“Super 8” is a film that seemingly has everything going against it. The film has no big-name stars in the leading roles. The plot and narrative must be kept incredibly secret to not spoil any part of the narrative. The film is not a sequel of a successful film like the films it is jam-packed between: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “The Hangover Part II,” “Kung Fu Panda 2” and “X-Men: First Class” are all in theaters, and the likes of “Cars 2” and “Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon” are coming out in the close weeks ahead.

Yet there is a significant amount of hype around this sci-fi/thriller hitting the theaters Friday. Some of this stems from the mystery of the film’s content, and some stems from the producer tag of the legendary Steven Spielberg. However, maybe the most noteworthy cause of the hype comes from the film’s director: J.J. Abrams.

Famous as the executive producer of one of the most successful televisions shows in history, “Lost,” as well as a producer on “Cloverfield” and director of “Mission: Impossible III” and “Star Trek,” Abrams has made quite a name for himself in Hollywood.

However, Abrams is in quite a different boat this year in not having the luxury of being the director of a sequel or having the “Trekkie” following.

Abrams’ new film is a story of a group of friends who witness a train crash while filming a movie in the summer of 1979. However, this wasn’t just a simple crash, as the group finds out that something mysterious was on the train and escaped into the heart of their small Ohio town.

I had the chance to speak with the “Super 8” director a few weeks ago to get the inside scoop on a film that many do not know much about. While Abrams was not ready to give away the secrets of “Super 8,” he was able to talk about the importance of its originality, especially in a summer packed full of sequels and adaptations from comics.

“There used to be a time when movies were just original ideas and things,” Abrams said. “And certainly every film has its origin, its inspiration. But I was very lucky in that Paramount let me make a movie that (was not) a sequel, and it doesn’t have a comic book or superhero attached to it. Luckily, Paramount was excited about this idea and let me make the movie the way I wanted to make it.”

Abrams went on to explain that only half the battle, getting the go-ahead to make the movie, has been accomplished. Now, the struggle of selling the film to the public is the major step.

“I think selling it and making it are two different things, and it’s not any easier to sell a movie,” Abrams said. “In fact, I would argue that in the summer of massive (sequels and comic book films) there are very few movies that are coming out that aren’t based on something else or sequels to something else. Although I’m thrilled and proud that ‘Super 8’ is an original script, I’m also terrified that it’s going to get lost in the shuffle of giants.”

While “Super 8” has the blockbuster appeal with an escaped monster or alien of some sort, Abrams mentioned that the film started as something much smaller.

“The original idea was that I wanted to do a movie that revolved around a kind of revisiting of my childhood, of being a kid making ‘Super 8’ films,” Abrams said. “But, it wasn’t something that would draw anyone but me to the theater. When I hit upon the idea of combining that notion with another one that I’d had, which was about this thing that escapes from a train car en route from Area 51, I thought, ‘That’s suddenly a bigger idea and has some spectacle to it, but it also allows the kids to become characters in a much more real and more terrifying movie.’”

While there is not much to know going into the film, and there isn’t a hunky male lead in green spandex or a beautiful female supermodel running away from transforming robots, “Super 8” is a film that is a highly anticipated summer blockbuster, which is somewhat of a rarity these days.

Hopefully a film like “Super 8” can show Hollywood that an original idea can be successful for a summer blockbuster, and future summers may have something more to offer than “Shrek 23” or “Spider-Man 16.”

_ Tim Martens is a recent graduate of LAS._