Call it a sibling. Or, less specifically, a blood relative. Or maybe it’s like The Twilight Zone, but with monsters instead of existential scares. Or how about this, from J.J. Abrams, the movie’s producer: “It’s like Cloverfield is the amusement park, and each of these movies is a different ride in that park.”
However you want to define it—the Cloverfield cinematic universe?—the arrival of 10 Cloverfield Lane marks the beginning of what could be an exceptionally unusual, and exciting, movie franchise. Developed for years under the working title Valencia, the movie emerged seemingly out of nowhere earlier this year with a gripping trailer that promised some kind of continuation of the story that began with the 2008 hit Cloverfield, which also used the element of surprise to craft a hit out of a monster movie made by, and starring, a bunch of nobodies.
Or is it a continuation? The story, in keeping with the grand mystery box tradition that has defined many of the films J.J. Abrams has been associated with, is largely still secret, with marketing materials only revealing that three people (John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and__ John Gallagher Jr.__) are locked in a bunker and waiting out some kind of disaster in the world above. Before Abrams came up with that amusement park metaphor, he called the new film a “blood relative” of Cloverfield. Now, with a much-buzzed-about opening weekend ahead, the test will be whether 10 Cloverfield Lane shares enough of that DNA to be a similarly sized hit.
Both Abrams and director Dan Trachtenberg, who makes his feature directing debut, are careful to follow the cagey party line in discussing where 10 Cloverfield Lane lines up with its predecessor—Abrams allows that it’s a monster movie, and in talking about the elaborate online games that have surrounded the release, Trachtenberg suggests that there’s a larger story to be potentially unveiled in the future. But what’s more fascinating is where it doesn’t connect to the kaiju-inspired original—and how it lays out a path for a unique movie franchise, with films that aren’t connected by characters or creatures or stories but by a singular idea about how original, genre-inspired movies can connect with audiences.
“I think for us, it's really a signal of tone of the genre,” says Trachtenberg, who boarded the project after Bad Robot, working with Whiplash writer Damien Chazelle had crafted the original script by Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken into something that would fit into “the Cloververse.” Trachtenberg continues, “The original Cloverfield movie was a unique take on a familiar genre, and our movie is a different unique take on a familiar genre.”
“It’s a vaguely unusual thing, but I hope it works,” allows Abrams, who—coming off the biggest hit of his or anyone else’s career, can afford a risk or two. “This felt like an unexpected, cool and fun way to do something that major studios don't do as often as we'd all like. This gave us a way to [tell an original story] under an umbrella that hopefully would garner some attention but more importantly have a thematic and deeper connection, tell original stories with filmmakers and actors who you might not have seen before at all or certainly in a thing like this.”
The original Cloverfield wasn’t just a financial success, grossing $170 million globally on a $25 million budget, but an introduction to exciting talents like director Matt Reeves (now shepherding the surprisingly thoughtful Planet of the Apes franchise), writer Drew Goddard (Oscar-nominated for his The Martian script), and stars T.J. Miller and Lizzy Caplan. Trachtenberg is well aware of the potential rewards in nailing a Cloverfield movie—and also the pressures. “I was so focused on making the movie that I didn't really absorb all of that and it didn't hit me until way later the expectations that would be there,” he says. With another original story, Crime of the Century, in development at Universal, he’s got a lot riding on 10 Cloverfield Lane, proving, yet again, that original stories can succeed. “The problem is there has been really great successes with original movies and then there has been some disasters, so we haven't had a good enough run where it has become the trend. But hopefully soon.”
When talking about what “a Cloverfield movie” might mean in the future, Abrams is always careful to include the caveat “if we’re lucky enough to continue,” but he clearly has plenty of ideas already in the works. For someone who survived the grueling press onslaught of Star Wars and two Star Trek films before it, and whose every comment about those films still inspires enormous online response, Abrams seems to relish the guerilla nature of the Cloverfield amusement park he’s built for himself and his collaborators.
“I think in a strange way there's an element of surprise connected to Cloverfield. There is something kind of fun about how these things have come out,” he says. “The idea that this movie was announced and was coming out in two months was so much fun for us. Who knows if it will work, maybe it was a complete misstep. Maybe it was a stroke of genius. We’ll see.”
