JJ Abrams' $260 Million Sci-Fi Monster Walked So That Stranger Things Could Run

Published Aug 3, 2026, 2:02 PM EDT

For another, there is also an entire cottage industry of shows that were marketed as the next Stranger Things or the perfect Stranger Things replacement. Netflix’s own I Am Not Okay With This and Locke & Key, Hulu’s Goosebumps revival, HBO Max’s Stephen King spinoff IT: Welcome to Derry, and Prime Video’s Paper Girls were all compared to the hit show. Meanwhile, movies like Monster Summer, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, the IT movies, and Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy were hailed as Stranger Things replacements, too.

The irony, of course, was that Stranger Things itself never hid its influences. The show was heavily indebted to the pop culture of the decade it was set in, with Stranger Things borrowing from iconic ‘80s artifacts like John Carpenter’s horror movies, Dungeons & Dragons, and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin productions. However, Stranger Things also owed a creative debt to a more recent hit, and it’s one that rarely gets mentioned in the show’s list of influences. JJ Abrams’ 2011 monster movie Super 8 is a perfect primer for Stranger Things, and a rare title that truly replicates the show’s appeal.

Super 8 Was Stranger Things Before Stranger Things Existed

Focused on a group of young teenagers who accidentally stumble across a bizarre mystery while filming a zombie movie, Super 8 is a love letter to small-town Americana and the experience of being a teen in the ‘80s. Okay, technically, the movie is set in small-town Ohio in 1979.

However, everything from its soundtrack, replete with songs by Blondie, ELO, The Knack, and The Cars, to its costuming scream ‘’80s Gen X coming of age.’ With a stacked cast that includes Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, and Ryan Lee as its teen heroes and Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich, and AJ Michalka among the grownup characters, Super 8 is a brilliant blend of nostalgic dramedy and monster movie action.

Super 8 functions as both a love letter to the ‘80s and a thrilling story in its own right. Like Stranger Things at its best, the movie marries the everyday struggles of its teenage protagonists with the far fetched sci-fi story they find themselves in, and never forgets their humanity amid all the alien attacks and explosions.

Super 8 Doesn't Get Enough Love In 2026

Super 8 earned largely positive reviews upon the movie’s original release, kick-starting the ‘80s nostalgia trend that eventually resulted in Netflix giving Stranger Things the green light five years later. While the movie earned a superb $260 million on a budget of only $50 million, it is hard not to feel like Super 8 is still somewhat underrated in 2026, given the extent to which the movie paved the way for the success of Stranger Things.

While much has been made of the influence that Gravity Falls, The X-Files, and the earlier small-town mystery/sci-fi horror show Twin Peaks had on Stranger Things, Super 8 remains the closest comparison to Netflix’s breakout hit from 2016. The similarities between the 2011 blockbuster and the Netflix series are striking, so director JJ Abrams’ fond, nostalgic sci-fi adventure Super 8 deserves credit for helping to usher Stranger Things into existence later in the 2010s with its success.

Release Date June 10, 2011

Runtime 112 minutes

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  Elle Fanning

  Alice Dainard