New Cloverfield Film Signs Babak Anvari As Director

It looks as though the Cloverfield name will live on in a brand-new movie with Babak Anvari directing. Deadline is reporting that a new Cloverfield film is headed to Paramount as they’re looking to reignite the franchise. The script will be written by Joe Barton with J.J. Abrams producing from Bad Robot, along with Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen. Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves, and Drew Goddard will executive produce.

The 2008 Cloverfield film reinvented the found footage genre by introducing it to a sci-fi environment. It dominated the box office at the start of the year and established Matt Reeves as a director to keep your eyes on–which we obviously did. The Batman received a slew of critical acclaim, and big box office numbers back in March.

The viral marketing campaign for the original Cloverfield, along with The Dark Knight, ushered in a modern age of smart and Internet-based promotion style that has been emulated dozens of times since then. A sequel of sorts was made with 10 Cloverfield Lane, which acted more like a horror movie. That was followed by The Cloverfield Paradox in 2018 which debuted on Netflix and attempted to connect to the original more closely than 10 Cloverfield Lane. We’re still unsure which route this new Cloverfield film will go down, or perhaps something new and original.

This is director Anvari’s first foray into big studio franchises but made a name for himself when his first film, 2016’s Under the Shadow, won him a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut Filmmaker. His second film Wounds, starring Armie Hammer and Zazie Beets, premiered at Sundance 2019 and at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and eventually made its way to Hulu. He recently directed his first major studio film with Netflix’s I Came By, starring George Mackay, Kelly Macdonald, and Hugh Bonneville.

No release date, production schedule, or casting information has yet been announced.