then finally the movie comes out and it is...painfully disappointing.
- Jamielee
  
  Lol your prob right
Dustin Fuston

Your statement is painfully disappointing.
Dustin Fuston

Your statement is painfully disappointing.
U.G.T.F.O.

I agree with #12. Too much hype leads to huge disappointment.
blasphemer

"I can't believe Abrams and Steven Spielberg could pull off something like this again,...." just proves P.T.Barnum was right...there really is a sucker born every minute.....more hype that will lead to more trash from St. JJ....
Cracky

All these "super secret" trailers are good for the masses. They are not good for movie buffs who just want a punch in the gut, rather than a flirty kiss on the cheek. Analogy aside: JJ Abrams is abusing the American Movie Going Crowd's gigantic tease-fetish. And it works every god damn time. Deep down, YOU KNOW where this movie will lead.
T

I really don't understand why so many people hate JJ Abrams. OK, Cloverfield wasn't amazing but it was good for what it was. remember, HE did not hype up Cloverfield, WE did. His last project (Star Trek) was amazing. Probably my favorite movie of last year.
JimD

Agree with some of the posters. Too much hype leads to major disapointment.
Ian Kuah

Awesome. Just got back fro IM2. The trailer for Super 8 was fantastic, especially since it hasn't even been made and isn't due out for a whole year! I sure hope this surpasses everything Cloverfield tried to be.
Duck

I'm looking forward to seeing what it is but this is exact same thing J.J. did with cloverfield lol everyone around me in the theater was saying "what is it"
Robbie

Watch it here: http://www.filmtotaal.nl/artikel.php?id=17545 freakin' awesome!
Trey M

damn that looks good...cant go wrong with JJ
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

I hope it's the 2nd coming of Christ but I'd settle for super Allah. Reminds me a little of a kids film from the 80's, a good one though. But I imagine it'll be all darker, cause there's nothing a cinema goer loves more than the 'dark'.
Brian Ricci

Oren Peli's(Paranormal Activity) new movie is also supposed to be about Area 51 I believe.
Robbie

#25: that's true. It's about a bunch of kids who accidentally get into Area 51. FS ran an article about it late last year: http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/10/06/paranormals-oren-peli-headed-to-area-51-for-his-next-film/
Dustin Fuston

great teaser, he chose the right movie to debut this trailer at, there were 5 theaters in the great escape running a midnight show of iron man 2, Alex. it was nuts!
Mau-Dee

Needs more lens flare... i.m.o
dudeman1

http://www.super8-movie.com is the official site. also, there seems to a viral site already up and running for it, check it out - http://www.scariestthingieversaw.com/ Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/07/09/jj-abrams-cloverfield-1-18-08-trailer-officially-hits/#ixzz0nIEEyEnp
Dan Knowledge

Super 8 is nothing more than SHE-HULK and the Incredible HULK trying to take the spot of Kate PLUS 8 so there are 8 little Super HULKS the train was carrying from Peru or Bolivia wherever the Hulk was last seen. There You have it FOLKS Super 8 in a NUT SHELL Thank You Marvel!
http://cartoonista.wordpress.com Nick

I was at a midnight showing of IM2 last night and it didn't show. I feel deprived...
Frey

Yet another attempt to pull the public in and get them all exited about a shit movie. Cloverfield was a bust and the only thing good about Star Trek is when it ended. J.J. is good at pulling the publics strings and getting them to come to a film that could have been released on the sci-fi channel. I hope I'm wrong about Super 8 because I dont think I can take another Abrams collection of failed movie ideas. C'mon J.J. where is the story man? Cinema is art, stop feeding us this crap.
Sam

With Abrams and Spielberg behind it, I've no doubt that it's going to be sick but the teaser seems to suggest that this thing is big and mean and I was really hoping that the "kids playing around with a Super 8 camera capture an alien in the frame" was gonna be more along the lines of the birthday party scene from "Signs." I'm still down though. And suddenly I feel like watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind again.
tyson

only a fool could talk down cloverfield or jj for that matter,hes a genious and cloverfield was amazing,if u cant handle a shakey camera movie then dont go watch it,those kinda movies are the best kind cause they bring the movie outta the screen and into reality and make people tihnk,all in all this movie super 8 is going to be amazing just like cloverfield,does anyone know what it says in the lens at the end of the trailer?
Doobie

Im pretty good at picking up minute details at first viewing. If you look at 1:22 of the trailer you can actually see a face of some sort in the flash that emerges from the train - the face seems to be of a young boy (but very difficult to tell) and also it seems to be either a astronaut helmet he is wearing, could also be cape of some sort or could be the beginning if the transition that sees the face disappear into the Super 8 lens that ends the trailer. I could be reaching here - but if anyone can figure out what that is in 1:22 will probably be closer to figuring out a major plot line in the film
Atmo

The trailer was bullshit. There's NO WAY a small pickup truck could cause a derailment that big. A train hitting a car is like a car hitting a tin can. The train would've just knocked the truck aside and continued on its journey Abrams appears to be ignorant on common physics and disrespects railfans enough to portray trains as THAT weak.
Eli

I agree with 36 but I really excited torward what it could be maybe it's a way bested monster than cloverfirld cus that monster sucked nuts heck mabey it Godzilla
gavin

I think it looks like a Captain America movie. It has the same white star on the side of the train that with the red and blue you would associate with Capt America!
ca95f

It's actually easy to do a blockbuster: Make a vague trailer with cinematics of game-trailer quality, add an interesting thing (an alien, an ancient secret, a monster, a mutant or a combination of them all... you know), use the name of a legendary filmaker (from the mind of Steven Spielbeg / based on an idea of George Lucas, or both... you know) and flood it all over the internet. Then wait and read all the speculations and ideas flooding the forums and blogs, pick the best of them, add an unexpected flick (for excitement and "originality"... you know) and let it open in the ending for a possible sequel. All I miss is the 50-60 million dollars to make the damn film... you know...
Andrew

Don't you just love all these armchair haters & negative film-freaks trying to put a film down even before its gotten off the floor with their insightful what a waste of time Star-Trek-n-anti Abrams references crap & all this from a minute odd footage, I ask ya...if you think you can do better than the current crop of directors then go to film school & work yo asses off & make a better film than them....nothing stopping you or is there!! Anyway off my high perch........I saw the trailer & it reminded me of Roy Neary chasing the UFO funnily enough in Indiana nearby to Ohio in Close Encounters with the sound of the crickets in the background & railway-crossing sign shaking & funnily enough the truck is not too dissimilar to that of Neary's....but I'm def not saying that this films a sequel in any way but it just reminded me thus, perhaps that sequence was a hommage of sorts to the Bergs earlier works I don't know. Whatever though I am looking forward to seeing what this films all about when released......roll on 2011!
C

Interesting how Abrams and Peli are using the "kids near Area-51 see stuff" plot. I wonder if they'll both be near the same time period.
Fallowt

I knew it was Shpeeelbergs work before I even saw his name in the trailer. Only he would have 80-ton railroad cars flying around like cardboard boxes, ala Twister. This will suck, like all his work. the guy is an abomination, he should be banned from movie-making before he lowers the intelligence of viewers even more.
Jackie

Anybody think it could be a new Superman movie with Doomsday busting out of the train? If you recall, Doomsday killed Supes in the comics... plus, there were 6 Superman/girl films released and one more was in the works... The clues are out there......
Jason

#43, It is not a new superman movie. Super 8 is a kind of camera from the 50's/60's my grandma used to have one. This is clearly evident at the end of the trailer, when you see footage from a camera. At 1:23 in the trailer (shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoJvjfvaiGo&feature=related ) you see a small child. Like it was mentioned above by #35, he is infact wearing something on his head. Too me, it just looks like a beanie or something, after all the desert gets cold at night.
Jack

I think the 'Super 8' name will not have any simple meaning, but an intricate and abstract meaning towards the film... Maybe there are 8 beings that escape (8 trailers on the train, all carrying one being for something specific... or 8 beings inside of that one trailer, either the same, similar or different), yet we only see one (or many) trying to emerge from the trailer... Maybe the thing trying to escape is one of 8 (somethings) and it will be focused on the one being itself but have a detailed plot surrounding its connection to the 7 other (somethings)... It might be trying to locate the 7 others that have also crashed to earth in various unknown places from previous times before Area 51 or anything high tech like that existed, that people have not found and have been buried in time... Or maybe it is to do with the camera... Or maybe it has a deeper meaning and has nothing to do with a camera or the thing(s) inside of the train (such as maybe it takes place over 8 days)... The film could be about anything really... It's left itself open to infinite possibilities with the trailer by keeping it abstract yet forceful...
Jack

But im just excited to see the movie shame i have to wait so long
http://bestwebdesigningusa.blogspot.com Best Web Designing USA

The name Steven Spielberg is enough to bring movie lover to the cinema hall. Exciting name of the movie " SUPER 8 " and the name suggest it will be a thrilling one. I am waiting the release. I am expecting a movie like Jurassic Park.
Bazzer Raz

I know everyone is speculating Alien, but I am speculating a Super Robot designed by Aliens, or using Alien technology. The train accident activates it, or creates a malfunction that sends the Super Robot on a Rampage...... Maybe........??? But let's see what is unveiled as time goes on......
bubba ho tep

freeze frame on the trailer. heres the face everyones talking about, you see it for a split second, seems to be a boy http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/9486/super8frame.jpg
borce

i think is HULK angry captured in train this is trailer for ultimate aliance from marvel
borce

who is super 8 (thor,iron man,hulk,captain amerika,ant man,nick furie,black widow,black panter) i think so
Xwillshirex

If you seriously think this a super hero movie...you are delusional.
Gitalian69

I have no idea if it is an alien or a superhero i guess we have to wait and see in June 2011. i do know it was filmed mostly in my hometown of Weirton, WV. and my hometown friends did say aliens. The changed the name of our schools and such to a small town in OHIO. what i do know.
Heros???maybe....

do you really think its a superhero movie? what happen in cloverfield????, OMG ITS VOLTRON and friends..... turn out nothing near that.. so don't jump to conclusions that this movie will indeed be a superhero movie
ThatGuyThatSpeculates

New commercial, Longer commercial Super bowl sunday!! and i do believe its a robot of some sort(alien)...
cloverfield101

i know what it's about... I had connections... its NOT a monster
http://www.innoexcel.com/erpsoftwarecompany.htm ERP Companies in India

It seems that none of the producers/writers are taking the 45 year old internationally known and respected and loved franchise called Star Trek as seriously as they ought to.
http://www.newfilmwall.com/watch/super-8-2011-2/freeonline watch Super 8 free online

What is the best website to watch this movie online?
- Cutta
  
  Really, who gives a fu**. It's just another movie.
xXsuper8Xx

whats up with all the dogs disappearing
RetroMan

I'm a proper Retro geek and love 80's movies... this is gonna be one Super Movie... I just know it!
Grantlock007

How can Aliens scare the shit out of you when they arent real. Oh hold on thats right, their out there somewhere but they dont want to visit us because their scared of our super technology, like candy making. If their out there, dont you think they would of visited. The only Aliens flying UFO's are Air force pilots testing out new tech, like their EXPERIMENTAL Aircraft testing area see the word EXPERIMENTAL. At area 51. Of course your going to see ufo's there. its an experimental aircraft testing area Peoples. Aliens scare the shit out of you , ,lol Come to Australia and play with our snakes and spiders that will really scare the shit out of you. mate we have seashell's that can kill you Now thats scary playing at the beach then your dead. Grow up. Oh yeah super 8 is an alien handycam monster much like power rangers believable monsters from the old days he's angry that he cant watch his betamax videos anymore. VHS owners watch out.