The Hollywood Reporter has learned that J.J. Abram’s and Matt Reeves’ found-footage monster hit, Cloverfield, is finally getting a direct sequel after 12 years. While two additional films with the Cloverfield name has been released thus far—2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane and 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox—neither of them continued the story of the original, which saw a group of New York City residents being attacked by a massive, quadrupedal alien monster.
“[Cloverfield] was made under-the-radar and used a viral marketing campaign to tease out interest,” The Hollywood Reporter explained. “The tactic worked: The movie, made for $25 million, had a massive opening weekend of $40 million and went on to gross $172 million worldwide.”
“It begat a ‘Cloverfield universe’ which saw two more modestly-budgeted movies, 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox, released in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Those movies were originally developed as separate movies but were folded under a Cloverfield banner tying them to a linked story with science fiction and monster themes.”
Strangely, The Hollywood Reporter’s sources have claimed that the new Cloverfield film will not be in the found-footage format, which means that it may not be all that different from your typical Kaiju film. Plot details are unknown, but the script is being written by British screenwriter Joe Barton.