J.J. Abrams' next secret film trailered on 'Iron Man 2'?
Posted Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 5:02 PM Central
Last updated Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 3:16 PM Central
by John Couture
We do not usually spend a lot of time reporting on rumors, but this one is compelling and picking up a ton of steam. So, please remember to take this with a huge grain of salt, for it may pan out to be nothing, or it might turn out to prove once again that J.J. Abrams is a marketing genius.
Remember back in 2007 when we packed the megaplexes to see Transformers? It was a little trailer for a movie that no one had heard anything about that captured all of our attention. That movie turned out to be Cloverfield and that trailer was the launching point for a secret Abrams project that literally changed movie-making for a time.
Well, if they are to believed at HitFix, it would appear that J.J. has done it again. They claim that there's a trailer for a top secret Abrams project attached to all prints of Iron Man 2.
Furthermore, the film is called Super 8 and may or may not be a sequel/prequel to Cloverfield. Finally, the report says that while J.J. directed the teaser trailer, he did not direct the film itself.
I know that's a whole lot of "what ifs" and "I heards," but let's examine the minutiae a bit closer. The Hollywood Reporter reported March 26, 2009 that Paramount and Abrams' production company Bad Robot extended their first-look deal through 2013.
The article linked above hinted at various top-secret projects that Bad Robot was developing, but offered very little specifics. Paramount released Transformers and naturally Cloverfield. Transformers was the biggest release for Paramount that Summer before Cloverfield debuted in theaters in January 2008.
Likewise, Iron Man 2 is Paramount's largest Summer movie of 2010, so it would make perfect sense for them to attach a top-secret J.J. Abrams to their tent-pole picture. In a December 14, 2009 interview with the New York Times, Paramount chairman Brad Grey hinted at a secret tent-pole picture that J.J. Abrams would direct.
It's possible that Super 8 could be that picture and it's also possible that plans for director changed since December. There was also a rumored top-secret J.J. Abrams project late last year called "500 Rads." It seems that the general consensus was that it was a hoax, but could there be a link between it and Super 8?
The "evidence" is there for you to digest, what do you think? I guess we'll know more on Friday, but my gut is telling me that we're in for another special J.J. Abrams event. And the timing couldn't be more perfect.
What better way to cross-promote the project than to sneak a trailer, or video, or commercial in the mega five hours and then some series finale for his innovative TV show Lost next month?
It certainly smells like J.J. Abrams to me.