'Super 8' a box office mystery

LOS ANGELES: The pairing of JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg filmed "Super 8" in the mystery box office this summer.

The peak period of science fiction - created by Abrams and produced by Spielberg - officially rolls out Friday in 3,379 theaters, following previews to 329 places Thursday. Amid buzz ahead decidedly muted, his performance this weekend is the subject of heated speculation among insiders.

Paramount, which maintains that the film of 50 million does not need a big opening weekend, is predicting a start in the order of $ 25 million to 30 million. He will compete for honors with "X-Men: First Class," which began last weekend with $ 55.1 million. Following superhero experienced strong activity in midweek, with a total of $ 69.9 million through Wednesday.

Overall awareness for "Super 8" is not quite where it should, although it could be a multitude of reasons. The film has no big stars and an original story is sandwiched between the known franchise titles.

At the same time, "Super 8" is drawing strong reviews, the critical accounting Abrams to go outside the comfort zone of Hollywood and a film he calls it a tribute to the movies grew up as a kid, many of them to Spielberg.

Set in 1979, "Super 8" tells the story of a group of children who are shooting a movie house when there is a violent train wreck. When unexplained events begin to threaten their city, they begin to suspect something inhuman missed the train. The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Lee Ryan, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso and Zach Mills.