What Happened to the Cloverfield Franchise? (And Will It Ever Come Back?)

For one second, it looked like Cloverfield could be one of the most exciting new movies franchises around. 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016 suggested that the original 2008 Cloverfield would be the impetus for a new anthology series of movies disconnected from each other save for having Cloverfield in their respective names. The possibilities seemed endless for this saga offering up filmmakers a chance to explore bold visuals and original stories with the safety net of the “Cloverfield” name. Like so many great plans in Hollywood, though, these ambitions never got fully realized.

It’s now been seven years since The Cloverfield Paradox debuted on Netflix right after the 2018 Super Bowl. Since then, there’s been an occasional flutter of rumors pertaining to new Cloverfield movies, but nothing concrete. For all intents and purposes, a franchise that could go anywhere now looks dead in the ground. Given that Cloverfield came back after eight years of inactivity with a splashy with 10 Cloverfield Lane, why did this saga suddenly vanish again? What led to the Cloverfield franchise meekly roaring into oblivion?

The Cloverfield Paradox’s Adverse Ripple Effects

All of the problems with the Cloverfield franchise and its collapse can be traced back to 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox. Always meant to be a larger-scale entry in this franchise, The Cloverfield Paradox had a troubled production that included the initially standalone movie (entitled God Particle) being retroactively made into a Cloverfield installment during principal photography. A deluge of costly reshoots also transpired that not only further brought Cloverfield Paradox closer to its predecessors, but also drove up its budget significantly.

Once the $5 million budgeted motion picture reached $40 million in its price tag, Paramount Pictures sold the title to Netflix. Already such a chaotic production jeopardized the idea of Cloverfield movies becoming a thrifty regular fixture of Paramount’s release plans. Additionally, the dismal reviews for The Cloverfield Paradox, and especially criticism for how much it intertwined with the original Cloverfield, diluted the prestige of the Cloverfield brand name. It was a welcome sight to see the Cloverfield name on the big screen again in 2016. Two years later, that moniker had already taken a major hit.

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Further complicating matters for future Cloverfield installments was producer J.J. Abrams. The Bad Robot Productions founder left Paramount Pictures for a super-costly Warner Bros. first-look deal in 2019. With Abrams now situated at a rival studio, getting new Cloverfield stories going at Paramount was going to be a tricky proposition. The busy schedules of other key Cloverfield franchise personnel like Matt Reeves, Drew Goddard, Julius Onah, and Dan Trachtenberg have also heightened the problems of making further Cloverfield installments a reality.

Could Cloverfield Come Back Someday?

Over the years, there’s been constant rumors and rumblings that more Cloverfield movies are on the horizon. Key creatives like Reeves will say they’d be open to returning to this world, while screenwriter Joe Barton penned a script for a new entry in early 2021. However, nothing ever came out of these developments. External industry issues like the COVID-19 pandemic shutting things down or 2023’s dual strikes have proven further obstacles to even potential Cloverfield revival plans.

Now, it no longer looks like time is on this saga’s side. With each passing year since The Cloverfield Paradox’s debut, it looks less and less likely that Cloverfield will ever roar again in theaters. Still, the whole point of this franchise is the element of surprise. Nobody knew 10 Cloverfield Lane was connected to the Cloverfield saga or even what on Earth Cloverfield was before their respective marketing campaigns began. If there’s any franchise that could come back from the dead someday, it would be this one.

It doesn’t hurt that a new J.J. Abrams movie (made at Warner Bros.) starring Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega is on the horizon. If that feature hits the cultural zeitgeist just right, it could reignite interest in Bad Robot’s various properties, including Cloverfield. Plus, if the Cloverfield franchise were to make a comeback, The Cloverfield Paradox provides a great blueprint for what to avoid to keep this anthology film series fresh. Avoid directly linking Cloverfield installments, focus on the standalone thrillers that made Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane great. Focusing on those elements would totally justify resurrecting what’s currently a dormant kaiju-centric franchise.

The Cloverfield Paradox is now streaming on Netflix.