J.J. Abrams' Super 8 Slated for Summer 2011 Release

J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg's super-secret new film, Super 8, will be released in summer 2011, according to Variety.

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The announcement follows a week of Internet buzz leading up to the release of the film's 90-second teaser trailer, which debuted during midnight screenings of Iron Man 2 Friday morning. Abrams wrote and will direct the film, which he is also producing with Spielberg.

The plot for the film is being kept under wraps, though the idea was reportedly born out of conversations between Abrams and Spielberg about their respective experiences of playing around with Super 8 cameras when they were younger. The Hollywood Reporter suggests the film will feature a group of children who catch something sinister on film while playing with their own camera.

The teaser trailer hints that the film will have alien elements, as it references the U.S. Air Force's closing of Area 51 in 1979 and later shows a massive collision between a train and a pickup truck. Amid the wreckage is an Air Force container with something inside trying to get out.

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Abrams, the mind behind Lost and Fringe is no stranger to secrecy: He was similarly tight-lipped about Cloverfield, the hand-held-camera monster movie Abrams produced. Initial Internet speculation suggested Super 8 was some sort of sequel or prequel to that film, but the new project is an original idea, according to Variety.

The movie, which will be filmed traditionally rather than with hand-held cameras, is slated to begin production in the fall. The reported budget for the film is between $45 million and $50 million.

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