"Super 8" WTF is it!?

[ArtherEld]

Leave it to Abrams to again release a trailer that screws with our brains.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAwYpSMsD-Y"]YouTube- JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg New SUPER 8 Trailer![/ame]

EDIT: Was able to find a trailer that wasn't bootleg finally uploaded to Youtube.

Anyways, I can assure you that this time around, it doesn't look like another "barfcam" movie like "Cloverfield" (and hey I loved Cloverfield, but apparently people couldn't get past the camera thing... but whatever).

So what the hell is it? Anyone have any clues beyond this trailer?

I'm heading to unfiction.com to see if there's a fake website or something like there was for Cloverfield.

And look there is. I'm not a computer wiz, so... I aint gonna figure this crap out:

http://www.scariestthingieversaw.com/

[Heather19]

I have no idea what it is, but it looks really good

[ArtherEld]

I think I need to add. This is most definitely not a sequel or prequel to Cloverfield as was stated by J. J. Abrams himself.

[JRM]

Hm. Looks like some kind of alien movie.

[Ricky]

Yeah, like a "Look what escaped Area 51!" type thing...only better.

[Cujo56]

I thought this thread was about the hotel Super 8, but this is much better. Can't wait to see what to hear more about the movie

[Gris]

From the text on the trailer, Area 51 is well-known enough, but not sure how well-know Hanger 18, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is.

Hanger 18 seems a likely destination for the train.

As far as the Title, Super 8, I think it referring to the film being used. The way the trailer ends by zooming out the a view of a camera lense, I think it's an old super 8 video camera.

[lophophoras]

Details surface on spooky Abrams-Spielberg project
May 7, 2010

-By Ace Fernandez and Borys Kit


What if Stephen King and J.K. Rowling brainstormed an idea together? Just how big would the potential audience be?

Cosmic.

Well, moviemaking heavyweights J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg began collaborating on a hush-hush project a year ago called "Super 8" that they concocted from discussions of their own early filmmaking experiences. Despite Bad Robot's Cheney-level secrecy, bits and pieces about the project (some right, some wrong) started bubbling up last week.

Well, I saw the teaser trailer last night, and here's what I can finally tell you:
Abrams has written the original script and will direct the film this fall for a summer 2011 release through Paramount, where Bad Robot resides. Spielberg is producing the project, along with Abrams and his producing partner Bryan Burk. The film will be in the $45 million-$50 million range.

It has nothing to do with "Cloverfield" and will be shot traditionally (i.e. not hand-held). It's potentially a huge movie for Paramount, despite its midrange budget, which is why it's got a slot during Paramount's already crowded 2011 summer slate.

The studio will have to fit it in with "Thor," "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom," "Transformers 3," "First Avenger: Captain America" and the Abrams-produced "Mission: Impossible 4." (UPDATE: Paramount has shifted "M:i4's" tentative Memorial Day release date back to Dec. 16.) And "Star Trek 2" isn't expected until June 29, 2012, with an as-yet-unfinished screenplay by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, so Abrams could still direct that after "Super 8" if he chose (which, technically, he hasn't yet).

But on to the trailer. It's 90 seconds long and plays out with utter simplicity. I'll leave it to others to ruin the surprises for the multitudes flocking to see it run in front of "Iron Man 2's" midnight screenings tonight (the trailer is not actually attached to the "IM2" reels, though they are locked away together in combo-locked canisters as they're delivered this morning to theaters at 8 a.m.).

But it's straightforward, effective and very, very enticing. Abrams shot it independently of the actual film shoot about a month ago, and the Bad Robot team cut together the teaser while putting together his new NBC series "Undercovers" and the trailer for their November release "Morning Glory" over the past month.

In terms of tweaking audience appetite for absolutely having to see the movie, Abrams and Spielberg are masters. This quick, visceral and creepy tease of "Super 8" certainly does the trick.

What it doesn't let anyone in on is the plot of the movie or the rest of the context that we had heard actually generated the idea. Namely, the possibility that 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.

Now, despite all our requests, Abrams and camp have refused to confirm anything about the plot. Abrams has said he doesn't want to comment on this -- he'd rather maintain the mystery and let the images speak for themselves.

Fair enough, and certainly expected. So take all these plot descriptions you're reading around the web with a giant heap of salt.

But the project is being produced by Amblin along with Bad Robot. So if you can imagine the supernatural styles of current BR and early '80s Spielberg combined, you should have a pretty good idea of where all this is going.

Bad Robot's first feature project, "Cloverfield," was rolled out in a similarly out-of-nowhere fashion, its teaser also filmed and cut together independent of the movie shoot. That teaser was thrown on the front of "Transformers" when it hit theaters in the summer of 2007. That monster movie ultimately grossed $168 million worldwide for Paramount when it opened in January 2008.

But again, "Super 8" has nothing to do with "Cloverfield." And "Super 8" is a solo J.J. Abrams movie, something we've never seen before and something sure to play much bigger.
-The Hollywood Reporter

[candy]

I thought this thread was about the hotel Super 8, but this is much better. Can't wait to see what to hear more about the movie

me too!

it looks bloody good though and abrahams and speilberg, cant get better than that

[turtlex]

I saw the trailer for this with Iron Man 2 yesterday. What I love about it - it totally and completely invokes the feeling of Close Encounters!!!

Looks great ... until you see those scary words ---- NEXT Summer.

[ArtherEld]

The studio will have to fit it in with "Thor," "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom," "Transformers 3," "First Avenger: Captain America" and the Abrams-produced "Mission: Impossible 4." (UPDATE: Paramount has shifted "M:i4's" tentative Memorial Day release date back to Dec. 16.) And "Star Trek 2" isn't expected until June 29, 2012, with an as-yet-unfinished screenplay by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, so Abrams could still direct that after "Super 8" if he chose (which, technically, he hasn't yet).

To quote Peter Griffin: "Woe, woe, woe, woe, woe, woe... woe... woe."

That is a loaded paragraph right there. I'm too tired right now and must sleep but will definitely be looking up news on those films.

[Heather19]

I saw the trailer for this with Iron Man 2 yesterday. What I love about it - it totally and completely invokes the feeling of Close Encounters!!!

Looks great ... until you see those scary words ---- NEXT Summer.

I know right! The anticipation till it's finally released is going to kill me

[Bev Vincent]

Here's the HD trailer

[Woofer]

Must. Not. Click.

Know. It's. Blocked.

AUGH!

Incidentally, I thought this thread was about 8mm film, and it sort of is! We still have our old Super 8 camera, the projector we used for watching our home movies, and the screen - as well as most of our home movies and a classic Mighty Mouse cartoon. I've been meaning to see if they're still viewable.

They're lucky. My parents never let us "play" with the Super 8. Oh hell no.

[High_Desert_Gunslinger]

looks interesting. can't wait to see more though

[Woofer]

Here's the HD trailer

Thanks, Bev. Looks very interesting.

[Ageless Stranger]

My definition of a "Super 8" is an RV-8 that has a 6 cylinder, 260 HP O-540 in it insted of the recomended 4 cylinder 180 HP O-360.

I know this is completely off topic, but since you asked WTF a Super 8 is, thats my answer.

[ArtherEld]

Alright I edited the original post up there. A nonbootleg version of the trailer was finally uploaded to Youtube. Enjoy.

[Empath of the White]

There's something from Todash space in there...and this...this has to be some advanced viral marketing for either Song of Susannah or The Dark Tower...I wish...

It is an pretty intriguing trailer. I'm interested in finding out why the truck decided to take that train head-on. I've seen some speculation that there's an infant Clovie in there. I doubt it, though. Of course I wouldn't put it past Abrams to have this as an unnofficial sequel to Cloverfield.

[Gris]

There's something from Todash space in there...and this...this has to be some advanced viral marketing for either Song of Susannah or The Dark Tower...I wish...

It is an pretty intriguing trailer. I'm interested in finding out why the truck decided to take that train head-on. I've seen some speculation that there's an infant Clovie in there. I doubt it, though. Of course I wouldn't put it past Abrams to have this as an unnofficial sequel to Cloverfield.

Abrams already said it's not anything to do with Cloverfield. Besides, Cloverfield WAS an infant.

[Heather19]

Rocket Poppeteers

Has anyone joined up?

[IWasSentWest]

what the hell is that

[Heather19]

I have absolutely no idea But it's somehow related to the movie.