Even if your city has been destroyed by a monster, you’re trapped in an underground bunker, or your space station got sent to a parallel universe, you’ve probably heard of the Cloverfield franchise. The science-fiction anthology series will continue through at least a fourth film, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with J.J. Abrams set to produce a new sequel.
The franchise launched in 2008 with Cloverfield, a found-footage monster flick directed by Matt Reeves. Two loosely-connected sequels followed, with both 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) originating as unrelated projects that were acquired by Abrams’ Bad Robot banner and retrofitted for the Cloververse.
Unlike those previous follow-ups, the new movie is designed from inception to fit into the Cloverfield franchise. Abrams has tapped British writer Joe Barton (not to be confused with notorious Republican climate denier Joe Barton) to pen the script. The rising scribe drew raves for his 2019 crime series Giri/Haji, and earlier this month it was announced that Barton would replace Terence Winter as the showrunner on HBO’s The Batman spin-off series. Few details are known about the new film, except that it will break away from the original Cloverfield‘s found-footage aesthetic.
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Next up for Barton is the alien flick Invasion, starring Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer, which is expected on Amazon Prime later this year. As for Abrams, he recently produced HBO’s Lovecraft Country and will be staying in the world of horror with the upcoming Lisey’s Story from Stephen King for Apple TV+.
