Key Insights
- Cloverfield franchise: Fans have been eagerly awaiting a sequel for over fifteen years.
- Initial success: The original film grossed over $170 million worldwide on a $25 million budget.
- Marketing strategy: Innovative viral marketing created significant interest and speculation about the monster’s origins.
- Future possibilities: There are ongoing discussions about new projects in the Cloverfield universe, but no definitive sequel has been announced.
Cloverfield fans have spent more than fifteen years asking some remarkably straightforward questions: What happened after the monster attacked New York? Where did the monster come from? And most importantly… where is Cloverfield 2? No, not THOSE Cloverfield sequels. Sure, they gave us a pretty good bunker thriller and a space station disaster… each with their own merits and shortcomings. But still, fans like us are starting to feel like Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back screaming, “Good Lord, when?!? When’s it gonna be my time?”
There are three Cloverfield movies, yet we’re all still waiting for Cloverfield 2 to pop its big ugly, yet beautiful head out from behind another state monument. In today’s video, we’ll be going back in time to the origins of what made Cloverfield work, the choices behind the two spin-offs, and most importantly, piecing together all of the red light, green light, 1, 2, 3 this franchise has done with the movie we’re ACTUALLY all waiting for, and finally… try to see if there’s any hope for a true follow-up. And what would that movie actually look like?
THE BEGINNING
After an insanely cool Blair Witch Project-inspired marketing run that captivated moviegoers and online sleuths everywhere… Cloverfield made its debut on the big screen as promised on January 18th of 2008. You may or may not have known it then… but the talent behind this thing was astounding. Produced by Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams, written by future Project Hail Mary helmer Drew Goddard, and directed by The Batman’s Matt Reeves. The film proved that the monster juice was worth the squeeze (which, let’s not use that analogy again because it just makes me think of Luke Skywalker and the whole unfortunate green tit milk situation) – on its way to earning more than $170 million worldwide against a budget of just around $25 million.
At that rate, you would think an immediate, obvious sequel would be a no-brainer. But no.
The attraction to Cloverfield as a movie came from a mix of awesome marketing, found-footage horror, and of course post-9/11 PTSD. The images shown on social media each anniversary of the horrifying event ring eerily similar to what New York City experienced as the monster and all of its horrors rained down upon them. But even without that, the simple idea of experiencing a Godzilla-like monster attack from the viewpoint of the specks of nothing we looked like to it on the ground was fascinating. Who hasn’t sat in traffic and looked at the skyline wondering what it would look like if a monster attacked us in real life? Cloverfield gave us that experience from the safety of our homes. Not only that, but showing the monster in brief glimpses caught on handheld cameras brought with it a completely different fear that monster movies had yet to explore. It wasn’t just a movie. It was a ride. An experience. And one that you would think they would have capitalized on much sooner.
The creative side of the equation should have been a quick starter. As Matt Reeves himself says on the film’s commentary, they purposefully included a moment where another person can be seen filming our survivors. This was specifically to show that the very night of the Cloverfield monster attack, there were thousands of different vantage points and stories going on throughout that very same evening. The possibilities for sequels would have had Jason Blum looking at sequel scripts like Steve and Doug Butabi the night they finally got into the Roxbury. There were also other survivors’ viewpoints from the night, including an entire military and government response. There was a crazy desire to know more about where the monster came from, why this happened, and what the future held.
VIRAL MARKETING
The viral marketing for Cloverfield was some of the best you’ve ever seen in your life… but it also created a following of its own that only furthered fans’ insatiable thirst to dig deeper into the rabbit hole. There was a viral marketing campaign with a breadcrumb trail of clues that threatened to explain the monster’s origins, which centered around a goofy Japanese frozen drink called Slusho. Ironically, the same company that Rob in the movie is headed to Japan to work for. The drink had a mysterious secret ingredient called Seabed’s Nectar that came from deep within the ocean from a company called Tagruato. Fans digging through fake corporate websites, employee messages, and “hacked pages” found that the company’s secret deep-sea drilling station encountered something enormous on the ocean floor while extracting the nectar. An environmental group accused the company of covering the dangerous activity up, while leaked sonar images appeared to show the gigantic creature under the water. Shortly before the movie’s events… viral news footage shows that the deep-sea drilling station had been destroyed, seemingly by the monster, which was apparently headed to New York City.
This was all unveiled through marketing and games for the fans to have fun with, but it’s not nothing. J.J. Abrams himself called it “almost” an origin story and confirmed that the Clover monster had been lying beneath the ocean for thousands of years. There’s also been talk that Clover is just a “baby” itself, suffering from separation anxiety and freaking out because it doesn’t know where its mother is. Which paints a beautiful possibility of a sequel down the road where its even bigger and scarier mother is pissed off that we survived its child.
SEQUEL TALKS BEGIN
By the end of 2008, Reeves was already reportedly in talks for a sequel, which fizzled out for unknown reasons. Everyone involved was kind of saying things you always hear when unsure whether or not to believe: “Yes, we want to do a sequel but only if the story is right.” The next thing you know, nobody seems able to make their schedules work to get in a room and figure it out. Which is reasonable at this point in their now-blowing-up careers as future Hollywood heavyweights.
By 2009 at WonderCon, J.J. Abrams said they had a “pretty cool idea” for a follow-up but maintained weak promises with nothing on cusp happening just yet. This continued into 2010 whenever Abrams or Reeves were asked about it; you’d only hear anything when promoting their actively worked-on projects at that time.
In this case, those wings went to another very Cloverfield-esque project in Abrams’ Super 8. Despite fan hopes they were connected… they weren’t.
In April 2012 writer Drew Goddard (who seemed most willing to return) told Screen Anarchy part of why they weren’t up and running on a sequel immediately after was due to J.J. Abrams’ pull at that time allowing them breathing room instead of pushing an IP into sequel territory immediately.
By 2013 Abrams told Playboy in an update that “Part of me just wants to let Cloverfield 2 go” before mentioning excitement for Pacific Rim. While waiting for inspiration could protect against unnecessary sequels… it felt like being friend-zoned.
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE
Around this time in 2012 Paramount bought rights to an impressive script by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken titled The Cellar. The script went through rewrites by Damien Chazelle before he left for his passion project which became Best Picture nominee Whiplash. Production for The Cellar (now titled Valencia) planned to begin in 2014 with Dan Trachtenberg directing based on his live-action short film based on popular game series Portal.
The script had originally been an original project with strong Twilight Zone-like vibes before Abrams noticed shared elements with Cloverfield. He decided to shroud plans for fusing it with Cloverfield. It was so secretive even cast member John Gallagher Jr. wasn’t told until shooting began about its tie-in until hours before trailer release.
In 10 Cloverfield Lane, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up chained inside an underground bunker where Howard (John Goodman) claims he rescued her from an attack making outside air deadly. Alongside Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), she adjusts underground but Howard’s increasingly suspicious behavior makes her question his story as she uncovers freaky secrets planning escape only to find no Cloverfield monster outside—just other horrors.
The name proved powerful enough to draw viewers even without direct ties or continuation from original events—released March 2016 grossing around $110 million on $15 million budget while being critically successful despite being plugged into another franchise.
When asked why not just make Cloverfield 2?, Abrams responded they felt done with original film though there once was direct follow-up planned featuring “this really big idea.” He mentioned other monster movies changed their situation while still discussing continuation possibilities but pivoted towards making 10 Cloverfield Lane.
GOD PARTICLE
Latter reports revealed new film titled God Particle would revolve around this universe—a fantastic-sounding idea provoking interest (to quote classic Will Ferrell movies). Originally mentioned in 2012 as spec script acquired from Oren Uziel (who wrote 2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot), similar situation occurred as with The Cellar .
This iteration follows same story as 10 Cloverfield Lane ; thriller script acquired then shifted around fitting mold of Cloverfield ; eventually listed as “2017 Cloverfield Movie,” giving hope direct follow-up might happen again while remaining shrouded in mystery jumping around release dates multiple times.
The production budget ballooned from $5 million to $40 million causing Paramount concern leading them selling it entirely to Netflix for $50 million after viewing completed film while maintaining plans for future theatrical releases indicating awareness about palpable demand for actual Cloverfield 2 .
A surprise trailer dropped February 4th during Super Bowl LII announcing The Cloverfield Paradox would premiere THAT NIGHT post-game on Netflix—big-balls marketing move! However excitement quickly faded as viewing experience shifted from intriguing confusion into boredom territory—simple explanation being Earth running out energy attempted testing powerful particle accelerator resulting in ripping open reality leading Earth attacked by Cloverfield monster… I think?
AFTER THE PARADOX
Post-disappointment rumors existed months about upcoming Bad Robot-produced Julius Avery film Overlord (an underrated flick about Nazi experiment gone wrong) potentially being next tie-in movie.
However April 2018 J.J. Abrams confirmed it would NOT be while promising journalists CinemaCon they WERE developing true dedicated follow-up—whether actual Cloverfield 2 or just something not pieced together unclear—this eight years ago!
The speculation continued proving how badly people want this thing—when hit horror film A Quiet Place took theaters writers Scott Beck Bryan Woods revealed conversation with Paramount thinking their film COULD become another film within < em>Cloverfield</ em> universe—but Paramount saw A Quiet Place as own thing happy about it—turns out they were right!
By 2021 < em>The Hollywood Reporter</ em> reported concrete news—a new < em>Cloverfield</ em> movie was in works written by Joe Barton—not another found-footage project—and silence followed until September when relatively unknown-at-time director Babak Anvari would direct Barton script—October Barton told < em>Variety</ em> he writing alone NOT with J.J.—but Abrams producing providing notes during progress hoping close last big script push before production begins—still comments didn’t support big < em>Cloverfield 2</ em>
Once again silence followed—May 2023 reported Slusho.com reappeared seemingly outta nowhere active yet offering little information—a vague mention Slusho drink claiming “can’t drink just six.”
The timeline fast-forwards June 27th Joe Barton tweeted hadn’t been involved talks since writers’ strike noting thinks still messing script hoping one day made followed by mention another writer currently having pass at script.
MARCH 2025 South by Southwest director Anvari asked about film promoting another project declined revealing anything except hoping audiences receive something amazing.
The Ewan McGregor-fronted < em>The End Of Oak Street</ em> prompted new hope considering J.J.’s involvement—but again nothing confirmed though provided Amblin-esque take Jurassic Park franchise better than most sequels—it remains unclear connection could happen!
FINAL THOUGHTS
This has been disparaging road filled with hope letdowns—but one truth remains: People want < em>Cloverfield 2</ em>. To this day there remains no doubt announcement (hopefully inventive) could create massive waves excitement among movie fans! Nobody wants generic thoughtless money-grabbing sequel failing capture genius original nor CGI-laden popcorn film carrying no weight whatsoever—but possibilities building upon first film remain endless!
No doubt wave endless found-footage horror projects subsided over years passed perhaps enough time passed ingenious idea surrounding another < em>Cloverfield</ em> movie featuring found footage could feel fresh rather than outdated! Whether established director fresh idea like Roland Emmerich frequent collaborator like Christopher McQuarrie even J.J.—platform exists! Public demand remains! Endless storyline possibilities remain franchise not only public demand but creative possibilities!< em>Cloverfield 2</ em>might rare opportunity where IP creativity align creating something commercial inventive! Horror genre currently experiencing gold rush likes rarely seen!
This provides perfect breeding ground inventive marketing stunt paired original idea could rock box office year our dark lord 2026! So although suffered false start after false start regarding seeing < em>Cloverfield</ em> monster rising again I say despair not! What sits front us possible creative box office home run studios can’t resist much longer! Though J.J.’s IMDb page boasts astounding 23 projects works (one untitled < em>Cloverfield</ em> sequel) Matt Reeves deep inside Batman-verse Drew Goddard litany own possible big-hitter projects works…< em>Cloverfield 2</ em>sits before us possible home run everyone! Will sit dormant much longer? Will another project shaped into another < em>Cloverfield</ em> base story? Or will finally embark actual < em>Cloverfield 2</ em> &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&>
