Corona | Coming Attractions

Paramount Home Entertainment will release Super 8 on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on November 22, 2011. The movie will come with a bunch of bonus material including a commentary audio track by director J.J. Abrams.

Super 8 was one of the summer 2011's hits, grossing $150 million dollars at the domestic box office. It was Abrams' homage to the fantastical movies of Steven Spielberg and his Amblin production company that were made in the 1980s, and received solid critical reviews upon opening.

Over two hours worth of bonus material are on the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack (a stand-alone DVD version of Super 8 will also be available but it will only contain the movie as well as a digital copy.)

Bonus material announced include:

• A commentary track featuring screenwriter/director J.J. Abrams, producer Bryan Burk and cinematographer Larry Fong
• 9 behind-the-Scenes Featurettes: The Dream Behind Super 8, The Search for New Faces, Meet Joel Courtney, Rediscovering Steel Town, The Visitor Lives, Scoring Super 8, Do You Believe in Magic?, The 8mm Revolution, Deconstructing the Train Crash
• Deleted scenes

The Super 8 Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with English 5.1 Surround and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The Digital Copy is presented in English 2.0 Stereo with no subtitles.

Paramount is placing a suggested retail price of $39.99 on the Blu-ray/DVD combo and $29.99 for the DVD version.

Super 8 stars Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Elle Fanning, Gabriel Basso, Zach Mills and newcomers Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths and Ryan Lee. Steven Spielberg was one of the film's executive producers.

Read Coming Attractions review of Super 8.

By way of an announcement on Twitter, sneak previews for Super 8 are taking place today across North America.

Twitter users can follow the announcement and discussion by searching for conversations using the hashtag #Super8Secret. The studio has also sponsored Twitter with the hashtag as a promoted trend, making it easier for users to click on a direct link and purchase tickets for the early screenings in their area. Audience members that buy a ticket will also be able to use it to get a free popcorn at the theater.

"With Super 8, J.J. and Steven have created a really fun and engaging movie for all ages," said Rob Moore, the vice chairman of Paramount Pictures. "We are excited to finally get it out into the marketplace and using this sneak preview promotion with Twitter to kick start the film's release, is an unprecedented way to get people into theaters and talking about the movie."

Paramount has released a new trailer for Super 8, which it debuted via Twitter this morning:

If you missed it, here was the Super 8 Superbowl spot that aired this afternoon during commercial breaks:

And in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Super 8 director J.J. Abrams reveals for the first time new story details about his film. We now know that the movie is intended to have a feel to 1980s Amblin movies where children went on extraordinary adventures, such as E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Goonies, Poltergeist and Gremlins. The story is set in 1979 and follows six children that are making their version of a zombie movie using a Super 8 camera. They accidentally film the derailment of a train and of a frightening creature that emerges from the wreckage.

Abrams told the paper that he was worried that his film couldn't compete against the strong viewer awareness of other summer 2011 competitors, and that he felt that he had to talk more about what Super 8's story is to level the playing field. Read the full interview.

It looks like Super 8 has been retitled for the Brazilian audience. What's the new name for J.J. Abrams' forthcoming alien monster movie? Would you believe it's...Darlings?

Movieweb has the Brazilian trailer for the picture on their site and the proof is right there. While the site contacted Paramount to see if a name change was also in the cards for American audiences, the studio hadn't responded to the question.

June 10, 2011 is the date that Paramount has decided to release Super 8. Other big summer pictures opening on that day include Universal's Fast Five and the Warner Bros. romantic comedy Something Borrowed.

Joining Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning in Super 8 are Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Gabriel Basso, Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills.

Filming on the secretive movie began yesterday in West Virginia.

The first two cast members for Super 8 are Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning. Chandler is known to watchers of NBC's Friday Night Lights as Coach Taylor while Elle is the younger sister of Dakota Fanning.

Fanning is 12-years-old and would fit the casting description leaked in May for a part in the movie: "Female 13-14. A natural beauty — she is stunning, but not the 'cheerleader' type. Strong and confident, but has an underlying sadness. Should have a Midwestern feel."

Paramount has given Apple a 24-hour exclusive on the Super 8 trailer. Check it out now on the Apple trailer website.

The curtain has been raised on J.J. Abrams next (and super secret) movie project. It indeed is called Super 8 and Abrams is directing from his own screenplay. The producers are Steven Spielberg, Abrams and Bryan Burk. The film is a co-production between Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Abrams' Bad Robot.

This information comes not from an official announcement from Paramount Pictures but by the title credit card seen at the end of the Super 8 teaser trailer, set to begin showing in front of screenings of Iron Man 2 beginning tomorrow.

A description of the trailer follows:

The film's website has also launched: www.super8-movie.com. As of late this evening there's nothing much to see on the site except for the close-up of the film projector and the ability to join several social media outlets to promote the movie.