J.J. Abrams and the folks at Bad Robot have conquered the art of the high-concept pitch. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision Blog, Abrams’ company has picked up an idea from Lost director Jack Bender that goes a little something like this: Two teens at a party play 7 Minutes in Heaven, and when they emerge from the closet, everyone else in the house is dead. I don’t have any idea who’s going to be in the movie, who will direct, or even a clue beyond that 21-word plot description, but I’m already digging into my wallet.
Anyone who’s seen Abrams’ trailers for Cloverfield and Super 8 knows he’s a master of the less-is-more approach, the I’m-not-sure-what-I-just saw-but-I-want-more school of salesmanship. His projects typically have a sharp hook, and just a taste of the story is often enough to reel in an audience. No wonder he’s a green-light machine.
Does the short pitch for 7 Minutes sound interesting to you? Does Abrams’ track record give you confidence that the result will deliver the goods?
Photo Credit: Armando Gallo/Retna Ltd
ooooooooooo…..kay…….
You guys already steal half your stories from AICN. Now you start ripping whole phrases from their articles.
That sounds awesome. I’m in.
A “Jumanji” style horror film. That’s…. disturbing.
Sounds frickin’ awesome to me. I’ll be there.
ME To!!!
Me three! I’ll watch anything with J.J. Abrams’ name connected to it. The man is a genius.
No interest in work from any of the Lost guys.
AGREED. I’m not going near their work. I’m sure the twist with this story is that the two teens in the closet actually time-traveled back to the 70s for seven minutes.
See, this is proof of what I’ve been saying all along… the people most viciously angry about the end of LOST are so stupid that they don’t know the simple difference between director and writer.
i agree 100%.
This from someone whose username is so clever. Brandon backwards how AWESOME is that???
More AWESOME than Bob backwards.
No, I know the difference between writer, director and producer. And I didn’t hate the ending of Lost. I just have no interest in any future projects from them because, well, because i just don’t. See, that’s what happens when stupid people open their mouth and don’t know what they’re talking about and are SO stupid, they spell their name backwards because their thinking is backwards.
J.J. was really on involved the first season.
The concept is Jack Bender’s. Nothing else. How exactly will this have anything to do with Lost? Oh, and by the way, some of those Lost guys were involved in the Star Trek remake. I guess you didn’t like that either?
No, I didn’t. But I did go to see it and gave it a fair shot. Just wasn’t for me.
I hope Bender directs. He’s my favorite Lost director (even over JJ’s eps) and hope we see more from him in the future.
I miss “Lost”.
ME TOO
The other day Michael Emerson was on an old episode of Criminal Intent and I felt like crying because it reminded me how much I miss Ben.
The dvds are out so you can watch it over and over and over again. What’s to miss?
Sounds interesting. But then so did LOST, and look how that turned out. :/
If by that you mean a pop-culture phenomenon inspiring some of the most intense artistic debate to ever emerge over a TV show, endless literary analysis, widespread love, and yes, even widespread hate, then we can only hope. Film and TV would be all procedurals and brainless blockbusters if everybody just worried about everyone liking them.
Exactly. Amazing!
Well, look how you turned out.
I’m interested. Good casting will be a plus. Maybe Michael Emerson can poison the punch while the kids are in the closet? Im just saying.
The monster’s name in this movie is going to be… ‘drumroll….’
The Man in The Dark.
Closet.
I like it, a lot. Perhaps they can involve Michael Emerson and/or Terry O’quinn….
I hope the catch is as good as the hook!
I’m actually digging this concept but would have to see how casting shapes up.
Yeah, your right, look how LOST turned out, one of the best shows ever, even if the ending was to some, like yourselves, confusing.
Way to generalize there! You know, there are some of us out here who hated the ending of “Lost” not because we found it confusing, but because we understood it perfectly and just didn’t like it for what it was. Bear in mind that by their very natures, no opinion can be correct, and every person is entitled to one, even if it disagrees with yours. As for “7 Minutes in Heaven”, the premise sounds interesting, but like others, I’ll wait for more info on the story and who the cast will be.
If you understood it, how can you possibly expect more? Almost all questions were answered through the course of the last 2 seasons. What more could you want except the exceptional series finale? Someone to come kiss you at the end?
Only if its you.
I’m not disputing the number of questions that were answered, the amount of information provided was sufficient. It was the information itself that I have a problem with. What more could I want than an “exceptional series finale”? How about a series finale where the characters aren’t all in a timeless purgatory that they all ended up in together regardless of when and how they died? How about not being given a glimpse of a universe within the show only to find out that these people who could have had these happy lives didn’t actually get these happy lives? You’re right, no reason to feel cheated by that at all. Some people found that ending satisfying; I just wasn’t one of those people, and I’m entitled not to be.
Yawn. It’s easy to say this becuase the finale offered no answers to anything. You can feel smart because you can make up any fan-fiction you want to justify the end. The truth is that Cuse and Lindelof had about as much of an idea on how to end the series as you did.
Get your panties out of your crack Bob. It’s just a tv show.
Sounds good to me so far. I could be in, and I’m not a horror movie viewer.
The twist is they won’t actually be in heaven, they’ll be in limbo.
+1!
You get “Comment Du Jour”! Love it!