super 8

J.J. Abrams Denies Super 8 Is Cloverfield Sequel

Yesterday, reliable sources told Vulture that Super 8 — J.J. Abrams’s top-secret new movie whose clandestine trailer (read about its contents here!) hits theaters this weekend attached to Iron Man 2 — is “absolutely connected to 2008’s Cloverfield,” though it’s not explicitly a sequel. (Hitfix’s Drew McWeeny had heard something similar.) At last night’s 2010 Time 100 Gala at the Time Warner Center, though, a cagey Abrams insisted otherwise.

“You have to check [out the trailer],” he told us. “But it has nothing whatsoever to do with Cloverfield, despite your expert reporting.” So what does it have to do with? “I won’t be able to tell you until it’s done,” he said. So to clarify: Super 8 — another virally marketed Abrams-produced movie featuring otherworldly creatures captured on film by amateur cinematographers — will be totally unconnected to Cloverfield.

We asked if 8’s trailer was really sent to theaters in canisters requiring special codes to open. “That is correct,” Abrams told us. Certainly such conspicuous security measures only invite the kind of scrutiny that can ruin carefully planned surprises, though, right? “I don’t know if it would matter with you guys,” he said, laughing. “I don’t think it matters.” Is there a better way to keep secret monster movies under wraps? “I’m working on it,” he told us before returning to his meal.

Earlier: Vulture Exclusive: We’ve Got Details on J.J. Abrams’s Secret Movie Trailer for Super 8

J.J. Abrams Denies Super 8 Is Cloverfield Sequel