Many fans of the film ‘Cloverfield’ have been clamoring for a sequel ever since the film was released in 2008. And it wasn’t just only the fans who wanted a sequel but also the filmmakers J.J. Abrams, Drew Goddard and Matt Reeves. As early as 3 months ago, Goddard was still saying that a sequel wasn’t happening until the 3 of them found an “idea that [they’re] passionate about,” So imagine movie goers surprise when a trailer for a film produced by Bad Robot played before a screening of Michael Bay’s ’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’ with the title ’10 Cloverfield Lane’! Could this be the sequel fans have been waiting for?
In a statement to Collider, Abrams himself states:
“The idea came up a long time ago during production. We wanted to make it a blood relative of Cloverfield. The idea was developed over time. We wanted to hold back the title for as long as possible.”
Back in 2014, the film (which was originally called ‘The Cellar’ then was changed to ‘Valencia’) was announced as a secret project from Abrams’ Bad Robot company and that Dan Trachtenberg was tapped to helm it. The script was originally written by Josh Campbell and Matt Steucken with rewrites from Dan Casey and stars John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and John Gallagher, Jr.
Surprisingly, news about the project has been kept really close to the vest as not much was known or reported about this low budget film. What was known was that the film was said to revolve around a woman (Winstead) who, after losing consciences in a car accident, wakes up in an underground cellar with a man (Goodman) who tells her he saved her life and that the world outside has become uninhabitable. Not knowing who or what to believe, she is determined to escape the cellar regardless of the terrors waiting outside her captivity.
Winstead elaborates about the film saying:
“He [Goodman’s character] tells me that basically the world is over outside because there’s been a nuclear fall-out. It does have similarity to Faults, in some ways, because you don’t know who’s telling the truth or who to believe. There’s a lot of, who’s manipulating who, and all of that. Tonally, it’s very different, but it has some of those same themes.”
Considering Abrams has stated that ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ is a “blood relative” of ‘Cloverfield’ this film may not really be a true sequel in a sense but more of a spin-off of sorts occurring in the same universe. Could the nuclear fall-out be what was responsible for the monster in ‘Cloverfield’? Could the events in this film be happening at the same time the events of ‘Cloverfield’ was unfolding? Or could this all be a rouse to keep the girl in the cellar?
The film sounds like there will lots of twists, turns and surprises – something definitely in the same vein as ‘Cloverfield,’ but see for yourself in the bootleg trailer below then let us know what you think! Sequel or not a sequel?
’10 Cloverfield Lane’ hits theaters on March 11, 2016.
