JJ Abrams must be one of the busiest men in Hollywood. He’s got Lost finishing on TV, Fringe is still running, and he has a new series, Undercovers, that’s at the pilot stage. Of course, he’s also producing Mission:Impossible IV, working on a follow-up for Cloverfield and preparing to direct Star Trek II.
Well, it seems that isn’t enough for him, as Vulture reports he’s planning to direct another movie before the Star Trek sequel and that it’ll be a collaboration with Steven Spielberg. However, while this is the rumour, as always Abrams is keeping everything top secret, but a source told the site that the film is a tip of the hat to [Spielbergs] movies of the 70s and early 80s. And like Jaws, Close Encounter and Jaws, it will deal with everyday people whose personal relationships are tested when they are thrown up against extraordinarily fantastic.
Abrams is talking to Spielberg about being a producer or adviser on the project, so he can properly pay homage. It’s also likely to be farily low budget, costing only around $25 million, but won’t employ the shaky handheld camera of Cloverfield.
One word of warning though, currently both Paramount and Dreamworks deny any knowledge of the film, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, as Paramount denied Cloverfield pretty much up to the day it was released.