Weirton Prepares To 'Celebr8 Super 8'

From WTOV9:

Last fall, the greater Weirton area got a movie makeover.

Filmmaker J.J. Abrams, director of "Star Trek" and co-creator of "Lost," chose Weirton to stand in for the fictional Lillian, Ohio, the setting of his 1970s-era sci-fi thriller "Super 8."

Friday morning, a group of residents and civic leaders unveiled closely guarded plans for a community celebration the week of the film's international release.

The Celebr8 Weirton Summer Kick-Off will be held on Sunday, June 5, and will include a parade, entertainment and a fireworks display.

"This is to continue the good will and spirit we had back in the fall," said Fred Marsh, chair of the planning committee.

The celebration will begin with a parade at 5 p.m. along Main Street, where many of the film's backdrops still remain.

The parade will be led by local children riding their bicycles, similar to a scene featured in one of the film's early trailers.

"Everybody has seen the trailer for the movie where the boy is riding his bike down the overhead bridge," said Marsh. "We're going to ask every kid in town to get your bike, come on down; you're going to be the grand marshal."

Joel Courtney
JJ Abrams on American Idol to Promote Super 8

JJ Abrams and Elle Fanning appeared on American Idol to promote Super 8:

Ryan Seacrest opened the show by announcing that 95 million votes had been cast this week, more than any previous week this season. He brought out the contestants and wished them good luck, then introduced a taped segment with the top four meeting J.J. Abrams for a screening of footage from his movie Super 8.

He told them they would be a "four-person test audience" for scenes he hadn't shown anyone else yet. After they watched the footage, he gave each of them their own Super 8 camera, and Scotty McCreery made fun of Randy Jackson's recurring "in it to win it" line.

The Super 8 promotion continued as Seacrest interviewed Elle Fanning. She said that McCreery was her pick to win the competition.

Joel Courtney
Joel in Korea

Joel's high school friend, Michael Kwon, writes:

I think "Super 8" and Joel Courtney are now official in Korea. I searched a bit and found several pages:

Naver is Korean google and most popular site in Korea
http://www.facebook.com/l/93157QSaCB81hhYVM0ZebIij5Ow/movie.naver.com/movie/bi/mi/basic.nhn?code=77039

조엘코트니 is Joel Courtney in Korean
http://www.facebook.com/l/93157pEOx3ubjR99_Tul5O7qXTQ/search.naver.com/search.naver?sm=tab_hty&where=nexearch&query=%C1%B6%BF%A4+%C4%DA%C6%AE%B4%CF&x=0&y=0

It seems like he already has some Korean fans :)

Joel Courtney