It’s been widely speculated that “Overlord,” a new film directed by Julius Avery, would be yet another secret “Cloverfield” sequel, a la “10 Cloverfield Lane” and “The Cloverfield Paradox.” The film, which J.J. Abrams (the “Cloverfield” mastermind) described as a “crazy movie” previously, follows Allied soldiers in World War II, who are trapped behind enemy lines and find out that the Nazis have been using something paranormal to aide in the fight.
However, speaking at this year’s CinemaCon, Abrams revealed (Via Comicbook.com) a couple things about the film, primarily about its lack of a “Cloverfield” connection. According to J.J. Abrams, “Overlord” is definitely not the next secret “Cloverfield” sequel. “It is batshit crazy,” Abrams said. “It is a crazy action sci-fi film that takes place during World War II. It is not a ‘Cloverfield’ movie. We are developing a true dedicated ‘Cloverfield’ sequel that is coming to theaters very soon.”
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A “true dedicated” sequel to “Cloverfield” seems odd to do now. After the first film, which debuted in 2008, became a modest hit, a true sequel was never considered. Since then, the “Cloverfield” name has been given to standalone films that have an alien/monster influence. However, it seems as if Abrams is interested in delivering a “Cloverfield 2” over a decade later.
The real question is whether or not it’s too late for a sequel. The first standalone “Cloverfield” spin-off, “10 Cloverfield Lane,” was a pretty big success, both critically and commercially. However, “The Cloverfield Paradox” was released straight-to-Netflix and was met with less-than-desirable reviews. Many thought that the film might actually kill the “Cloverfield” brand. Apparently not.
Obviously, there’s no word on a release date yet. For all we know, they could have already filmed the sequel in secret. That would be pretty normal for anything produced by Abrams. The filmmaker is notorious for completing projects in secret.
Are you excited about a true “Cloverfield” sequel? Let us know!
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For lack of a better plan, Bad Robot has developed the “Cloverfield” brand as a cinema anthology series with only the most tenuous of links connecting the chapters. Narratively speaking, producers seem to be circling the airport, waiting for a better, more coherent idea to occur to them and are, meanwhile, repurposing script development cast offs as “chapters” to keep the brand from completely dying.
This is not a plan for success.
But if that is how Bad Robot plans to proceed, they would be much wiser to transition the property into a premium cable or streaming anthology series (sort of a “Twilight Zone” meets “Lost”) that unravels the “Cloverfield” mystery one (seemingly) unrelated chapter at a time until the different threads begin to connect.
No one has the patience to wait 2 or more years between theatrical, stall tactic “chapters” that only inch the story forward, especially if the brand is going to be so hit-or-miss.