During the summer of 1979, six friends witness a train wreck while making a Super 8 movie, only to discover that something unimaginable escaped during the crash and the only thing more mysterious than what it is, is what it wants. A film by J.J. Abrams, starring Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, Gabriel Basso, and Kyle Chandler.

In 1979, Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) mourns his mother Elizabeth (Caitríona Balfe), after a fatal factory accident. He clings to her locket as a cherished keepsake. Jack (Kyle Chandler), deputy sheriff of Lillian town and Joe’s father, blames Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard) for Elizabeth’s death. He rages when Louis appears at her funeral. Joe watches as his father drags Louis to the police car and speeds away.

Four months later, Joe helps his friend Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths) make a zombie movie for the Super 8 film competition, with Preston (Zach Mills), Martin (Gabriel Basso), and Cary (Ryan Lee) joining the cast and crew. Charles invites Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) to join the cast as the detective’s wife. Not only does she agree to the role, but she also offers to drive them to the train station, where they plan to shoot a scene.

That night, the boys sneak out of their home to a rendezvous point where Alice will pick them up. Upon seeing Joe, Alice becomes agitated, knowing that she could get into trouble because he is the deputy sheriff’s son and she doesn’t have a license to drive. After Joe assures Alice that she can trust him and that his father won’t know, she reluctantly agrees to let everyone in her car.

As they film a scene at the train station, Alice’s performance wows everyone. Joe notices a pickup truck heading straight for the train on the tracks. He shouts a warning, but it’s too late. The train collides with the pickup truck, derailing and sending its cargo boxcars flying, destroying the train station.

The children panic and run for their lives, dodging debris falling from the sky. Joe, separated from the others, is stunned in fear when he hears a loud thud from one of the boxcars, sending its door flying into the air, as if something is breaking free from its cage.

The children regroup, discovering strange white cubes scattered in the wreckage. Joe snatches a cube and pockets it. They find the pickup truck and learn that the driver is their biology teacher, Dr. Woodward. Alice approaches his body, touching his wrist to check if he is still alive, and a map of a train route falls from his hand.

Suddenly, Dr. Woodward awakens and warns them to forget everything they’ve seen tonight, or their parents and they will be killed. He threatens them with a gun to make them leave, as a troop of soldiers moves closer.

The film transports us to the early 1980s, where a group of kids making a film witness a train derailment in the small town of Lillian, Ohio. The catastrophic incident brings an Air Force military unit to clean up the mess. But people, animals, and objects begin to vanish without a trace. The kids realize that something was on board the train, and it is now loose.

SUPER 8, a thrilling science fiction film that rekindles nostalgia with its top-notch special effects, captivating sound effects, and moving narrative, exudes Spielbergian magic, complemented by Abrams’ original script and spectacular explosive action sequences. The stellar cast delivers convincing performances, culminating in a brilliant cinematic masterpiece. It is pure entertainment.

SUPER 8 was theatrically released in Australia on 9 June 2011, and in the United States on 10 June. The film opened at #1 in the U.S. Box Office for that weekend, and grossed over $260 million worldwide against its production budget of $50 million.

Paramount Home Entertainment celebrated the 10th anniversary of SUPER 8 and released 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 25, 2021, which includes 4K Ultra High Definition presentation of the film with English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD and French 5.1 Dolby Digital audio tracks, and over two hours of behind-the-scenes special features; commentary by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Larry Fong, 8 Featurettes – Explore the origins of the story, casting, creating the creature & more, Deconstructing the Train Crash – Uncover the secrets behind filming the astonishing scene, and 14 Deleted Scenes.