Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield films
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Cloverfield Alternate titles Cloverfield/HAKAISHA (2008) See alternate titles Directed by Matt Reeves Producer J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Sherryl Clark, Guy Riedel Written by Drew Goddard Music by Michael Giacchino (end credits) Production company Bad Robot Distributor Paramount Pictures Rating PG-13US, 15UK Budget $25,000,000 Box office $80,048,433 (domestic), $90,715,593 (foreign), $170,764,026 (worldwide) Running time 84 minutes Aspect ratio 1.85:1 Rate this film! 4.29 (38 votes)

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“	Some thing has found us	„
	— Tagline

“	What happened back then? (その時、何が起きたのか？)	„
	— Japanese tagline

For the monster, see Clover.

Cloverfield is a 2008 American found footage giant monster film directed by Matt Reeves and produced by J.J. Abrams. The film's existence was first revealed in the form of a teaser trailer attached to Transformers; however, the trailers never listed the title and only provided its release date, "01.18.08". Paramount Pictures carried out an elaborate alternate reality game in order to promote the film prior to its theatrical release.

Description

“

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

„

Plot

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The film begins as a collection of footage from a personal camcorder, recovered from the United States Department Of Defense. In Central Park. Then bearing a disclaimer stating multiple sightings of Cloverfield.

Earlier footage on April 27th, 2008 introduces Robert "Rob" Hawkins waking up with Elizabeth "Beth" McIntyre. Both characters are a couple who later in the movie break up, as Rob was traveling out of the country to Japan for a new job as a Vice President for a company brand named "Slusho", his brother Jason, and Jason's girlfriend Lily throw a farewell surprise party for Rob, as he receives cheers along the night, as said, when Rob and Beth were in a heated conversation over their dating life, Rob, Hud (the person wielding the camera for the rest of the film until his death) and Rob's brother, Jason. As they sat on a porch at the apartment arguing, around three minutes later, a loud massive earthquake occurred. This caused a brief citywide power outage around Manhattan. People panic when they see a tanker spill near Liberty Island and a statue without a head on it on TV. Then, they headed outside on the rooftop. Seconds later, a big explosion left debris falling in their direction. As everyone ran out of the building the Statue Of Liberty head was thrown and made an impact. As many scream and panicked, a huge collapse came from a collapsed building, and many fled from the falling building. One moment in the scene, Hud says it's alive until interrupted by shattered windows. Many went out from their hideouts and saw papers falling and people coughing. The people surrounded themselves thinking of a plan to escape but many argue. As they headed for a way out, they went through a bridge, as Jason was in a nearby pole until suddenly a giant tail struck the bridge killing Jason, leaving Lily crying for him and her friend Marlena holding her, as the bridge collapsed everyone tried to flee from the collapse as they ran.

Rob tries his best to call Beth, but with no answer as he decides to save Beth with the others having doubts, they instead choose to be with him. Later on, they get interrupted by the monster, as firearms were shot and tanks were shooting at the creature, they stood for a moment and decided to hide in the subway. As they walked through the dark subway they suddenly heard screeching and growling until they saw there were parasites, as they went for a struggle, until Marlena was bitten but still alive, after a while, she began to feel unwell. Later, they managed to find a safe area and waited for a moment. The crew remain in a mall until found by the military and taken to a command center and field hospital nearby. In reaction to being bitten, Marlena bleeds from her eyes, she was then taken from the area, screaming until showing her exploding from her body, leaving her dead. Having saved Beth, they saw her impaled by rebar and decided to remove her from the situation. Now, the group needed to live in the helicopter area to escape. Seeing the monster, they flee for a moment. As of then, the monster was roaring in agony and anger at the moment. As they were taken to a helicopter, Lily was taken away, first. Only leaving Hud, Rob, and Beth. Until the monster collided with buildings causing damage. As they escaped, both were in helicopters, witnessing the creature being bombed for a moment, until they were struck by the creature, causing the helicopter to fall out of the air, and crash nearby. Less than an hour later, a voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warns that the Hammer Down protocol will begin in fifteen minutes, making time short. The three friends regain consciousness until Hud wants to get the camera left behind until the gigantic beast appeared, then eye contact for a moment, in the blink of an eye, the creature eats Hud before leaving Rob and Beth. As they gave their final testimony under a bridge, both sobbing, a bombing takes place and both perished from the bombing, including the creature.

Later the footage cuts to before the attack happened, in Coney Island, an object can be seen behind them falling into the ocean and then cutting towards Rob and Beth, as Beth says "I had a good day." Until the footage cuts or glitches out.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by   Matt Reeves
• Written by   Drew Goddard
• Executive producers   Sherryl Clark, Guy Riedel
• Produced by   J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk
• Music by   Michael Giacchino (end credits)
• Cinematography by   Michael Bonvillain
• Edited by   Kevin Stitt
• Production design by   Martin Whist
• Assistant directing by   Rip Murray, Katie Carroll
• Visual effects supervisor   Kevin Blank

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. Lizzy Caplan   as   Marlena Diamond Jessica Lucas   as   Lily Ford T.J. Miller   as   Hudson "Hud" Platt Michael Stahl-David   as   Robert "Rob" Hawkins Mike Vogel   as   Jason Hawkins Odette Yustman   as   Beth McIntyre Margot Farley   as   Jenn Theo Rossi   as   Antonio Brian Klugman   as   Charlie Kelvin Yu   as   Clark Liza Lapira   as   Heather Lili Mirojnick   as   Lei Ben Feldman   as   Travis Marello Elena Caruso, Vakisha Coleman, Will Greenberg, Rob Kerkovich, Ryan Key, Hooman Khalili, Rasika Mathur, Baron Vaughn, Charlyne Yi   as   Party Goers Roma Torre   as   Herself Rick Overton   as   Frantic Man Martin Cohen   as   Burly Guy Jason Cerbone   as   Police Officer Pavel Lychnikoff   as   Russian Man on Street Billy Brown   as   Staff Sgt. Pryce Scott Lawrence   as   Lead Soldier Jeff DeSerrano   as   Soldier Tim Griffin   as   Command Center Officer Chris Mulkey   as   Lt. Col. Graff Susse Budde   as   Medic Jason Lombard   as   Second Medic Jamie Martz   as   Helicopter Pilot

Japanese dub Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. Mahori Asamura   as   Marlena Diamond Aki Sasamori   as   Lily Ford Shunsuke Sakuya   as   Hudson "Hud" Platt Mitsuaki Madono   as   Robert "Rob" Hawkins Ken Narita   as   Jason Hawkins Mabuki Andou   as   Beth McIntyre

Appearances

Monsters Clover Human Scale Parasites King Kong (stock footage; still frame) Rhedosaurus (still frame) Giant ants (stock footage; still frame)

Weapons, vehicles, races, and organizations Tagruato Tagruato VLCC tanker M1 Abrams M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System F-18 Hornet M109 Howitzer Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit UH-1 Iroquois HMMWV

Development

To be added.

Production

To be added.

Marketing

To be added.

Box office

Cloverfield opened in 3,411 theaters and grossed $16,930,000 on its opening day in the United States and Canada. It made $40.1 million on its opening weekend, which at the time was a record for January domestic releases. Worldwide, the film finished with $170,602,318.

Sequels

Following Cloverfield's release, director Matt Reeves was asked about the possibility of a sequel, and stated that he was open to producing one. In subsequent interviews, Reeves and J.J. Abrams both entertained the idea of a sequel to Cloverfield, stating that they had set up an entire backstory for the film that they would like to explore in a sequel. Despite their enthusiasm, no concrete information surfaced about a Cloverfield sequel for several years.

On January 15, 2016, a surprise trailer for a film entitled 10 Cloverfield Lane played before screenings of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, also produced by Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and starring John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and John Gallagher Jr., it had been filmed in late 2014 under the name Valencia. The film was released theatrically on March 11, 2016. Though not a direct sequel to Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane is described as a "spiritual successor" to the film and serves as the second entry in an anthology begun with Cloverfield. The third entry in the franchise, The Cloverfield Paradox, was released directly to Netflix in 2018, and connects to the first film's events, with Clover or another member of its species making an appearance onscreen. Abrams announced a fourth film at CinemaCon on April 25, 2018, describing it as "a true, dedicated Cloverfield sequel." On January 29, 2021, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Joe Barton would be writing the script. A subsequent report by Deadline on September 23, 2022 raised ambiguity over whether the new film will be a direct sequel to the original film or another anthology film.

Gallery

Main article: Cloverfield/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Cloverfield/Soundtrack.

Alternate titles

• 1-18-08 (U.S.; promotional title)
• Untitled J.J. Abrams Project (U.S.; working title)
• Cheese (U.S.; working title)
• Clover (U.S.; working title)
• Monstrous (U.S.; working title)
• Slusho (U.S.; working title)
• Cloverfield - Monster (Cloverfield - Monstruo; Argentina)
• Cloverfield: Monster (Cloverfield: Monstro; Brazil; Cloverfield: Monstruo; Mexico)
• Monster (Чудовищнo; Bulgaria)
  • Monster (Monstrum; Czech Republic)
• Monsters (Монстро; Russia and Ukraine)
• Monstrous (Monstruoso; Spain)
• Monstrously (Pošastno; Slovenia)
• 06-02-08 (France; promotional title)
• 04-05 (Japan; promotional title)
• Cloverfield/HAKAISHA (クローバーフィールド／ＨＡＫＡＩＳＨＡ; Japan)
• MONSTRAS Project (Projektas MONSTRAS; Lithuania)
• Project: Monster (Projekt: Monster; Poland)
• Code Name: Cloverfield (Nome de Código: Cloverfield; Portugal)
• Beast (Canavar; Turkey)

Video releases

Paramount DVD/Blu-ray (2008)

• Region: 1 (DVD) or N/A (Blu-ray)
• Discs: 1
• Audio: English (5.1 Surround for DVD, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 for Blu-ray); French and Spanish (5.1 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Blu-ray only)
• Special features: Audio commentary by Matt Reeves, Special Investigation Mode which provides additional details as the movie plays (Blu-ray only), "Document 01.18.08: The Making of 'Cloverfield'" featurette (28 minutes), "Cloverfield Visual Effects featurette" (22 minutes), "I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge!" featurette on Clover's design (6 minutes), outtakes (4 minutes), deleted scenes (3 minutes), alternate endings (3 minutes), viral marketing materials, pre-viz of the tunnel attack
• Notes: Cloverfield DVDs sold at Best Buy contained a second disc with the featurette T.J. Miller's Video Diary (25 minutes). The Blu-ray has also been packaged with King Kong (1933), Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), and 10,000 BC (2008), or with 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018).

Paramount 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + digital (2018/2023)

• Region: N/A
• Discs: 2
• Audio: English (Dolby TrueHD 5.1); European French, Canadian French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Special features: Audio commentary by Matt Reeves, Special Investigation Mode which provides additional details as the movie plays, "Document 01.18.08: The Making of 'Cloverfield'" featurette (28 minutes), "Cloverfield Visual Effects featurette" (22 minutes), "I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge!" featurette on Clover's design (6 minutes), outtakes (4 minutes), deleted scenes (3 minutes), alternate endings (3 minutes), viral marketing materials, pre-viz of the tunnel attack
• Notes: All special features are included on the Blu-ray only, while all audio and subtitles options not included on previous releases are included on the 4K Ultra HD only.

Videos

Main article: Cloverfield/Videos.

Trivia

• Frames from three classic monster movies (King Kong (1933), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Them! appear throughout Cloverfield. Each functions as a form of subtle foreshadowing.
  • A giant ant from Them! at 24:08 foreshadows the revelation that Clover is the host of hordes of six-legged parasites. Coincidentally, end credits composer Michael Giacchino would later be attached to direct an upcoming remake of Them!
  • The Rhedosaurus from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms at 45:30, whose blood contains a deadly disease, foreshadows the sudden and fatal effects of a parasite bite.
  • King Kong at 1:06:55 foreshadows Clover's attack on Hud, the only time the film shows the monster taking interest in a specific human.
• The Asylum, an American studio specializing in knock-offs of blockbuster films, produced the film Monster to capitalize on Cloverfield. They released it to DVD on January 15, 2008, three days before Cloverfield was released in American theaters.
• A fragment of the Japanese satellite ChimpanzIII mentioned in the film's alternate-reality game can be seen splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean in the film's final scene. However, director Matt Reeves would later suggest the falling object was the creature itself in a 2023 interview with SyFy.
• The logo for the DHARMA Initiative, from the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost, appears in the film's opening.
• At the end of the credits, a distorted voice appears to say, "Help us." When the audio is played backwards, however, it says, "It's still alive".
• A Cloverfield poster can be seen in the film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in Sam Witwicky's dorm room. This may be a reference to Cloverfield's first teaser playing before screenings of the first Michael Bay Transformers film.
• Michael Stahl-David reprised his role as Robert Hawkins for the 2019 fan film The Cloverfield Files.

External links

• Script dated 6/8/07
• Production notes
• All text from the Blu-ray's Special Investigation Mode
• Tagruato viral site
• Missing Teddy Hanssen viral site
• Slusho viral site
• T.I.D.O. Wave viral site
• Jamie and Teddy viral site (password is "jllovesth")
• Marlena Diamond on MySpace
• Lily Ford on MySpace
• Robert Hawkins on MySpace
• Jamie Lascano on MySpace
• Beth McIntyre on MySpace
• Hudson Platt on MySpace
• List of firearms used in the film

References

This is a list of references for Cloverfield. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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