The only thing more frustrating than the long wait for Stranger Things season 5 to start is waiting for Stranger Things season 5 to continue. It’s becoming increasingly common for Netflix to divide major TV releases into volumes, and Stranger Things follows that trend, with volume 1 releasing on November 26, volume 2 arriving on December 25, and the finale following on December 31.
That leaves Stranger Things fans a lot of free time over December. And while that could be used to, say, spend time with family and enjoy the holidays, there will undoubtedly be a Hawkins-sized hole that needs filling as Netflix ekes out Stranger Things‘ final season for over an entire month. Fortunately, that itch can be scratched by an underrated sci-fi movie from 2011 that feels almost identical to Stranger Things.
Stranger Things Fans Will Love Super 8
The premise of Super 8 will be familiar territory to even the most casual Stranger Things fan. Written and directed by J.J. Abrams, Super 8 very deliberately shoots for a throwback vibe that could be described as “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial meets The Goonies after they sit down together and have a John Carpenter marathon.”
The main characters are idealistic children who live in a small town and love geek culture. They accidentally stumble across a government conspiracy involving a dangerous monster, and take it upon themselves to investigate the threat, protecting their oblivious neighbors from this otherworldly beast. The plot involves characters being psychically connected to the monster, a science teacher who knows more than they’re letting on, and a villainous military colonel.
Stranger Things doesn’t have an unaired feature-length pilot, but if it did, Super 8 would be it. From the retro tone and cinematic influences to the kids-are-smarter-than-the-adults characterization, Super 8 was a precursor to the formula that gave Netflix its first global phenomenon.
Why Super 8 Doesn’t Have A Bigger Legacy In 2025
Upon release, Super 8 was both a critical and commercial success, grossing $260 million at the box office and scoring 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Strangely, however, Super 8 hasn’t left a lasting legacy. It’s rarely talked about as a modern sci-fi classic, and there aren’t passionate calls for Abrams to make Super 9, especially when compared to Cloverfield, another of his monster movies.
It perhaps didn’t help that Super 8 came immediately before Abrams’ transition from Hollywood’s man-of-the-moment to a somewhat more divisive filmmaker. After Super 8, Abrams would direct Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While The Force Awakens landed to widespread acclaim, Star Trek Into Darkness and The Rise of Skywalker are largely disliked by their respective fandoms.
Super 8 might have enjoyed a renaissance during the streaming era, but by that point, Stranger Things had taken the crown and fully overshadowed it. The Duffers’ series is certainly more accessible, with Super 8 leaning harder on its Spielberg-isms and serving as a tribute to the art of filmmaking. Stranger Things‘ long-form TV structure also lends itself better to building mysteries compared to a sub-2-hour movie.
Nevertheless, anyone who needs a Stranger Things fix before December 25 will find themselves catered for with Super 8.
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
- Directors
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
- Writers
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Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
