JJ Abrams will return to the cinema this fall with his new sci-fi film starring Jenna Ortega

We know more about The Great Beyond, the new project from the director of Super 8 and Star Wars.

After several years of absence from the big screen, JJ Abrams is preparing to return to theaters with a highly anticipated science fiction project.

A strategic comeback for the filmmaker, who remains in a complicated period: the abandonment of his big original series Demimonde at HBO and the failed release of Dusterhis broke TV thriller with seventies accents. The director is no longer as bankable as before, but he still has a good reputation. To restore shine to his aura, he urgently needs to reconnect with success. And Abrams will try to relaunch himself with what he knows best: SF.

Warner Bros. yesterday gave news of his new film, shot last year. The project will be titled The Great Beyond. Written and directed by JJ Abrams, the film will be released in theaters on November 13 in North America (November 11 in France). It marks his return to blockbusters since Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.

The cast lines up heavy: Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega as headliners, surrounded by Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Merritt Wever and Samuel L. Jackson. Abrams is also producing the film alongside Tommy Gormley.

Still shrouded in mystery, The Great Beyond is described as an assumed homage to 80s science fiction, with claimed inspiration from Starfighter from 1984. According to rumors, the story would follow a successful author of fantasy novels who reveals that the mythical world he invented really exists, leading the character played by Glen Powell on a quest that resembles a passage between fiction and reality. A concept that sheds light on the film’s previous working title: Ghostwriter.

For JJ Abrams, this looks like a make-or-break bet. Note that beyond The Great Beyondthe filmmaker has another major SF project which will be released this year: Flowervale Streettwith Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, of which he is producer.