A sequel to 'Cloverfield'!?

The Statue of Liberty often fares poorly in disaster movies.

Eight years ago this Monday, the Matt Reeves-directed, J.J. Abrams-produced found footage monster movie Cloverfield stomped into theaters. Cloverfield has forever etched 1-18-08, the date of its release, into my memory. I was obsessed with the movie leading up to its release. Abrams, of whom I had then recently become enamored thanks to LOST, had successfully kept it inside his famous "mystery box," meaning that pretty much nobody had any idea what it was going to be about. For months, all we had to go on was this highly enigmatic teaser that first appeared before showings of 2007's Transformers, which still gives me chills to watch (the trailer, not Transformers; I have never seen Transformers.*):


Based on this trailer, all sorts of theories emerged about the movie: it was a LOST tie-in; it would bring the Cthulhu mythos to screen; it was a live-action adaptation of Voltron, etc. In eager anticipation, fans parsed every second of this trailer and subsequent ones, as well as an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) much like that of LOST, that gave us hints and teases of what might happen.

When the movie actually came out, we learned that it was a relatively straightforward story of a group of young people trapped in New York during the rampage of an awakened monster who must fight for their survival. And I loved it. I saw it three times the weekend it came out. For years afterward, I've been clamoring for a sequel to answer some of the unanswered questions it, like so many Abrams properties, posed. But as Reeves and Abrams went on to bigger things (Reeves, the rebooted Planet of the Apes series; Abrams, a little thing called Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens), I gave up hope for a sequel to this surprising little movie.

Again to my surprise, however, came a trailer earlier this week--first attached to 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, another Michael Bay movie--for a J.J.Abrams-produced movie called...10 Cloverfield Lane. Watch for yourself.



This movie comes out in March. I have no idea how Abrams kept it in his mystery box for so long, even as social media penetration has only increased since 2008. But I am thoroughly intrigued. Especially since Abrams has described it as a "blood relative" of Cloverfield. I have no idea what that means, or what this movie will be about. But Abrams has enticed me into his mystery box once more.

*I have, however, seen Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, which may be the worst movie I've ever seen in theaters.