Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction-drama thriller film written and directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler and was released on June 10, 2011^[3][4] in conventional and IMAX theaters in the US. The film tells the story of a group of young teenagers who are filming their own Super 8 movie in a small town in 1979 when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town. The movie was filmed in Weirton, West Virginia and surrounding areas.

The film was released to critical acclaim; being praised for its nostalgia, visual effects, musical score, and for the performances of its young actors, particularly those of Elle Fanning and newcomer Joel Courtney. It was also a commercial success, grossing over $250 million on a $50 million budget. It received several awards and nominations; primarily in technical and special effects categories, as well as for Courtney and Fanning's performances as the film's two young leads.

Plot[link]

In the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio, Deputy Jack Lamb (Kyle Chandler) and his 14-year-old son Joe (Joel Courtney) mourn the death of his wife in a factory accident. Jack blames her fellow worker, Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard), for her death, as she was covering his shift while he was recovering from intoxication the night before. At the end of the school year, Joe's friend Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths) decides to make a low-budget zombie movie to enter into an international film competition. Charles enlists the help of their friends Preston (Zach Mills), Martin (Gabriel Basso), and Cary (Ryan Lee), as well as Dainard's daughter, Alice (Elle Fanning). Joe and Alice, though aware their respective fathers would be furious, become smitten with each other.

Charles decides to film one scene at the local train depot using a passing train to add authenticity to the work. While filming, the children witness a pickup truck drive onto the tracks and ram the train head-on, causing a massive derailment. The children investigate the wreck; Joe finds a pile of strange white cubes, and believes he witnessed something large flee the train, while the others discover the truck's driver as Dr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), their biology teacher. Woodward, barely alive, threatens the children at gunpoint to never talk about what they saw that night. The children flee as an armed force from the local Air Force base, led by Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich), secure the scene. Nelec discovers an empty box of Super 8 film, and assumes the event was captured on camera.

While Joe and Charles wait on the development of the film of the derailment, the town experiences strange events: dogs run away, several people have gone missing, and numerous electronics components have been stolen. Overhearing questionable Air Force communication, Jack approaches Nelec to help quell the rising panic in town, but Nelec instead orders him secured in the base's prison. Nelec soon orders the forces to start a wildfire on the outskirts of town, using it as a guise to evacuate the townspeople to the base. Joe and Charles watch the footage they filmed at the derailment and confirm that a large, alien creature had fled from the damaged train.

At the base, the boys learn from a repentant Dainard that Alice has gone missing, abducted by the creature the night before after Dainard discovered her being seen with Joe. Joe, Charles, Martin, and Cary sneak back into town, intent on rescuing Alice. They first break into Dr. Woodward's storage locker at school, discovering films and documents from his time as a government researcher. One film shows the scientists, including Woodward, experimenting on an alien creature and its spaceship, composed of thousands of the white cubes, in 1958. At one point in the film, the alien grabs Woodward, and Joe surmises that it created a psychic link with Woodward, leading him to cause the derailment and aid in the alien's escape. The boys are caught by Nelec and his men, but as they are taken back to the base by bus, the alien attacks the vehicle. Nelec and his men are killed covering the boys' escape back to town. Meanwhile, Jack has escaped from the base's prison and made his way to the towns-folks, learning from Dainard where Joe has gotten to. The two men reconcile their differences and work together to get back into town.

In town, much of the military hardware has gone haywire while the Air Force attempt to kill the alien. Martin is injured in the confusion. Charles stays behind to tend to Martin while Joe and Cary head to the cemetery where a large hole leads to a series of underground caverns. In a large chamber beneath the town's water tower, the two find the alien has created a device from the various stolen electronics attached to the base of the tower, and has kept several of the townspeople, including Alice, hung from the ceiling as food. They free Alice and attempt to escape from the rampaging alien, but are trapped in a dead end cavern. The alien grabs Joe, creating a telepathic bond, through which Joe tries to convince the alien that it can still live after the painful events of its captivity. The alien, after a moment, releases Joe and departs, allowing the three to return to the surface.

As they rejoin their fathers, they and the military are stunned as the water tower starts acting as an electromagnet, pulling in metallic objects. The white cubes break out of their containment and form the alien's spaceship around the tower. Joe finds his locket, containing a picture of his mother and himself, being drawn towards the tower, and decides to let it go. With the spaceship complete, the alien enters it; the water tower implodes and the ship launches itself into space.

During the credits, the viewer is shown the completed film (The Case) by Charles and his friends.

[edit] The Case

The Case is the amateur zombie film supposedly being shot by the youngsters throughout the movie. Brief excerpts are seen in the main film, along with episodes in which scenes are being shot. It is said to be written by Charles to be entered in a film contest. It was in fact written by Basso with assistance by his co-stars and Abrams. The complete short film is shown through the end credits of Super 8. It tells the story of a detective named Hathaway who is put on a case to investigate numerous zombie murders, fighting zombies on his way. He meets with the president of a chemical company, a doctor, and his wife to discuss the murders, before ultimately finding a cure.

Plot[link]

Detective Hathaway meets with a young witness who says he has seen a zombie attack. He presents Hathaway with a building access pass that fell out of the attacker's pocket. The pass is for the Romero Chemical Plant. Hathaway then goes to the President of Romero Chemicals. He confronts him about an incident that occurred in the plant that he funded. The President disregards it as an accident, but Hathaway argues. He tells the President that he is going to look around the building that was on the note. He leaves, and the President makes an urgent phone call saying "He knows". He goes to the building and is attacked by a zombie. He manages to kill the zombie by pressing its head against exposed nails in the wall. He then calls someone to buy his wife a ticket to Michigan because it is not safe for her. But that night at the train depot, she tells him that she loves him and doesn't want him getting into danger. Seconds later, a massive train wreck occurs confirming his wife's staying. The next morning they are looking out at the wreck and are attacked by a zombie, who Hathaway shoots. That night, Hathaway records in his audio journal that the attacks are putting stress on his town and his marriage. He then gets a call from an Air Force officer that served with Hathaway in Vietnam who tells him that an airman committed suicide because there was a secret he could no longer keep. He then gives him top-secret information about a doctor that the late airman worked for. He goes to meet this doctor who says that he has found a cure for the zombie epidemic and begins to test it on a victim of the virus. However, the victim wakes up and bites the doctor turning him into a zombie. Hathaway shoots them both. He goes home to see that his wife has been turned into a zombie. She attacks him, but he injects the antidote into her neck. He gets ready to shoot her but she is cured of the virus and they embrace. The film ends and we hear a small announcement from the director, Charles Kaznyk, who tells the audience how much fun they had making it and that he hopes they choose his film for the festival. Alice, in zombie makeup, then attacks Charles and bites him, leaving his fate unknown.

Cast[link]

• Joel Courtney as Joseph "Joe" Lamb, the protagonist of the film.
• Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard, Joe's love interest.
• Kyle Chandler as Jackson "Jack" Lamb, Joe's father.
• Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyk, Joe's best friend.
• Ryan Lee as Cary, A fire-work addict and a friend of Joe and Charles.
• Ron Eldard as Louis Dainard, Alice's father.
• Gabriel Basso as Martin, a friend of Joe and Charles.
• Noah Emmerich as Colonel Nelec, the main antagonist of the film.
• David Gallagher as Donny
• Bruce Greenwood as Cooper^[5]
• Zach Mills as Preston
• Amanda Michalka as Jen Kaznyk
• Glynn Turman as Dr. Woodward
• Michael Hitchcock as Deputy Rosko
• Caitriona Balfe as Elizabeth Lamb
• Joel McKinnon Miller as Mr. Kaznyk
• Jessica Tuck as Mrs. Kaznyk
• Dan Castellaneta as Izzy
• Richard T. Jones as Overmyer
• Dale Dickey as Edie

Production[link]

J.J. Abrams had had the idea to start a film by showing a factory's "Accident-Free" sign long before he came up with the rest of the idea of the film. Super 8 was actually the combination of two ideas; one for a film about kids making their own movie during the 1970s, and another for a blockbuster alien invasion film. Worried that the former idea would not attract enough attendance, Abrams combined the ideas.

Abrams and Spielberg collaborated in a storytelling committee to come up with the story for the film.^[6] The film was initially reported to be either a sequel or prequel to the 2008 film Cloverfield,^[7] but this was quickly denied by Abrams.^[8] Primary photography began in fall 2010. The teaser itself was filmed separately in April.^[9] Super 8 is the first original J. J. Abrams film project produced by Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures.^[10]

Abrams wanted to find new faces to play the parts in his movie. He conducted a national talent search in order to find the child actors to play each of the leading roles. Courtney (who was hoping to land a part in a commercial) was picked out of many boys because Abrams found something "different" in him. Riley Griffiths sent Abrams a tape of himself in order to land the part of Charles.

Filming took place in Weirton, West Virginia, from September to October 2010.^[11] To promote the film, Valve Corporation created a short video game segment and released it alongside the Windows and Mac versions of Portal 2.

Abrams' original plan was to film all of the sequences for the film-within-a-film, "The Case", in Super-8 using Pro8mm stock and cameras. However, this approach proved unsuccessful, as visual effects house Industrial Light and Magic found it impossible to integrate CGI into the footage due to the format's graininess. For sequences involving CGI, cinematographer Larry Fong used Super-16 instead.^[12]

Music[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[13]

The score for the film was composed by Michael Giacchino, Abrams' long-time collaborator. Giacchino recruited his team of conductor Tim Simonec, recorder Dan Wallin and the Hollywood Studio Symphony to bring the music to life. The soundtrack was released on August 2, 2011 by Varèse Sarabande.

During the final credits, the songs "My Sharona", by The Knack and "Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra are featured. The Blondie song "Heart of Glass" and The Cars song "Bye Bye Love" are also featured in the film.

All music composed by Michael Giacchino.

Viral marketing campaign[link]

Like Cloverfield, an earlier J. J. Abrams-produced film, Super 8 was promoted through an extensive viral marketing campaign. The first trailer for the movie was attached to Iron Man 2, released in May 2010. The trailer gave the premise of a section of Area 51 being closed down in 1979 and its contents being transported by freight train to Ohio. A pickup truck drives into the oncoming train, derailing it, and one of the carriages is smashed open while a Super 8 camera films. Fans analyzing the trailer found a hidden message, "Scariest Thing I Ever Saw", contained in the final frames of the trailer. This led to a website, Scariest Thing I Ever Saw, which simulated the interface of a PDP-11 and contained various clues to the film's storyline; the computer was eventually revealed to belong to Josh Woodward, the son of Dr. Woodward, who is trying to find out what happened to his father. Another viral website, Rocket Poppeteers was also found, which like Slusho from Cloverfield plays no direct part in the film but is indirectly related. The official Super 8 website also contained an "editing room" section, which asked users to find various clips from around the web and piece them together. When completed, the reel makes up the film found by the kids in Dr. Woodward's trailer, showing the ship disintegrating into individual white cubes, and the alien reaching through the window of its cage and snatching Dr. Woodward. The video game Portal 2 contained an interactive trailer placing the player on board the train before it derails, and showing the carriage being smashed open and the roar of the alien within.

Release[link]

The film was released on June 9, 2011 in Australia, June 10, 2011 in the United States, and August 5, 2011 in the United Kingdom.^[14] On June 8, Paramount also launched a “Super 8 Sneak Peek” Twitter promotion, offering fans a chance to purchase tickets for an advanced screening, taking place on June 9, 2011 in the United States.^[15] The film opened at #1 in the U.S. Box Office for that weekend, grossing about $35 million.

Home media[link]

The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 22, 2011.^[16] The release was produced as a combo pack with a Digital Copy, including nine bonus features and fourteen deleted scenes.^[17]

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

Super 8 received very positive reviews from professional critics. On movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a score of 82%, based on 251 reviews, and a rating average of 7.4/10, with the consensus that: "it may evoke memories of classic summer blockbusters a little too eagerly for some, but Super 8 has thrills, visual dazzle, and emotional depth to spare."^[18] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 1–100 to reviews from critics, assigned the film a Metascore of 72 based on 40 critics, signifying 'generally favorable reviews.'^[19]

Chris Sosa of Gather gave the film an A rating, calling it, "a gripping and exciting tale of finding one's place in the world amidst tragedy." His review concluded, "While the genre-bending occasionally unsettles, the film's genuine and emotionally gripping nature make its journey believable." ^[20]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3½ stars out of 4 and said, "Super 8 is a wonderful film, nostalgia not for a time but for a style of filmmaking, when shell-shocked young audiences were told a story and not pounded over the head with aggressive action. Abrams treats early adolescence with tenderness and affection."^[21] Richard Corliss of Time gave it a similarly positive review, calling it "the year's most thrilling, feeling mainstream movie".^[22] He then named it one of the Top 10 Best Movies of 2011.^[23] Jamie Graham of Total Film gave the film a perfect five-star rating, saying, "like Spielberg, Abrams has an eye for awe, his deft orchestration of indelible images – a tank trundling through a children's playground, a plot-pivotal landmark framed in the distance through a small hole in a bedroom wall – marking him as a born storyteller".^[24] Christopher Orr of the The Atlantic called it a "love letter to a cinematic era", while Claudia Puig of USA Today praised it as "a summer blockbuster firing on all cylinders".

Particular praise was given to the performances of the young cast, especially newcomer Courtney, and Fanning who received numerous accolades and nominations. Rick Groen of Globe and Mail says "It's the child actors, heroic indeed, who rescue Super 8 from the blockbuster grip of its adult makers". Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer believed that "The worst that can be said about the film is that the characters are far more compelling than the mystery they solve". A reviewer from the Newark Star-Ledger stated that "It's as full of rich characters as it is smart popcorn-movie scares."

Many regarded it as one of the best summer movies of 2011. Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Loving, playful, and spectacularly well made, Super 8 is easily the best summer movie of the year -- of many years. And I make that declaration with full knowledge that the season has just begun". Roger Moore from the Orlando Sentinel declared that "Super 8 is the movie of the summer, the movie of MANY summers going back to the '70s. It's a creature feature, a first-love romance and a movie buff's movie about movie buffs trying to become movie makers".

Critics and audiences alike were polarized on the film's ending. Some found it to be emotional, powerful, and satisfying while others found it rushed and forced. For example, writing for Mubi's Notebook, Fernando F. Croce alleged that "no film this year opens more promisingly and ends more dismally than J.J. Abrams' Super 8."^[25] Other critics commented negatively on the films frequent homages to early Spielberg films. For example, CNN's Tom Charity felt that "Abrams' imitation [was] a shade too reverent for [his] taste."^[26] David Edelstein, of New York magazine, called it a "flagrant crib," adding that "Abrams has probably been fighting not to reproduce Spielberg's signature moves since the day he picked up a camera. Now, with the blessing of the master, he can plagiarize with alacrity."^[27]

Top ten lists[link]

The film has appeared on the following critics' top ten lists for the best films of 2011:

Box office[link]

Super 8 had a production budget of $50 million. It was commercially released on June 10, 2011. In the United States and Canada, it opened in 3,379 theaters and grossed over $35.4 million on its opening weekend, ranking first at the box office.^[31] The film grossed $127 million in North America with a worldwide total of some $260 million.^[2]

Awards[link]

In addition to these awards, the film was short-listed for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects. Paramount submitted it for several considerations for the BAFTAs including Best Film, Best Director (J.J. Abrams), Best Original Screenplay, Leading Actor (Kyle Chandler), Supporting Actress (Elle Fanning), Supporting Actor (Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich), Cinematography, Production Design, Editing, Costume Design, Original Music, Sound, Makeup and Hair, and Special Visual Effects.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Super 8 at the Internet Movie Database
• Super 8 at AllRovi
• Super 8 at Box Office Mojo

Super 8 may refer to:

Media and entertainment[link]

• Super 8 mm film, a motion picture film format
• Super 8 (film), a 2011 science fiction film
• Super 8 (album), by Züri West
• Super 8 (video game accessory)
• "Super 8" (The Killing)
• super8 (musical group)
• Super8, a DJ of the duo Super8 & Tab

Sports[link]

• Super 8 (cricket round)
• Super Eight (hockey)

Other uses[link]

• Super 8 Hotels
• Super 8 Retail Systems, a Philippine grocery retailer
• Super 8 schools

See also[link]

• Super 8 Stories, a documentary film

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