When the J.J. Abrams produced found-footage monster movie Cloverfield released back in 2008, audiences were absolutely blown away! The film gave us a realistic found-footage take of a group of 20-somethings trying to survive a real-life Kaiju attack in New York City, all while recording the whole thing in real-time. The film was a hit and kicked off the Cloverfield franchise, but somehow we never got a proper sequel to the original film – until now!
An all-new Cloverfield film is in the works from producer J.J. Abrams that will serve as a direct sequel to the original Cloverfield film. There is no information available as to what the story they’re planning to tell, but it has been confirmed by THR that this sequel will not be shot in the found-footage style like the original Cloverfield film.
While found-footage was immensely popular back when the first film was released, it has since fallen out of style. So it makes sense that this new sequel may want to try something different while still following up on the original film. This should allow the film to have more creative freedom to do something truly unique while staying true to the first film.
Joe Barton, who recently took over as the showrunner on HBO Max‘s upcoming Gotham P.D., has been brought on board to write the script. Oddly enough, Gotham P.D., which follows crooked cops in Gotham City in the same universe as the upcoming film The Batman, is being overseen by The Batman director Matt Reeves, who directed the original Cloverfield film. Everything comes full circle, we suppose? While the pair are working together on Gotham P.D., Reeves is reportedly not involved in the new Cloverfield film. In addition to Gotham P.D., Barton recently wrote Amazon‘s upcoming sci-fi film Invasion, which stars Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer and is currently in post-production.
While the first Cloverfield film was a giant monster movie and never had a proper sequel that continued its actual story, it did manage to launch a generally successful film franchise. The 2008 creature feature was shot quietly under the radar and used a viral marketing campaign to garner interest with the masses, and it absolutely worked to bring people into theaters to see the film. On its opening weekend, the film brought in a whopping $40 million against its relatively small $25 million budget. Cloverfield went on to make $172 million worldwide and launch the big-budget directing career of Matt Reeves.
Several years would pass with no word on the film getting a follow-up. Nearly a decade later in 2016, a seemingly unrelated sequel would be released under the title 10 Cloverfield Lane. We say seemingly unrelated because the film had no real connection to the first film and was originally developed as a standalone film titled Valencia. The next sequel, 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox, was also originally planned as a standalone film. Originally titled The God Particle, The Cloverfield Paradox was also largely unrelated to the first film other than one massive unexplained Easter Egg towards the end of the film. The only real connection that any of the films in the Cloverfield saga have is that they are all science-fiction themed.
As the film has only just been announced, no casting has taken place so far. We don’t even know who is directing the film yet! But we do know J.J. Abrams is producing the new Cloverfield film under his Bad Robot banner and working alongside Paramount Pictures to once again bring audiences more Cloverfield action!
What are you hoping to see in a new Cloverfield film? Are you excited that we may see the return of the adorable yet terrifying kaiju sized monster that the internet has lovingly dubbed Clover? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for all the latest Cloverfield updates!
