Before the Cloverfield franchise was totally derailed by The Cloverfield Paradox, it was one of the most intriguing film series we had ever seen. Sure, at that point it only consisted of two movies, but both the original Cloverfield and its vague, kind-of–a-sequel-but-not-really follow-up 10 Cloverfield Lane were so good that the future looked bright for this fledgling franchise. Unfortunately, though, The Cloverfield Paradox was so bad it pretty much ruined the Cloverfield name, and today, most fans don’t even give the series a second thought.
But it looks like that’s all going to change. According to Deadline, Paramount is looking to reinvigorate the Cloverfield franchise, and they’ve brought on the perfect director to do it: Babak Anvari. If you know that name, you know how huge this news is. Anvari directed the 2016 gem Under the Shadow, and in many fans’ opinion (including mine), it’s one of the best genre films in recent memory. This guy knows how to make a good horror movie, so I have total faith that he’s going to restore the good name of Cloverfield.
At this point, plot details are being kept under wraps, so we don’t know how this new installment is going to connect to the original film. Will it be the direct sequel fans have been waiting for, or will it be a more or less standalone story that kind of just happens to have the word “Cloverfield” in the title? We don’t know yet, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably going to be a real sequel. The Cloverfield Paradox simply sullied the franchise so much that I doubt Paramount would attach the Cloverfield name to anything unless it was a legit sequel to that first movie.
Of course, we won’t know for sure until the studio tells us, so until then, all we can do is speculate and keep our eyes open for more news about this exciting project. And as always, when we here at Horror Obsessive learn more about it, we’ll be sure to let you all know.