In some surprising late-Friday news, there’s a newCloverfieldmovie in the works from producerJ.J. Abrams, who has tapped hot British scribeJoe Bartonto write the script.
What’s not surprising, and in fact comes as something of a relief, is that this new film will not be found-footage sequel, which gives Barton significant creative freedom in crafting the story. The format has gone out of style in recent years after Hollywood predictably drove it into the ground. Plot details for the new movie are being kept under wraps according tothe Hollywood Reporter, which broke the exciting news.
Barton recently stepped in to replaceTerence Winteras the showrunner on HBO Max’s upcoming Gotham P.D. series about crooked cops, which is being overseen byThe BatmandirectorMatt Reeveswho – can you see where I’m going with this? – directed the originalCloverfield!
That 2008 monster movie grossed $172 million worldwide on a modest $25 million budget and not only launched Reeves' big-budget filmmaking career, but also a full-fledged franchise that includes 2016’s10 Cloverfield Lane($110 million worldwide) and the abysmal Netflix movieThe Cloverfield Paradoxin 2018. I imagine it also launched (or bolstered) the careers of several marketing executives, who devised a clever viral campaign that led to a $40 million domestic opening weekend. I happened to enjoyDan Trachtenberg’s follow-up starringMary Elizabeth WinsteadandJohn Goodman, but the reason that the first film worked as well as it did was the love story at its center, not the fact that it was a creature feature.
Of course, both of those subsequentCloverfieldmovies were originally developed as standalone features titledValenciaandGod Particle, whereas this fourth film has the benefit of being written with the greaterCloverfielduniverse in mind. I wouldn’t even be surprised if some of the franchise’s stars (like Winstead) returned for cameo appearances at the very least.
Abrams will produce this new movie under his Bad Robot banner, and I can’t imagine WarnerMedia is too happy about this since they recently signed Abrams to a lucrative producing deal, and theCloverfieldfranchise is housed at Paramount. I mean, there are only so many balls one man can juggle at once!
Barton previously created and wrote the crime dramaGiri/Hajifor BBC Two/Netflix, and his feature credits includeAmazon’s upcoming sci-fi movieInvasionstarringOctavia SpencerandRiz Ahmed, the latter of whom is simply phenomenal in the streamer’s moving dramaSound of Metal.
