J.J. Abrams Talks 'Cloverfield' Sequel

It is, of course, possible sequel fodder for a couple of reasons: It was sort of open-ended, and it made plenty of money. J.J. Abrams talked about a possible follow-up to Cloverfield today at WonderCon in San Francisco, and while most of the questions were about Star Trek, he was pretty candid about his thoughts on a sequel. "The key obviously at doing any kind of sequel, certainly this film included, is that it better not be a business decision," Geek Tyrant quoted Abrams as saying. "If you’re going to do something, it should be because you’re really inspired to do it." What the sequel might be has been a common question for the last year: Would it be another attack by that same monster? Is there some by-product of the first attack that will rear its ugly head? Will it be a prequel? Will it just be Cloverfield in another country? Here's were Abrams is less candid:

"We have an idea that we thought was pretty cool that we’re playing with, which means there will be something that’s connected to Cloverfield, but I hope it happens sooner than later because the idea is pretty sweet.”

All that really tells us is that they're still kicking ideas around. I'm sure in addition to the story, Abrams is thinking of a new and creative way to capture the film, much like director Matt Reeves did in the first movie. At this point, I stand unopposed to the sequel idea.

Comments

[Asana]

Cloverfield was far more hype than it was actually worth. Most of its money seems to have come from all that built up anticipation but the film promptly wasted all of that. The "creative way" the film was captured just annoyed me more than anything and there were many reports it made people nauseated... get your audience to vomit! pure genius there.

As if that wasn't bad enough the camera guy bites it when the humongous monster somehow just happens to tippy toe right up behind him all nice and quiet like. No ground vibrations, no sound to indicate an enormous monster was remotely close and then SURPRISE and the game of peekaboo abruptly ends.

I highly doubt a sequel would do as well unless it promised a near vomit inducing experience which probably accounted for some Cloverfield ticket sales. Maybe the sequel could be a prequel that actually makes us give a damn about Rob *AND* provides some back story as to the origin of the monster... Hey! Who flushed my Sea Monkeys down the toilet!?

[Julian Francis]

I am incredibly glad you stand unopposed. Cloverfield was one of my favorite films of 2008. I do hope if there is a follow-up, that it will take a creative step forward to spark the great unexpected that the first did, unlike basically all sequels these days.