Cloverfield 4 in the Works at Paramount, Babak Anvari to Direct

The fourth Cloverfield movie is back on track at Paramount Pictures. Following up the success of recent sequels like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Top Gun: Maverick, the studio will reportedly (per Deadline) move forward with an all-new sequel with director Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow, I Came By) and writer Joe Barton. Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams will produce with Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen while Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves, and Drew Goddard are executive producing.

No details have yet been revealed about this new Cloverfield project, so it’s unclear how exactly it will tie into any of the previous three films. It’s worth noting that this is the first Cloverfield sequel to have been announced as such by Paramount Pictures. The first follow-up to the original Cloverfield from 2008, dubbed 10 Cloverfield Lane, was originally announced as a new movie titled The Cellar. Its real title was not unveiled until the trailer arrived, though the film still has little to do with the first installment. The film, released in 2016, follows Mary Elizabeth Winstead who awakens to find herself trapped in a concrete room, held hostage by a sinister man played by John Goodman.

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The third movie was also a surprise sequel, as it was first announced under the name God Particle. Premiering on Netflix in 2018, the future-set film follows a group of astronauts left stranded in space when a particle accelerator test goes awry. The film did not fare very well with critics, perhaps stalling the franchise, but perhaps it was just a matter of time before we got our fourth movie.

Related: What Is the Cloverfield Monster? Origins Explained After 3 Movies

Cloverfield Spawned an Ongoing Franchise

Paramount Pictures

The original Cloverfield can also be commended for its marketing campaign. Most of the details about the film had been shrouded in mystery leading up to its release, though the iconic imagery of a beheaded Statue of Liberty was heavily featured in promotional materials. A viral marketing campaign leaving people guessing what exactly would be happening in the film likely contributed to its success at the box office, spawning a franchise that is still ongoing.

As each of the movies in the series so far are basically part of their own separate sub-genres of horror, the first film is the only one of the three to be released so far that is not a found footage movie. In the original flick, New York is attacked by one gargantuan monster along with several smaller creatures as told through recorded video footage of the catastrophic event.

Last year, J.J. Abrams also teased another sequel coming that wouldn’t be found footage but was being treated as a “true, dedicated Cloverfield sequel.” That suggests the new movie will have more to do with that original film. That may also explain the strategy of announcing outright that the film is a Cloverfield sequel rather than trying to keep it subtle with a title that makes the link less obvious.

Cloverfield 4 does not yet have a premiere date.

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