By Chris Betros

Arts & Culture Jun. 23, 2011 - 10:00PM JST ( 6 )

TOKYO —

Big summer movies these days usually come with a lot of early buzz building up months in advance. Not so “Super 8,“ the science-fiction film from director JJ Abrams (“Alias,” “Lost,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “Star Trek” (2009) and “Cloverfield”). Prior to its worldwide release month, Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg gave away very few clues. Their efforts paid off. “Super 8,” which opens in Japan on Friday, has already become a big hit in the U.S. since its release two weeks ago.

Abrams, like so many other filmmakers since the events of March 11, was unable to visit Japan for the premiere. But he did give a short interview via Skype to media in Tokyo.

The director called the film a tribute to Spielberg’s early films. It certainly does have many Spielberg touches—children alienated from their parents, mysterious things happening just out of camera frame, obnoxious military types and of course, people looking up at the sky in wonder. “It was a great pleasure to work with Steven,” Abrams, 44, said. “He was present for lots of the production and helped a little with the writing and casting.”

Just as Spielberg himself did as a youngster, Abrams said that he also began his “film career” at the age of 13, using a Super 8 camera to make homemade movies featuring his friends and relatives—which forms the basis for his new film. Set in the summer of 1979, “Super 8” revolves around a group of teenagers in a small town in Ohio who amuse themselves by filming a zombie movie at night. We revisit a time when there were no cell phones or Internet, no iPods, no digital cameras and you had to wait three days to have your roll of film developed but there was the wonder of Walkmans, playing hits such as “My Sharona,” “Don‘t Bring Me Down,” “Heart of Glass” and “Le Freak.“

One night, the kids are filming near a train station when a train, carrying top secret cargo from Area 51, derails. Out of the wreck emerges something decidedly unearthly and before long, people and things start disappearing. The youthful cast are all unknown actors.

“It’s a sci-fi movie, but it’s also a romance, comedy and drama—it’s a cocktail of all those things,” Abrams said. “It’s the story of a boy who is trying to find an avenue to overcome his grief after losing his mother. The biggest theme is of second chances. The creature has a big role in the film, but it is a secondary character, certainly much bigger than you might assume from the trailers, in case you haven’t yet seen the film.”

Abrams added that he has always disliked trailers that give too much away. “If you see everything in the trailers, you feel like you already know the whole story, and the movie loses its awe,” he said. “If you try not to find out too much about the story, I promise that when you leave the theater, you’ll feel good about what you saw.”

Having finished all the PR for “Super 8,” Abrams is now wrapping up production work on “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” and he has also announced sequels to “Cloverfield” and “Star Trek.”

See review of “Super 8” here.