The Bad Robot appears, followed by a shot of a field of stars. I don't blame you if your heart stopped at that point, since thos two elements will almost certainly be part of whatever eventual teaser we see for Star Wars: Episode VII, which Bad Robot is producing alongside Lucasfilm and Disney and their fearless leader, J.J. Abrams. This teaser trailer, which popped up today at Entertainment Weekly, is not for Episode VII… probably. But under the name "Stranger" and with zero other identifying details, we have no clue what it's actually for.
In fact, it doesn't even have to be for a movie. Bad Robot is as involved in TV production as it is in film, backing shows like Lost and Revolution and Fringe and with new efforts like a sci-fi buddy cop show and a possible adaptation of Stephen King's 11/22/63 on the way. Is this teaser related to one of those upcoming shows? Or the Portal or Half-Life movies that Bad Robot plans to produce? Seems like the only guy who knows is the dude with his mouth sewn shut at the end of this teaser, and obviously he's not telling.
The most exciting possibility-- aside from it being Episode VII, which is extremely unlikely-- is that this is an artful teaser for a project we've never heard of, much like the total surprise teaser for Cloverfield that played before Transformers in 2007, introducing audiences to a project nobody even knew existed. The Cloverfield model, surprisingly enough, hasn't been employed that often since the monster movie became a modest hit in 2008. Even Abrams movies like Star Trek Into Darkness and Super 8 give in to the urge to divulge details in the trailers, and few studios are willing to take a gamble on a movie featuring as many unknowns as Cloverfield's cast. But as Abrams is caught up developing the Star Wars universe and shepherding Star Trek in some capacity, is he returning to something more low-budget just as a palate cleanser? Whatever Stranger winds up being, it's intriguing and just the right level of creepy. Now Bad Robot just has to make the actual product as interesting as this gorgeous tease.
