Paramount Pictures has announced that director J.J. Abrams' new sci-fi thriller Super 8 is officially set for release on June 10, 2011.

The movie is currently ishooting in Weirton, West Virginia and stars Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard and Amanda Michalka. Not much is known about the story, but it is said to be an homage to Steven Spielberg's earlier work such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Here's the only known plot details from a report back in September:

"It's a movie about a train wreck in a 1970s steel town -- focusing on how the community comes together to heal, according to sources."

The June 10 release date will put the movie against the Universal Pictures sequel Fast Five, which stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson, and the Warner Bros. comedy Something Borrowed starring Kate Hudson.