Cloverfield Needs A Proper Sequel

There may have been two movies under the Cloverfield brand since the J.J. Abrams-produced found-footage monster movie in 2008 - and two more on the way - but we're still waiting for a proper sequel. Cloverfield took the box office by storm a decade ago. With an incomparably successful viral marketing campaign and a modern, unique slant on the genre, Cloverfield was a critical and commercial success, propelling director Matt Reeves and writer Drew Goddard into the cinematic A-List. Needless to say, thoughts quickly turned to a potential sequel and the creative team publicly mused upon the idea of either showing the same event from a different perspective or fleshing out the backstory of the Clover monster.In reality, neither came to fruition and fans had largely given up hope for a Cloverfield 2 when out of nowhere, 10 Cloverfield Lane sneaked onto the radar. Despite being a successful movie in its own right, 10 Cloverfield Lane bore little resemblance to its supposed predecessor - something that perhaps shouldn't come as a surprise considering the movie was originally envisioned as a standalone feature called The Cellar and later re-worked into the Cloverfield franchise.Related: It Looks Like J.J. Abrams Has Already Made Cloverfield 4Many Cloverfield fans might have been hoping that a third installment would bridge the gap, answering the many questions lingering after the conclusion of Lane. However, the impending third installment, Cloverfield Station, was also originally conceived as an unrelated story known as God Particle. With details surrounding this forthcoming threequel scarce - Abrams' trademark secrecy remains strong in 2018 - there is a chance that Cloverfield 3 will follow on more directly from the original movie. Alas, given that the project is another re-worked effort it appears that the franchise will be continuing in the same anthology style.While there are certainly benefits to this approach, they all distract from the difficult truth: the original Cloverfield deserves a traditional sequel.This Page: How The Cloverfield Franchise ChangedPage 2: Why A Sequel Would Be Better Than An Anthology

How The Cloverfield Franchise Changed

It's difficult to discern exactly why the traditional sequel route was never taken with Cloverfield. Both Reeves and Goddard seemed keen on continuing the story and even as late as 2012, it was suggested in interviews that the duo and J. J. Abrams merely needed to sync up their schedules and hammer out a definitive plan for Cloverfield 2. Obviously, there was a change of heart somewhere along the line. Quite what is unclear, although Abrams did suggest while on promotional duties for 10 Cloverfield Lane that the release of movies such as Pacific Rim and the rebooted Godzilla pushed him away from the Kaiju movie format and towards something entirely new.

In an increasingly repetitive industry, any attempt at a unique approach should be commended but, naturally, risks are prone to failure and while 10 Cloverfield Lane was a fantastic and gripping standalone movie, the idea of it being a "spiritual successor" to Cloverfield ended up being its biggest flaw. Many fans might've spent the majority of the movie mentally trying to connect the dots to the original when, in actual fact, there were precious few dots to connect without thoroughly exploring the viral marketing campaign for clues. Others were perhaps anticipating the appearance of a giant monster, but when the science fiction elements do eventually arrive, the devastation that greets protagonist Michelle is courtesy of a bio-mechanical race of sentient aliens - a threat that is almost unrecognizable from the first Cloverfield movie.

There are plenty of online theories that attempt to explain how the Cloververse is connected using the information contained in the franchise's various online material and its manga spinoff, and some are extremely well thought-out. It's somewhat telling, however, that had the word "Cloverfield" not been in the title, most fans might never have guessed that 10 Cloverfield Lane was connected to the Matt Reeves' 2008 movie. In truth, 10 Cloverfield Lane may have actually played out more smoothly, as audiences wouldn't have gone in with any pre-conceived expectations. The anthology idea was the twist, and it came somewhat out of nowhere.

Cloverfield Had So Much Sequel Potential

Clearly, Paramount and Bad Robot recognize Cloverfield's franchise potential or else they wouldn't keep using the brand name. But there's far more story to explore without heading into apocalyptic or intergalactic territory. In an early interview, producer Bryan Burk even confirmed that an entire backstory had been written for the Clover monster and claimed that there was a willingness to explore this in future movies.

Indeed, Cloverfield was a masterful example of a film keeping its cards close to its chest, with a treasure trove of mysteries to explore in later movies such as the strange object falling into the ocean during the final flashback scene at Coney Island, and the suggestion in deleted scenes that the monster survived. The groundwork has been laid but nothing of any substance has been built upon it, with Bad Robot instead opting to offer disparate hints and glimpses at what could potentially be one of the best science-fiction universes for years if developed properly. Watching Cloverfield for the first time felt like seeing only the tip of a very vast and thrilling iceberg but a whole decade later, that material remains largely unexplored; a much larger and grander story could be out there somewhere if you twist the ARG but requires a few leaps of logic and hours of trawling the internet to even begin to theorize over.

It could be argued that answering Cloverfield's questions in a direct sequel would damage the mystique surrounding the movie and inevitably fail to live up to fan expectations, similar to the infamous Midichlorian explanation in The Phantom Menace. However, so little was revealed in the original Cloverfield that there is plenty of room for world-building in a way that is more direct but that also retains some elements of mystery.

The Ongoing Problem With Cloverfield's Anthology Format

There is, of course, a more cynical and business-orientated way of looking at the Cloverfield franchise: that, unable to get the band back together for a proper second album, the Cloverfield title is being slapped on otherwise unrelated movies in order to sell tickets. It's common knowledge that, in the current Hollywood market, the franchise is king and original features can sometimes struggle to get noticed among the deluge of sequels, reboots and "re-imaginings." As such, it's understandable that a popular and dormant brand such as Cloverfield could be used to prop-up other projects and despite the movie's inherent quality as a standalone, it can't be denied that 10 Cloverfield Lane was an easier sell than 10 Main Street or 10 Park Avenue.

But such tactics do a disservice both the fans and to the movies concerned. 10 Cloverfield Lane may have benefited from being part of a larger franchise but it also meant that the movie was marketed at an audience expecting something entirely different. Similarly, Cloverfield Station promises to be a full-blown science-fiction space horror in which a particle accelerator causes the Earth to vanish. The Cloverfield name will ensure that fans buy a ticket but an audience may be all that those two movies share in common.

The websites launched as part of the viral marketing campaigns for both Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane do suggest that some thought has been put into how these movies connect. However, the fact that the franchise is using scripts originally unrelated to Cloverfield seems to indicate that these connections are being made to justify the franchise label rather than to tell an overarching story. Indeed, those slight connections aren't represented at all in the movies themselves.

While it may have surprises in store, all the information currently available on the third Cloverfield movie suggests that it will be another addition to the franchise that bears only a passing resemblance to its namesake. But even if this line of "anthology" movies or "spiritual successors" continues, Cloverfield still deserves a proper sequel. Not only are there still many unsolved mysteries to answer but there's also a wealth of worthy material just waiting to be explored.

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