Having directed the Predator prequel Prey last year, which was recently released on 4K Ultra HD, Dan Tratchenberg has opened up about discussions he had with Mary Elizabeth Winstead on a follow-up to 10 Cloverfield Lane as well his praise for the next Cloverfield film which will be a direct follow up to the 2008 film from Matt Reeves.
While not a sequel to Cloverfield itself, 10 Cloverfield Lane fell under the franchise’s brand of suspenseful and sci-fi thrillers as it saw Winstead’s Michelle be abducted by John Goodman’s Howard to his doomsday bunker. According to him and Emmett, another guest in the bunker played by John Gallagher Jr., some mysterious event happened aboveground and Howard is protecting them, though his rules are very strict and Michelle sense something is wrong with Howard’s odd behaviour.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Tratchenberg revealed that he and Winstead talked about “what if scenarios” for a potential sequel following Michelle’s journey out of the bunker during production on 10 Cloverfield Lane given how it ends with a slight sequel tease. And while he didn’t elaborate, he called the idea for the Cloverfield sequel “very cool.”
“The sequel is to the original Cloverfield. But for our film, I would still totally be open to it. I think Mary would. … We talked a little bit in like ‘what if’ scenarios. And then I was pulled, all the filmmakers were sort of pulled into other things. But I would still consider it. There’s a lot that would be in the genre that that would be in, but you never know. The sequel they’re making is very cool.”
The Cloverfield sequel will be directed by Babak Anvari (I Came By) from a script by Joe Barton. As is the case with the Cloverfield films, very little about the story, who might star in it or even when it will go into production, has been revealed. Franchise producer J.J. Abrams has relied on secrecy for each installment, none more so than 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox where its Super Bowl trailer revealed its premiere on Netflix immediately after the game, a fact the cast didn’t even know until that very morning.
What is known about the sequel is it will be a direct follow-up to the original Cloverfield, but will not feature that film’s found footage aspect.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
