10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Cloverfield Franchise

How many hidden details can they fit in to three films?

Lizzy Caplan Cloverfield
Paramount Pictures

In 2008, J J Abrams and Matt Reeves' found footage horror Cloverfield was released in cinemas depicting a New York alien attack. Cinema goers were itching for more, even after spending the film length with their heads in their hands to prevent motion sickness.

Since then, Abrams has released two other movies within the Cloververse: 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016 and Netflix's The Cloverfield Paradox in 2018, each with their own different style and genre but link in some way to the original.

Fans over the years have debated how much these movies really follow on from each other and what is in store of the future, with Abrams having confirmed a fourth instalment in the works since the last film's shocking reception upon release.

But which of these conspiracies are true? What hidden details are there after watching the trilogy? How do they fit together - or are they just three separate films with the same title?

Here is a list of just some things you probably didn't know about the franchise from the very beginning, and what may lie in the future for the next instalment.

10. The Titles Were Kept A Secret

Lizzy Caplan Cloverfield
Paramount Pictures

When making the movies, it comes as no surprise that most of the production was kept under wraps, especially after the success of the first instalment. In fact, nobody in the cast and even some of the crew knew they were making a Cloverfield movie until release.

For the auditions of the first film, actors were given extracts of scripts from previous J. J. Abrams work, with no indication of the plot for what they would be working on.

For 10 Cloverfield Lane, Abrams and his production team accidentally came across the script originally titled The Cellar, and changed the ending to suit the apocalypse style featured in each movie, but still told the actors as limited information as they could.

Subsequently, for The Cloverfield Paradox, the title was kept a secret yet again and was filmed under the name God Particle. They even began shooting before Abrams himself knew how to make it in to a Cloverfield movie. Actors on set were surprised when watching the final cut of the films - even more so when a large portion of editing was completed to fit within the franchise without them knowing.

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