JJ Abrams' 'Super 8' Super Bowl Commercial And Details Revealed

Tonight during the Super Bowl, Paramount Pictures finally aired footage from the Steven Spielberg-produced JJ Abrams-directed movie Super 8. Also, Abrams  has finally come forward to talk at length about his until-now super-top-secret science fiction film Super 8.Watch the television spot and find out more about the film, after the jump. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The Super 8 commercial looks and feels like the type of movie Steven Spielberg would have made or produced 25 years ago – a combination of Goonies and ET. I'm excited.

Abrams sat down with the Los Angeles Times, and revealed all:

"To me, all people need to know is that it's an adventure about a small town and it's funny, it's sweet, it's scary and there's a mystery: What is this thing that has escaped? What are the ramifications of its presence? And what is the effect on people? But I know that's not enough. Look, I feel we need a little bit of a coming-out party because we are up against massive franchises and brands and most people don't know what 'Super 8? means. We're a complete anomaly in a summer of huge films ... and we don't want to be so silent or coy that people don't care or don't hear about it." ... "As the process went along I  realized I had the potential makings of  my favorite sort of movie, which is the one that is the hardest genre to define. That because you could say — and be right — that it's a science fiction movie; or you could say — and be right — that it's a love story; or you could say — and be right — that it's a comedy; or you could say — and be right — that it's a special-effects spectacle. That sort of cocktail is for me what I love about movies...that was the beginnings of this movie coming together."

The article also gives us our first real look at the film's plot:

The Paramount Pictures release is set in Ohio in 1979 and introduces a troupe of six youngsters who are using a Super 8 camera to make their own zombie movie. One fateful night, their project takes them to a lonely stretch of rural railroad tracks and, as the camera rolls, calamity strikes — a truck collides with an oncoming locomotive and a hellacious derailment fills the night with screaming metal and raining fire. Then something emerges from the wreckage, something decidedly inhuman.

We also learned that the movie began as two projects, but were combined "due to their individual deficiencies." The first idea was "a non-fantastical" comign of age story about a group of kids with Super 8 camera. The other was "a spooky film about the 1970s scrutiny of Area 51 and how anxious government officials decided the best way to protect the classified possessions of the increasingly notorious military base was to ship them off to other sites aboard midnight trains — one of which never reaches its final destination."And Abrams gives one last funny quote about the film's challenge in this upcoming Summer movie season:

"We have such a challenge on this movie. Yes we've got Steven's name on it and my name on it — for what that's worth — but we've got no famous super-hero, we've got no pre-existing franchise or sequel, it's not starring anyone you've heard of  before. There's no book, there's no toy, there's no comic book. There's nothing. I don't have anything; I don't even have a board game, that's how bad it is. But I think we have a very good movie."

Read the whole article on LATimes for a bunch more information about the film.