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! 4.18 (39 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

This article or section needs to be cleaned up to meet the standards of Wikizilla. Reason: Desperately needs a rewrite and expansion.

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.

The feed cuts to earlier footage dated April 27th, 2008, where Robert "Rob" Hawkins wakes up in his apartment with his then-girlfriend, Elizabeth "Beth" McIntyre. The footage is then overwritten by a new recording by Rob's brother, Jason, who passes the same camera to Rob's friend, Hud (who wields the camera for the rest of the film until his death), tasking him to document the surprise going away party that Jason and his girlfriend, Lily, are having for Rob, who is traveling out of the country to Japan for a new job as a Vice President for the "Slusho" frozen drink company.

The party finally starts when Rob arrives. During the festivities, Hud tasks himself to get personal farewell messages from each of the party guests, including Marlena, whom Hud has a crush on. However, Beth (who has broken up with Rob prior to the party) leaves early to go back home. Hud tries to record her and Rob's argument, but Lily pulls him away, saying that it is not his job to document their business. As Beth leaves, Jason and Hud join Rob on the building's fire escape. Their argument is interrupted by a loud, massive earthquake, causing a brief citywide power outage all around Manhattan. People at the party panic as they gather around the television to see the live news coverage of the sudden events. The news reports a tanker spill near Liberty Island and a headless Statue of Liberty. Rob proposes that they would get a better view from the rooftop.

Moments after surveying the devastation, a large explosion erupts on the city's coast. The incoming debris prompts everyone to run back inside and out of the building. The panicking crowd scrambles to evade the Statue of Liberty's head crashing onto the street. As the crowd continues to panic, a large building up the road collapses, engulfing the fleeing people in a cloud of dust and leading them to find cover. As the dust storm settles, Hud, Jason, Rob, and Lily slowly return to the street into a thick fog of dust with papers falling and people coughing, one of them being Marlena, who is shaken by the sudden events. The group surrounds themselves, thinking of a plan to escape, then deciding to take the Brooklyn Bridge out of Manhattan. As they head for the bridge, Rob receives a distressing phone call from Beth, the mass panic making it hard for him to make out what she is saying. Unfortunately, the bridge escape route is cut off by the creature's tail. The crowd below, Jason among them, are crushed and sent plummeting down into the river below. Lily's devastated cries for him are drowned out by the creature's loud roar as Rob and Marlena pull her away from the collapsing bridge.

Rob tries his best to call Beth back, but gets no answer. Fearing the worst, he decides to go back and save her, with the others having doubts. Rob insists, the others soon joining him. Making their way through Manhattan, they get suddenly caught in the middle of a battle between the creature and the military, prompting them to hide in the subway. Rob proposes to take the empty subway tunnels, as it would be safer then continuing on the street above. As they make their way through the dark, Marlena is disgusted by the swarm of rats that are running past their feet. Shortly afterward, the group hears screeching and hissing. To get a better view, Rob help Hud turn on the camera's night vision, exposing the swarm of six-legged insect-like parasites that are stalking them. The parasites lunge and, during the ensuing struggle, Marlena is bitten by one of them. The group manages to escape the tunnel into a maintenance room. Everyone pitches in to help Marlena with her bite, but she insists that she is all right. As the group continues on, they are found by the military and taken to a command center and field hospital nearby. Marlena begins feeling sick, and begins to bleed from her eyes. The medical staff franticly pull her away for treatment, but they are too late to stop her body from exploding, leaving her dead.

Not having much time to process the shock, Rob begs the military to let him continue his mission to save Beth. The soldier overseeing them agrees to let them, and instructs them to head to the nearby extraction point when they are done before the bombing commences. After climbing the building, and the leaning building right next to it, they finally reach Beth, who is impaled by a metal bar in the shoulder. After removing her, they make their way back down toward the extraction point. Seeing the creature, they flee for a moment. The extraction team franticly escorts them into the remaining helicopters. Lily is escorted to the first, Hud, Rob, and Beth to the second. As they take off, Hud films the creature from above, witnessing it being bombed for a moment. His cheers at the bombs' seeming success are cut short by the creature as it suddenly lunges towards the helicopter, causing it to fall out of the air and crash into Central Park. Shortly afterward, a voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warns that the "Hammer Down Protocol" will begin in 15 minutes, making time short. The three friends regain consciousness and Hud runs back to retrieve the camera that was left behind, suddenly finding himself standing before the towering creature. It looks down, making eye contact with Hud for a moment, then, in the blink of an eye, the creature ensnares Hud in its jaws, biting him in half. The camera crashes back onto the ground and is retrieved by Rob and Beth, who take cover under a nearby bridge. Rob begins to film himself, giving a final testimony of the disaster. He turns the camera to Beth, who is sobbing. Her speech is interrupted by the mass bombing, burring them under rubble.

Later, the footage cuts back to Rob and Beth's date on April 27th in Coney Island. As the camera is pointed towards the beach, an object in the far distance can be seen falling into the ocean.

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 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet M109 Howitzer Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit UH-1 Iroquois HMMWV

Development

To be added.

Production

To be added.

Marketing

Rather than a traditional form of marketing, Cloverfield utilized a mass ARG (Augmented Reality Game) across the internet, to promote the film. As well as expand the film's lore.

Debuting attached to the 2007 Transformers film, Cloverfield's teaser trailer did not reveal the film's title, only a release date. When entering the release date as a URL in the internet search bar, viewers were taken to a website that displayed photos of Rob's going away party, as seen in the teaser. One stand out photo was two of the guests looking horrified.

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 black and white monster movies (King Kong (1933), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), and Them! (1954)) appear throughout Cloverfield. Each movie 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 insect-like 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 that the film shows the creature 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.
• The browser game Cookie Clicker contains an upgrade labelled "Four-leaf clover field," and further references this film in its description: "No giant monsters here, just a whole lot of lucky grass."

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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