Several years have past since we’ve heard anything about a sequel to the 2008 hit film Cloverfield. Since its release director Matt Reeves made Let Me In, a worthy remake of Let The Right One In, producer J.J. Abrams made another monster blockbuster, Star Trek, and remains in the mysterious movie business with Super 8 while writer Drew Goddard is writing Robopocalypse for Steven Spielberg. Since all the principals are so busy, not much has happened in regards to Cloverfield 2 but in a recent interview, Reeves said “Well, you are going to see it – we just don’t know when.” Read more after the break. Read More »
Earlier this morning, it Hitfixrevealed that a easer trailer for a super secret JJ Abrams project was attached to prints of Iron Man 2. All we knew is the trailer is titled “Super 8“, and is locked in a film canister “that has a coded electronic lock on it” with the final reel of Iron Man 2.
Much of the world has received Iron Man 2 already (I’ve seen it with a paying crowd, and rather liked it), but the USA and Canada do not. Almost as though compensation for the wait, however, it seems that the film’s prints are coming to North American cinemas with a special in-the-can bonus.
Pretty much recreating the surprise of when Cloverfield burst from the shadows with a mysterious trailer before Transformers, it looks as though a new secret project from JJ Abrams is going to be officially unveiled this Thursday, when Iron Man 2 takes its first bow at midnight screenings.
This is curious enough. There are, however, some other small, teasing details to discuss and they’ve gotten me even more interested.
During the Star Trek panel at WonderCon, JJ Abrams was asked to give a status update on a sequel to Cloverfield. I’m not going to pretend like some big news was dropped, as Abrams basically said what he always says. He reiterated that if they do a sequel, it won’t just be a business decision, and that they need a good idea before moving forward. Here is where things get a little bit interesting. Abrams says there is an idea.
Posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 by Adam Quigley
During the Comic Con panel for Fringe, someone asked J.J. Abrams if there were any updates on a Cloverfield sequel. Abrams response started off very much in the same way that it did when he was asked about it before, but then he let slip a piece of information that is sure to spark conjecture amongst fans.
“There’s something we’re playing with now that may or may not happen. There’s an idea we have that plays with… it’s not a literal sequel.“
Unfortunately, that’s where the discussion ended. Abrams is known for being pretty tight-lipped when it comes to his projects, so all we can do is wonder what exactly him and director Matt Reeves (who he confirmed would be directly involved if it happened) have in store for us. Considering that they’re still talking about the sequel this late in the game, and that they’ve already established they wouldn’t want to just re-use the handheld gimmick in the same way they did before, it’s nice to know that they’re not just trying to get a sequel out there based purely on the success of the original. If they do it, it will be because they have a good idea to back it up.
A bunch of websites are posting what they claim to be the first photos from Cloverfield 2. My friend Dennis from CloverfieldClues sent these over to me last week, and I wasn’t really sure they were newsworthy or not. Truth is, these are not photos from a Cloverfield sequel. The following photos are the result of the viral alternate reality game from the first film.
The pictures show the discovery of the Cloverfield monster and parasites by Tagruato subs, deep on the ocean floor, near Tagruato’s Chuai Oil Drilling Station. The depth meter on the second photo reads 10,027.5 Meters, which would be over six miles below the surface. These photos were taken before the events in the first Clvoerfield film. The sub probably disturbed the monster, which caused the destruction of Chuai Station, and the eventual destruction of New York City. So if anything, consider this the end of the prequel.
I heard a couple months ago that a Cloverfield sequel had been put on the backburner. With the recent release of the DVD, talk of a Cloverfield sequel has begun to reappear. Producer JJ Abrams tells G4′s Attack of the Show that they have a good idea:
“There is a couple ideas that Drew Goddard , the writer, and Matt Reeves have that are pretty fantastic. So we’re playing around with some ideas and obviously if it isn’t something that really excited us and inspires us, we won’t do it. But there are some good ideas out there.”
When asked if the second film would be shot using the first person video camera style employed by the first film, Abrams replied:
“It could. I think it’s a valid style,” Abrams continued. “I think as a gimmick, people have already seen it, so if you’re going to do it, you have to do something unique with it.”
Abrams also confirms that there is absolutely no connection between LOST and Cloverfield, as he called the use of the Dharma logo a wink to his friends working on the popular sci-fi television series. You can watch the full interview with JJ Abrams below.
I’ve been told that a Cloverfield Sequel is pretty much dead for now (not to say it can’t eventually happen), but JJ Abrams was recently asked about the possibility and here is what he said.
“There is an idea that has come up that… we’re exploring so we’ll see if it’s worth doing then hopefully we’ll get a chance to do it.”
When asked if there will be another monster, Abrams replied:
“Another monster, yeah, another sort of a interesting way in but we have some cool ideas and Drew Goddard, the writer and Matt Reeves the director have sort of cooked something up so we’re . . . you know hopefully that’ll get a chance to happen.”
Note the use of the words “exploring”, “chance” and “hopefully”. Abrams also insinuated that if a sequel were to happen, that it might not employ the same first person handheld video camera point of view.
“At a certain point it’s the kind of thing probably wears out it’s welcome you know, for some people probably while watching the movie, you know what I’m saying?”
Discuss: If they were to make Cloverfield 2, and it were not filmed in the POV style, what could set it apart from general monster movies?
