The Cloverfield franchise still has a loyal fanbase interested in more stories of survival and horror, but there hasn’t been a movie from this world since 2018. The sci-fi genre is home to some of the most profitable and popular franchises in film history, among them J.J. Abrams and Drew Goddard’s Cloverfield universe. The franchise began in 2008 with Cloverfield, a found-footage monster horror movie directed by Matt Reeves. Cloverfield follows six New York City residents who must find a way to survive a mᴀssive monster that has attacked the city.

In addition to this, smaller creatures are attacking at different points in the city, making it even harder for them to find safety, and there are hostile parasites infecting humans. Cloverfield was a critical and commercial success, grossing $172.4 million against a $30 million budget. Despite there still being interest in more Cloverfield movies, the franchise has been quiet since 2018, though not without rumors of what a future movie could be about or if it’s already secretly in the works. The future of the franchise is unclear at the moment, but with good reason.

10 Cloverfield Lane Made Cloverfield Into A Franchise

Cloverfield Is Now A Franchise Beyond Movies

Cloverfield was praised for its found-footage style, through which it amped up the suspense, its pace, scare factor, and creativity, and it was even more popular due to its viral marketing campaign. Luckily, all the hype built by the very creative and clever marketing campaign for Cloverfield paid off, and the movie is now regarded among the best monster movies of all time. The success of Cloverfield led to it becoming a franchise, first with the manga Cloverfield/Kishin, serving as a parallel prequel/sequel to the movie, and later with the movie 10 Cloverfield Lane, released in 2016.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, 10 Cloverfield Lane follows Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who, after a car accident, awakens with an injured leg and chained in a bunker. Her captor, Howard (John Goodman), explains to her that he saved her life, as there was an attack that left the surface of Earth uninhabitable. 10 Cloverfield Lane was a critical and commercial success, and it’s the highest-rated movie in the franchise. It’s important to remember, however, that 10 Cloverfield Lane isn’t a sequel to Cloverfield.

Instead, it’s a standalone story within the universe of Cloverfield, as Michelle, Howard, and Emmett (John Gallagher Jr) are facing a different yet very similar threat to that in the previous movie. 10 Cloverfield Lane was the first step towards building the Cloverfield franchise, and its success is what properly built it, as a third movie was greenlit, but it wasn’t at the level of its predecessors.

The Cloverfield Paradox Brought The Franchise Back But Was Critically Panned

The Cloverfield Paradox Was A Surprise, But Not A Successful One

Like its predecessors, the production of and details about The Cloverfield Paradox were kept secret, and its release was a big surprise. The trailer for The Cloverfield Paradox was released on February 4, 2018, during the Super Bowl LII, in which it was also announced that Netflix had acquired the film’s rights and that the movie would be available to stream immediately after the game. Of course, this caused a lot of curiosity and interest in The Cloverfield Paradox, but it didn’t have the same success as the previous movies.

The Cloverfield Paradox is the lowest-rated Cloverfield movie to date, and it’s considered the weakest movie in the franchise. While critics praised the casting and the performances, the most criticized points were the storylines, the mixed genres, and the many questions it left. While its marketing plan was praised, this was also a big reason why The Cloverfield Paradox wasn’t well-received by critics, as the trailer created expectations that the movie ultimately didn’t meet. Many expected it to explain the origin of the monster, and while it did provide a reason, it also left many unanswered questions.

Cloverfield Has Yet To Get A Direct Sequel 17 Years Later

Cloverfield Never Got A Proper Continuation

Despite having 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox, the first Cloverfield movie hasn’t gotten a proper sequel yet. As mentioned above, 10 Cloverfield Lane isn’t a sequel, but it’s set in the same universe as Cloverfield – however, its place in the timeline isn’t clear, and The Cloverfield Paradox didn’t make it any easier to place. The Cloverfield Paradox serves as both a sequel and prequel to Cloverfield due to its time setting in the future and its alternate universes reveal, yet it still isn’t a direct sequel to the first movie.

The possibilities for a proper Cloverfield sequel have been teased since the movie came out, with Matt Reeves telling Bloody Disgusting that what we see in Cloverfield surely wasn’t the only movie made that night, and others definitely recorded their own fights for survival. Since then, Reeves and Abrams have teased the development of Cloverfield 2, and in 2022, Babak Anvari was signed on to direct the project. In 2023, Reeves shared that the ongoing developments on Cloverfield 2 won’t be talked about before its release, as they want it to be a surprise, just like the previous movies.

What The Next Cloverfield Movie Is Going To Be

What Could The Future Of Cloverfield Be Like?

If all the teases about a proper Cloverfield sequel are to be believed, then it’s very possible that the next Cloverfield movie will be the long-awaited direct sequel to the first film. However, as Reeves mentioned, its release would surely be a surprise, but following the example of the previous movies, fans can expect a very creative marketing campaign accompanying it. Plot details about Cloverfield 2 are unknown (and will surely remain as such until the movie’s release), but it’s expected to solve the franchise’s biggest mysteries and properly place the previous movies into the timeline.

Of course, Abrams and company could surprise the audience with yet another Cloverfield movie not directly tied to the first movie or the other movies. The parallel universes reveal in The Cloverfield Paradox gives plenty of options for a future Cloverfield movie, which would be worth exploring at some point. At the time of writing, there haven’t been more updates on the development of Cloverfield 2 or another movie (then again, one of them might already be in active development right now), so the future of the franchise remains unclear.

Source: Bloody Disgusting.