It's been a few short days since Netflix released The Cloverfield Paradox in a surprise move. We'd heard in recent months that the new movie in the Cloverfield franchise was likely to go to Netflix after its theatrical release date was pushed back, but no one expected a surprise release to drop after Sunday's Super Bowl episode. However, the release did drop after the biggest football game of the year, and it dropped quickly. Unfortunately, it was not as well-received as the subscription streaming service hoped, and reportedly producer J.J. Abrams had wanted to tweak the flick while it was still coming together with Paramount.
When Paramount began toying with the idea to sell the then-untitled movie to Netflix a few weeks ago, we learned that the movie had been made on a slightly larger budget than the previous films in the franchise. However, we also learned that when the movie came together insiders reportedly felt the movie was not as good as it could be. In fact, THR notes that J.J. Abrams hoped to get his hands on the movie and tinker with it in post-production. However, by then J.J. Abrams had reintegrated himself into the Star Wars universe, and gotten busy on Star Wars: Episode IX, which was formerly going to be directed by Colin Trevorrow.
Currently, The Cloverfield Paradox is running at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes and at a 37 on Metacritic. Audience reviews for the Netflix film are a little more favorable, with 58% of audiences saying they liked it -- although that's still slightly on the rotten side, according to RT's rating system. It's clear that even the people who enjoyed watching the movie have felt it had some problems, and if J.J. Abrams hadn't signed on for Star Wars: Episode IX at the last minute, we might have gotten a different movie.
A few months ago, the theatrical release of The Cloverfield Paradox was pushed back from a February 2 release to an April 20 theatrical release. Then, Netflix swooped in, bought the movie, and put it out shortly after the originally expected release date. Cloverfield movies have been known for their viral marketing campaigns and this one didn't disappoint. We got a trailer for the movie during the Super Bowl and then the flick was available streaming immediately after.
Considering users only pay a few bucks a month to view Netflix from the comfort of their own homes, Netflix just needs eyeballs to justify the cost of its projects. If users are watching The Cloverfield Paradox, it should actually end up being of great value to the streaming service, despite what reviews may say. The stunt is certainly an interesting one too, as The Cloverfield Paradox sought to compete with the traditional TV model upon its release, namely the big episode of This is Us that had been teased for some time. So, whether or not people are in love with it, it was seemingly a good purchase.
Still, Netflix has only produced a handful of movies that have really resonated with audiences so far. Luckily, the service is ramping up its production of original movies like 2018 and has quite a few more chances to impress coming up.
