It’s already shaping up to be a big summer for movies. Eager fans are snatching up tickets to see superheroes, pirates, and hungover drunks. Fortunately it’s not all just sequels and reboots that we have to look forward to this season. The modern day master of hype J.J. Abrams is back with a brand new movie, Super 8, and you better believe the fans are just as excited as they were for Star Trek and Cloverfield. Working Author was fortunate enough to score a spot in a preview screening at the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight Hollywood last night, and it was an absolute blast.
“I’ve been here for four hours,” says one fan when pressed on how long he’s stood in line for the ten o’clock show. He laughs it off though, “I’m gonna get a really good seat.” He has the right idea too; the line is stretched around the block for what started off as a secret screening dedicated fans could discover through some careful Internet detective work. Dedicated is just what the people at the Arclight tonight are. When another is asked why she has been waiting to see this movie since five p.m. she told me that it was Spielberg along with J.J. this time, and “Spielberg never disappoints.”
She’s not alone; many people are expressing their admiration for this recent entry from some of Hollywood’s best. So much so that many of them don’t even know what exactly they’re in for. “I know very little, I only saw the first part of the trailer, and that’s all I wanted to see…I wanted to go in as fresh as possible.” Another fan told me that was a big part of the fun and that she “purposely did not read anything about this movie at all so that I can go in there and see it for myself.” It seems to be a common mentality among the people eagerly awaiting the screening. They know only the bare minimum about the movie itself, but are more excited to see it than anything released this year thus far.
Of course fans were having just as much fun trying to predict what they might see as they would’ve by watching the trailers. One fan told me he thought we’d be seeing “E.T. meets Cloverfield.” Another fan merely said he was “…very excited at the fact they released a new trailer that makes it look more like a monster movie, because there’s just not enough monster movies in Hollywood,” and that was all he needed to see. Regardless of what everyone thought they were going to get tonight they all had two things in common: they were tired of waiting in line and could not be more excited for Super 8.
When the doors opened and the crowd filled in, two of the people responsible for the night’s entertainment came out to introduce the film. They were Alex Billington of firstshowing.net and Peter Sciretta of Slash Film. They gave out prizes to a few lucky ones, and expressed their gratitude to everyone for showing up and supporting a screening meant for fans. When the houselights went down one final surprise greeted everyone, a specially recorded message from director J.J. Abrams himself, to personally thank everyone who came to support his movie. By then it was the moment everyone had been waiting for, and you could feel the anticipation of a packed theater in the air.
Without spoiling anything for fans that were not fortunate enough to get a seat last night, we’ll tell you that the reactions after the credits rolled went from positive to glowing. The movie is a total blast, and it was everything that the loyal fans waiting for hours on end had expected. But for those who want to know a little bit more, check back soon for Working Author’s full review of Super 8.