Super 8 (film)

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This article is about the 2011 film. For the home movie film format, see Super 8 film. For the 1999 film, see 8mm (film).
Super 8
File:Super 8 Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by J. J. Abrams
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Written by J. J. Abrams
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Michael Giacchino
Cinematography Larry Fong
Edited by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Production
company
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Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • June 9, 2011 (2011-06-09) (Australia)
  • June 10, 2011 (2011-06-10) (United States)
Running time
 112 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $50 million[1]
Box office $260.1 million[2]

Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler and tells the story of a group of young teenagers who are filming their own Super 8 movie when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town. The movie was filmed in Weirton, West Virginia and surrounding areas.

Super 8 was released on June 10, 2011,[2] in conventional and IMAX theaters in the United States. The film was well received, with critics praising the film for its nostalgia, visual effects, musical score, and for the performances of its young actors, particularly those of Fanning and newcomer Courtney. It was also a commercial success, grossing over $260 million against a $50 million budget. The film 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

In 1979, Deputy Sheriff Jack Lamb (Kyle Chandler) of Lillian, Ohio, and his 14-year-old[3] son Joe (Joel Courtney), mourn the death of his mother Elizabeth (Caitriona Balfe) in a steel mill accident.[4] Jack blames her co-worker, Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard), as she was covering his shift while he recovered from a hangover.

Four months later, Joe's best friend Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths) decides to make a low-budget zombie movie for an international film competition. Charles enlists the help of Preston Scott (Zach Mills), Martin Read (Gabriel Basso), and Cary McCarthy (Ryan Lee), as well as Dainard's daughter, Alice (Elle Fanning). Though their fathers would be furious, Joe and Alice become smitten with each other.

Charles wants to film a scene at a train depot using a passing train to add authenticity. While filming, Joe witnesses a pickup truck drive onto the tracks and ram the train, causing a massive derailment that just about destroys the whole train and the friends barely escape. The children investigate the wreck and find crates full of strange white cubes, then discover the truck's driver is Dr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), their biology teacher. Woodward, barely alive, warns them at gunpoint to forget what they saw that night, or else their parents will be killed. The children flee the scene just as a convoy from the local U.S. Air Force base, led by Col. Nelec (Noah Emmerich), arrive at the scene. Nelec discovers an empty box of Super 8mm film, and assumes the event was captured on camera.

While Joe and Charles wait for their film to be developed, the town experiences strange events: All the dogs run away, several townspeople go missing, and electronics from all over are stolen. Overhearing military communications, Jack approaches Nelec to address the rising panic in town, but Nelec instead orders him arrested. Nelec orders the use of flamethrowers to start wildfires outside of town, as an excuse to evacuate people to the base. Suddenly, soldiers sweep into town to begin the evacuation. Meanwhile, Joe and Charles watch the derailment footage and discover that a large creature had escaped from the train.

At the base, Joe learns from Alice's father that she is missing, abducted by the creature. Joe, Charles, Martin, and Cary convince Jen, Charles older sister to pretend to hit on Donny (worker at the camera shop) in order to get into town to rescue Alice. They break into Dr. Woodward's storage trailer and discover films and documents from his time as a government researcher.

They play the film, which reveals that an alien crash-landed in 1958. The Air Force captured the alien and was running experiments on it while keeping it from its ship. Woodward was one of the scientists experimenting on the ship, composed of the white cubes. At one point, the alien grabs Woodward, apparently establishing a psychic connection with him. Now understanding the alien, he was compelled to rescue it and help it escape from Earth. He finds out about the train, years later, and sought the opportunity to help the creature. The boys are caught by Nelec, but as they are taken back to base, the alien attacks their bus. The airmen are killed and the boys escape. Meanwhile, Jack escapes from the base's brig and makes his way to the shelter housing the townsfolk. He learns from Preston about Joe's plan to rescue Alice. Jack and Dainard then agree to put aside their differences to save their kids.

In town, their hardware malfunctions as the military attempts to kill the alien. Martin is injured in an explosion, so Charles stays behind with him while Joe and Cary head to the cemetery, where Joe had earlier seen something there that made him suspicious. Inside the cemetery's garage, they find a massive tunnel leading to a warren of underground caverns. In a chamber beneath the town's water tower, they find the alien has created a device from the town's stolen electronics, attached to the base of the tower. The alien also has several people, including Alice, hanging from the ceiling and unconscious. Using Cary's firecrackers as a distraction, Joe frees Alice and the others, but they end up trapped in a dead end cavern after the alien chases them down. Alice and Cary scream and cower against the tunnel wall, but Joe steps forward and tries to talk to the alien. The alien grabs Joe, who quietly speaks to the alien, telling him over and over that "bad things happen" but that the alien "can still live". After studying Joe for a moment, the alien releases him and departs, allowing the three to return to the surface.

As Joe and Alice reunite with their fathers, everyone watches as metal objects from all over town are magnetically pulled to the top of the water tower. The white cubes are also pulled in to assemble into a spaceship around the water tank. The locket that used to belong to Joe's mom is also drawn towards the tower and Joe, after a brief moment, decides to let it go. The alien enters the completed spaceship; the water tower implodes and the ship rockets into space. Joe takes Alice's hand as they watch the ship depart into the night sky.

During the credits, the kids' completed film, entitled The Case, is shown.

Cast

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Production

J.J. Abrams 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.[5] The film was initially reported to be either a sequel or prequel to the 2008 film Cloverfield,[6] but this was quickly denied by Abrams.[7] Primary photography began in fall (September/October) 2010. The teaser itself was filmed separately in April.[8] Super 8 is the first original J. J. Abrams film project produced by Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures.[9]

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.[10] To promote the film, Valve Corporation created a short video game segment and released it alongside the Windows and Mac versions of Portal 2.[11]

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]

Soundtracks

Super 8
Film score by Michael Giacchino
Released August 2, 2011
Recorded 2011
Genre Orchestral
Length 77:19
Label Varèse Sarabande
Michael Giacchino chronology
Cars 2
(2011)Cars 22011		 Super 8
(2011)		 Monte Carlo
(2011)Monte Carlo2011
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3.5/5 stars[13]

The score for the film was composed by Michael Giacchino, Abrams' long-time collaborator. The soundtrack was released on August 2, 2011, by Varèse Sarabande. It won the 2012 Saturn Award for Best Music.

During the ending credits, the songs "Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra and "My Sharona" by The Knack 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 (although track 33, "The Case", is credited on the liner notes to the film character Charles Kaznyk).

Track listing
No. Title Length
1. "Super 8"   1:44
2. "Family Matters"   0:29
3. "Model Painting"   0:41
4. "Acting Chops"   0:40
5. "Aftermath Class"   5:54
6. "Thoughts of Cubism"   0:48
7. "We'll Fix It in Post-Haste"   0:44
8. "Productions Woes"   0:34
9. "Train of Thought"   0:35
10. "Circle Gets the Cube"   1:06
11. "Breen There, Ate That"   1:12
12. "Dead Over Heels"   0:48
13. "Gas and Go"   1:34
14. "Looking for Lucy"   0:49
15. "Radio Haze"   1:08
16. "Mom's Necklace"   1:33
17. "Shootus Interuptus"   2:35
18. "Thoughts of Mom"   1:41
19. "Woodward Bites It"   1:54
20. "Alice Projects on Joe"   2:29
21. "Neighborhood Watch — Fail"   4:45
22. "The Evacuation of Lillian"   3:40
23. "A Truckload of Trouble"   0:57
24. "Lambs on the Lam"   2:40
25. "Woodward's Home Movies"   2:40
26. "Spotted Lambs"   1:37
27. "Air Force HQ or Bust"   1:04
28. "World's Worst Field Trip"   3:36
29. "The Siege of Lillian"   2:57
30. "Creature Comforts"   10:10
31. "Letting Go"   5:18
32. "Super 8 Suite"   5:54
33. "The Case"   3:28
Total length:
 77:19

Viral marketing campaign

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 story-line; 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 contains 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.[11]

Release

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 advance 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

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

Box office

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.[18] The film grossed $127 million in North America with a worldwide total of some $260 million.[2]

Critical response

Super 8 received positive reviews from critics. On the film-critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a score of 82%, based on 270 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."[19] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 1–100 to reviews from critics, assigned the film a Metascore of 72 based on 41 critics, signifying 'generally favorable reviews.'[20]

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."[21]

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 film-making, 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."[4] 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".

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 film's frequent homages to early works of Spielberg, particularly in its depiction of broken families (a theme Spielberg has explored in nearly all of his 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]

Accolades

List of awards and nominations
Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result
4th Annual Coming of Age Awards[28] Best Newcomer Joel Courtney Won
Best Cinematography Larry Fong Won
Special Soundtrack Won
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Best Picture Nominated
SFX Awards Best Film Nominated
Best Director J. J. Abrams Nominated
10th Annual TSR Awards[29] Actress of the Year (Multiple Roles) Elle Fanning Nominated
Best Visuals: Special Effects Nominated
38th Saturn Awards[30] Best Science Fiction Film Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Joel Courtney Won
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Elle Fanning Nominated
Best Director J. J. Abrams Won
Best Writing J. J. Abrams Nominated
Best Music Michael Giacchino Won
Best Editing Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey Nominated
Best Special Effects Nominated
48th Annual CAS Awards[31] Best Sound Mixing Nominated
2011 BAM Awards[32] Best Picture Nominated
Best Director J. J. Abrams Nominated
Best Cinematography Larry Fong Nominated
Best Makeup Nominated
Best Original Screenplay J. J. Abrams Won
Best Editing Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey Nominated
Best Score Michael Giacchino Won
Best Sound Editing/Mixing Won
Best Visual Effects Nominated
Best Costumes Nominated
Best Cast Nominated
Best Youth Ensemble Nominated
Best Performance by a Child Actress in a Leading Role Elle Fanning Won
Best Performance by a Child Actor in a Leading Role Joel Courtney Won
Best Performance by a Child Actor in a Supporting Role Ryan Lee Won
Best Young Actor/Actress Elle Fanning Nominated
17th Empire Awards Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Nominated
Best Female Newcomer Elle Fanning Nominated
2011 St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards Best Visual Effects Nominated
2011 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards[33] Best Editing Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey Nominated
Best Ensemble Acting Won
Best Film Nominated
Best Original Score Michael Giacchino Nominated
Best Youth Performance — Male Joel Courtney Nominated
Best Youth Performance — Female Elle Fanning Nominated
Breakthrough Performance — On Camera Elle Fanning Nominated
2011 Satellite Awards[34] Best Supporting Actress Elle Fanning Nominated
Best Original Score Michael Giacchino Nominated
Best Visual Effects Dennis Muren, Kim Libreri, Paul Kavanagh, Russell Earl Nominated
Best Sound (Editing & Mixing) Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Ben Burtt, Mark Ulano, Matthew Wood, and Tom Johnson Nominated
2011 Scream Awards[35]
The Ultimate Scream Nominated
Best Science Fiction Movie Won
Best Director J. J. Abrams Nominated
Best Scream-Play J. J. Abrams Won
Breakout Performance — Female Elle Fanning Nominated
Holy Sh!t Scene Of The Year The Train Crash Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Awards[36]
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Nominated
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Actress Elle Fanning Nominated
Breakout Male Joel Courtney Nominated
Scene Stealer Male Riley Griffiths Nominated
Chemistry The Super 8 Crew Nominated
Hissy Fit The Alien Nominated
2012 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards[37]
Best Action Movie Nominated
Best Sound Nominated
Best Visual Effects Nominated
Best Young Actor/Actress Elle Fanning Nominated
Golden Reel Awards[38] Music in a Feature Film Nominated
Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film Won
Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film Nominated
Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight Award Elle Fanning Won
YouReviewer Awards[39] Best Supporting Actress Elle Fanning Nominated
Best Visual Effects Nominated
Breakthrough Actor Joel Courtney Nominated
33rd Young Artist Awards[40] Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor Joel Courtney Nominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress Elle Fanning Nominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film — Supporting Young Actor Zach Mills Nominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film — Young Ensemble Cast Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso and Britt Flatmo Nominated
2012 MTV Movie Awards Breakthrough Performance[41] Elle Fanning Nominated

In addition to these awards, the film was short-listed for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects[42] and Best Original Score, 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

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Super 8 at Box Office Mojo
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Monger, James Christopher. Super 8 at AllMusic
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Super 8 at Rotten Tomatoes
  20. ↑ Super 8 at Metacritic
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 4th Annual Coming-of-Age Movie Awards Recipients Named, theskykid.com.
  29. ↑ 10th Annual TSR Movie Awards – The Results – 2011, thescorecardreview.com, February 26, 2012.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 2011 BAM Award Winners, themovierat.com, January 11, 2012.
  33. ↑ Phoenix Film Critics Applaud The Artist, Awards Daily, December 27, 2011.
  34. ↑ 2011 International Press Academy, December 2011.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 2012 Golden Reel Award Nominees: Feature Films, mpse.org.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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