Home Movie News Cloverfield 2 Original Pitch Was Very Different To The Upcoming Sequel

Cloverfield director Matt Reeves opens up about his original ideas for a sequel to the 2008 monster movie, which includes a new found footage story.

Cloverfield director Matt Reeves has discussed his original ideas for a sequel to the 2008 found footage monster movie, expressing an interest in seeing another found footage film in the franchise. The J.J. Abrams-produced movie is known for its unique premise, as it tells the story of a giant monster rampaging through New York City, using found footage from a group of survivors to tell its tale. The franchise has spawned two sequels,10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox, both of which have expanded on the apocalyptic scenario detailed in the first Cloverfield.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

In an interview with Collider, Reeves opened up about his ideas for a Cloverfield sequel, with one of those ideas being another found footage film set on the same night as the first movie. The director details how the groundwork for such a sequel was laid in the original Cloverfield, with the perspective being a key component in his idea for another film. Check out what Reeves had to say below:

Our schedules just didn’t quite line up in that way. We absolutely, right afterwards, were talking about it. I had a bunch of ideas. I know (writer) Drew [Goddard] had ideas. And I’m sure (producer) J.J. [Abrams] had ideas. And we were talking about stuff, but then we got swept into some other things, and we thought, ‘Well maybe we’ll come back to it.’ And then obviously we ended up finding other ways to do other iterations. But one of the things about the movie is, when we were shooting, I was really excited about the idea of the fact that we were in this restricted point of view of this one group, this one Handicam. And so when we’re on the Brooklyn Bridge, there’s actually a moment where I have somebody filming Hud (played by TJ Miller), and Hud filming that person, because then you realize, ‘Wait, there’s another story from that night.’
Yes, this is so many people’s story of survival. And so there was part of me in the back of my head that was thinking, ‘Gosh, is that another movie, or whatever?’ Just the idea that there are other perspectives and that the other perspectives could be other stories. That was kind of what was going on at the time we were making the movie. And then we talked about some things – some pretty cool ideas, actually, we talked about – and then it just didn’t… that part didn’t come to fruition. But then we did other things and who knows what will happen in the future.

Related: How All The Cloverfield Movies Connect

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle in 10 Cloverfield Lane

Reeves uses the original Cloverfield to detail how the table was set for another found footage story in the budding franchise’s universe. However, with the production of 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox, the film series began to diverge from found footage to telling different stories in its universe. 10 Cloverfield Lane was a grounded, psychological thriller with very few hints at a connection to the franchise until the ending reveals Earth is under attack from alien invaders. Delving into a different genre, The Cloverfield Paradox sought to explain what was going on in the Cloverfield universe through a sci-fi horror film about dimensional travel.

By moving away from the found footage genre, the Cloverfield franchise established itself as a series of horror anthology films in the same universe. This has given the series an experimental structure, with each new movie showcasing the world of Cloverfield through a different lens. It appears the franchise will continue this trend with the untitled fourth Cloverfield film currently in production, promising a more direct follow-up to the first film. The new entry will not be found footage, though, meaning viewers will get to explore the Earth of the first Cloverfield during its apocalyptic scenario in a way not yet done before.

Just because the upcoming Cloverfield sequel won’t feature any found footage doesn’t mean the genre won’t return to the film series in the future. Matt Reeves has previously stated that he’s open to making a new Cloverfield film, allowing him to bring the found footage genre back to the universe using his original idea for a sequel. If the Cloverfield franchise continues to act as an anthology series set during a monstrous apocalypse, then found footage may return in a later entry someday.

More: Cloverfield’s Original Plan Would Have Lost A Great Ending Moment

Source: Collider