Well, this certainly is a surprise. Perhaps even a bigger surprise than the originalCloverfieldtrailer, which appeared out of nowhere back in 2008. Paramount decided to nonchalantly release a trailer for10 Cloverfield Laneattached toMichael Bay’s13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. It’s a thriller from producerJ.J. Abramsand hisBad Robotproduction team, and comes from directorDan Trachtenberg. And as soon as audiences saw it appear on the big screen, they began suspected that it was the long awaited Cloverfield 2.
Though, there are some noticeable differences. 10 Cloverfield Lane has a prettyimpressivecast, where the firstCloverfieldmovie featured mostly unknowns at the time.Lizzy CaplanandT.J. Millerhave certainly gone onto bigger and better things since the original hit over eight years ago. But this film stars the well establishedJohn Goodman,Mary Elizabeth Winsteadand the somewhat lesser knownJohn Gallagher Jr.The other big difference is this is not a found footage thriller. It’s an honest to god movie. And it looks all the better for it.
When the trailer first unspools, it looks nothing like a monster movie. It looks like a fun family film asJohn Goodmanand what we assume are his kids enjoy a game night full of puzzles and video games. We soon realize they’re in a bomb shelter. And whenLizzy Caplandecides she’s had enough, we accept that we’re probably back in the world ofCloverfield, especially whenJohn Goodmanyells his dire waring.
Some have speculated that this isn’t a sequel at all, and that everything revolving around the production of the movie pointed to it being an originalthrillerwith another uniquemystery boxtwist. But no one suspected that it would have direct ties to the originalCloverfield. What doesAbramshave to say about the movie since the trailer was released?
“The idea came up a long time ago during production. We wanted to make it a blood relative of Cloverfield. The idea was developed over time. We wanted to hold back the title for as long as possible.”
Interesting to note, the film was originally titledValencia. There have been test screenings for that movie. And someone who was at one of those test screenings confirms that this isn’t a direct sequel to it at all. Instead, this is Bad Robot’s idea of an ‘anthology’ series of films, and what ties them all together is unexpected twists and wild ideas. Here’s the trailer. You can decide for yourself. Is this Cloverfield 2. Or something completely different? Everything we’re seeing this morning points to something completely different.
