Wait, Paramount Pictures just plain old announced a new Cloverfield movie?

After a big win with Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount now has its sights set on the Cloververse for a reboot

Wait, Paramount Pictures just plain old announced a new Cloverfield movie?
Elizabeth Debicki in The Cloverfield Paradox Image: Netflix

Both metaphorically and literally, couldn’t they have just stayed away from that damned space station? A new Cloverfield film is reportedly in the works, Deadline reports, meaning more aliens (and hopefully fewer production troubles) are in store. After a Top Gun: Maverick’s soaring studio success, Paramount Pictures clearly has its eyes trained on another fruitful franchise.

For the unfamiliar: the Cloverfield franchise follows a series of events stemming from an experiment-gone-wrong aboard the space outpost from the Cloverfield Station, which spurs the otherworldly siege of Earth by various alien creatures. 2008's Cloverfield, the franchise’s found-footage first installment, was well-received by critics—2016's sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane also fared well. Netflix’s origin story The Cloverfield Paradox was… not as beloved, but a not-like-the-other-girls marketing campaign (and a $50 million budget from the studio) proved the franchise’s weight.

Speaking of marketing: this is the first time Paramount has announced a Cloverfield film. Both of Cloverfield’s earlier sequels were developed under different titles, not revealed as additions to the franchise until the premiere of their first trailers. To boot, The Cloverfield Paradox was notoriously released as a surprise during the 2018 Super Bowl.

Wounds’ Babak Anvari is attached to direct, with Joe Barton writing the script. Anvari also directed the thriller I Came By, which debuted on Netflix last month. This will be Anvari’s first major studio film, but he’ll have some veteran support in the wings. Cloverfield director Matt Reeves is producing alongside Drew Goddard and Bryan Burk; J.J. Abrams will again executive produce through Bad Robot.

Although Paramount may be trying something new with the rollout, it’s still Cloverfield, and plot details are still strictly under wraps. With this franchise, it’s also pretty likely they’ll stay that way—10 Cloverfield Lane star Mary Elizabeth Winstead has said she didn’t even know what film she was making.

 
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