It’s been a little while since we’ve given a “Cloverfield” update. Frankly it’s just been a bit confusing trying to separate fact from fiction so we’ve been trying to let a few things settle before we reported anything new. So here’s what has come to light in the past week:
The movie will start post-incident. Whatever attack the movie is about has already happened and the movie opens with crews cleaning up after the disaster. One of them will find a camera, rewind the tape inside, and that’s the movie. That’s why the trailer has a home video feel to it, because the entire movie will feel that way. That’s awesome, although I expect we’ll hear complaints of motion sickness like Blair Witch caused. That news comes from AICN, who has had a lot of the inside scoop on the movie so far.
In fact, AICN’s Moriarty has an interesting theory about J.J. Abrams and all the viral marketing that’s going on right now. He posits that Abrams is a fan of the Disney parks. If you know the rides there, you know that the queue lines and the building exteriors are just as much a part of the ride as the physical ride itself. He thinks that’s what Abrams is doing with these websites: building up part of the movie before we get into the theater.
On that side, we know now that the Ethan Haas websites are definitely not part of Abrams project, so stop looking there for answers. Clearly, www.1-18-08.com is definitely a part of the promotion, although the picture count there stays at three. Advertising Age has also added http://slusho.jp/ as a potential element of the mythos. Slusho was a popular drink in Abrams’ “Alias” and appears on a shirt in the mysterous “Cloverfield” trailer.
Advertising Age also has another interesting tidbit on that trailer. Apparently the studio wasn’t behind the editing for it, which is very uncommon. Typically the studio takes care of who handles the trailer, while the production team stays focused on the movie itself. This time, however, it appears Abrams was behind the trailer, literally. The consensus seems to be that he cut the trailer himself, which explains the lack of a title in the trailer. A studio would almost never let that happen.
Meanwhile even The New York Post has gotten into the guessing game, with an article that analyzes the trailer with a fanatical level of detail. They also mention a small crew shooting footage in Coney Island a few weeks ago, including scenes at a Ferris Wheel, bumper cars, skee ball games, and more. One of the owners of the Wonder Park told the press the movie is about an alien invasion and confirmed AICN’s “replay of a videotape” news.
I’m still astonished with how blindsided this movie caught most of us. It’s so rare for anything to get filmed without some website somewhere knowing about it and blabbing all of the news. As much as I’d love to have an inside scoop for our readers, there’s a part of me that would kind of like to go into the final movie as blind as I was for the trailer. That gives more of a chance for an absolutely astounding movie-going experience, with less expectation for disappointment.
