The Cloverfield Paradox

[Spider-Fan]

Perhaps not. But I just don't see the value in it. I don't think the brand is so valuable that it needs to be salvaged. I mean, there is a reason that Paramount sold this to Netflix. It was the only way to make this profitable. That indicates that the Cloverfield name really isn't enough of a draw to make a bad horror movie profitable. If that's the case, if there is such little value in this franchise, why even bother with the Cloverfield branding? If you're not going to tell a connective story at this point (which I think is a stupid idea for a whole array of reasons), just let it die.

I can see that, but I can see where Netflix may see the value. They are a name in shows, but to this point their biggest movie was probably Bright and some bad Adam Sandler movies. The Cloverfield name can have value for them at this stage in the young studio's development.

 

[flickchick85]

It’s the weakest of the 3 for myself personally, but I still enjoyed it.

Same.

 

[Matt]

I can see that, but I can see where Netflix may see the value. They are a name in shows, but to this point their biggest movie was probably Bright and some bad Adam Sandler movies. The Cloverfield name can have value for them at this stage in the young studio's development.

Yeah, which is kind of a victim of the medium. Remember, TV shows didn't become a prestige medium for A-listers over night. It didn't happen until 2012 or so...nearly 15 years after The Sopranos premiered. The notion of credible movies that bypass cinematic release is going to take time to catch on (if ever). Netflix is essentially just a new way to distribute direct to video movies. Having brand recognition like Cloverfield could certainly make said direct to video movies profitable. So I definitely see your point there. But if the goal is to make profitable direct to streaming movies, then I think pulling back into anthology is a mistake. From a storytelling perspective, it is certainly preferable. But in terms of marketing...I think there is more value if the next one is able to thrust Clover into the center of the marketing campaign.

 

[Pennywise]

Didn't expect this type of reaction for the film. It wasn't perfect as a lot of the cast was wasted, and a few other things, but I really enjoyed it for the most part.

Wonder if the next film, Overlord will premiere on Netflix as well in October?

 

[Spider-Fan]

Yeah, which is kind of a victim of the medium. Remember, TV shows didn't become a prestige medium for A-listers over night. It didn't happen until 2012 or so...nearly 15 years after The Sopranos premiered. The notion of credible movies that bypass cinematic release is going to take time to catch on (if ever). Netflix is essentially just a new way to distribute direct to video movies. Having brand recognition like Cloverfield could certainly make said direct to video movies profitable. So I definitely see your point there. But if the goal is to make profitable direct to streaming movies, then I think pulling back into anthology is a mistake. From a storytelling perspective, it is certainly preferable. But in terms of marketing...I think there is more value if the next one is able to thrust Clover into the center of the marketing campaign.

I think either way they decide to go, whether it be series or anthology, the focus on making the elements mesh and the effort has to be there. If I am Netflix, I want Cloverfield to help elevate our name and make straight to Netflix movies seem more respectable. Last thing you want is to keep rushing them and making chaotic changes and end up with something no better than what Dimension was doing with Hellraiser in the 2000s (which they did what Cloverfield is now, take existing scripts and insert Pinhead). You don't want Cloverfield to follow that path.

 

[Matt]

I think either way they decide to go, whether it be series or anthology, the focus on making the elements mesh and the effort has to be there. If I am Netflix, I want Cloverfield to help elevate our name and make straight to Netflix movies seem more respectable. Last thing you want is to keep rushing them and making chaotic changes and end up with something no better than what Dimension was doing with Hellraiser in the 2000s (which they did what Cloverfield is now, take existing scripts and insert Pinhead). You don't want Cloverfield to follow that path.

Agreed. But I'm not sure Netflix has much creative control here. Paramount and Bad Robot still own the franchise. They just sold streaming rights to this one to Netflix. Honestly, I think this might be a one time thing for Netflix. This movie is getting panned (which is embarrassing and bad for Netflix's brand). Netflix will make this profitable, simply due to the shock and awe model that they employed with releasing it. But that type of trick really only works once. Being as they have no creative control to fix it and ensure that the franchise can profitable sans marketing gimmicks...there's really not much incentive for them to go down this road again.

 

[Doctor Jones]

They should have just let this be another anthology entry. Hopefully with the 4th one apparently being a WW2 film they can just leave it alone.

They won't. And it's why I was cynical about this when they announced this whole anthology thing. This is what I was afraid it'd turn into. Here's the thing. The word Cloverfield is synonymous with the monster, even if they're unrelated. You need that recognition. They're trying to have their cake and eat it too with trying to greenlight original ideas by combining them with the Cloverfield brand with some connection but if they're gonna be made like this then what utter trash.

Did anyone read that THR article about this? Oh, yes, released on Netflix all of a sudden because everything was fine.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Agreed. But I'm not sure Netflix has much creative control here. Paramount and Bad Robot still own the franchise. They just sold streaming rights to this one to Netflix. Honestly, I think this might be a one time thing for Netflix. This movie is getting panned (which is embarrassing and bad for Netflix's brand). Netflix will make this profitable, simply due to the shock and awe model that they employed with releasing it. But that type of trick really only works once. Being as they have no creative control to fix it and ensure that the franchise can profitable sans marketing gimmicks...there's really not much incentive for them to go down this road again.

Netflix did a smart thing dropping it the way they did, but you're right, it will only work once if the quality isn't there. If they made a film at least as good as 10 Cloverfied Lane (with a better ending ), then I think they could gain some good will for the brand.

 

[Matt]

They won't. And it's why I was cynical about this when they announced this whole anthology thing. This is what I was afraid it'd turn into. Here's the thing. The word Cloverfield is synonymous with the monster, even if they're unrelated. You need that recognition. They're trying to have their cake and eat it too with trying to greenlight original ideas by combining them with the Cloverfield brand with some connection but if they're gonna be made like this then what utter trash.

Did anyone read that THR article about this? Oh, yes, released on Netflix all of a sudden because everything was fine.

The problem isn't even that they are greenlighting original ideas and then combining them with the Cloverfield brand. The problem is that the studio is MAKING original movies and then at some point in time between mid-production and post-production saying "time out! Let's reshoot some of this and make it a Cloverfield movie." They are basically changing the entire movie midway through. How often does post-production modification of that nature really work for films?

Now maybe if they took a script, and reworked it from ground up, with production intending to be a Cloverfield movie from day one, it might be a bit more effective. But the recutting of other movies into Cloverfield is not.

Netflix did a smart thing dropping it the way they did, but you're right, it will only work once if the quality isn't there. If they made a film at least as good as 10 Cloverfied Lane (with a better ending ), then I think they could gain some good will for the brand.

The ending of 10 was the biggest mistake they could've made. At this point, the one thing that connects this franchise is that there is going to be some kind of giant monster, no matter how out of left field. At this point its almost impossible to back up from that. If 10 ended as was originally scripted, where you learn that the Howard character was telling the truth, see that Chicago and society are in shambles, but you aren't really sure how it got there (virus, nuclear war, alien invasion, other), there is a lot more freedom as to what this anthology is. Now it is basically an anthology of giant monster movies that don't really feature the giant monster much.

 

[Spider-Fan]

They won't. And it's why I was cynical about this when they announced this whole anthology thing. This is what I was afraid it'd turn into. Here's the thing. The word Cloverfield is synonymous with the monster, even if they're unrelated. You need that recognition. They're trying to have their cake and eat it too with trying to greenlight original ideas by combining them with the Cloverfield brand with some connection but if they're gonna be made like this then what utter trash.

Did anyone read that THR article about this? Oh, yes, released on Netflix all of a sudden because everything was fine.

Which article?

 

[Doctor Jones]

You're right about that, I didn't even think that through properly.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The ending of 10 was the biggest mistake they could've made. At this point, the one thing that connects this franchise is that there is going to be some kind of giant monster, no matter how out of left field. At this point its almost impossible to back up from that. If 10 ended as was originally scripted, where you learn that the Howard character was telling the truth, see that Chicago and society are in shambles, but you aren't really sure how it got there (virus, nuclear war, alien invasion, other), there is a lot more freedom as to what this anthology is. Now it is basically an anthology of giant monster movies that don't really feature the giant monster much.

I like want to make my own edit of the movie, LOL!!! I am never that guy, but I have rarely seen a movie I was so into go so horribly wrong so quickly

 

[Doctor Jones]

Which article?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/cloverfield-paradox-did-netflix-paramount-get-last-laugh-1081763

 

[Spider-Fan]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/cloverfield-paradox-did-netflix-paramount-get-last-laugh-1081763

Thanks for the link

It's an interesting read, but yeah, normally you don't pull a movie from theaters and give it to Netflix if you are confident in the product.

 

[The Apocalypse]

I have about 30 minutes left and I’m REALLY trying to enjoy this but it really feels like a straight to DVD movie. I understand why it wasn’t released in theaters.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Regarding Jensen

Spoiler

Did anyone else notice the flag on her uniform change? When she's given a uniform at the beginning when they need her help, she's got Monk's Brazilian flag on it. Then later when it shows Schmidt telling her he's "not the one from her dimension" She's got her native French flag on her arm.

 

[samsnee]

God this movie was stupid. So basically, whenever something weird happens, it boils down to "a wizard did it", with the wizard being the accelerator.

 

[Teelie]

It was decent except their MacGuffin, the accelerator, was too powerful to just make things happen or explain away some of the more bizarre aspects of the movie (hello writing arm, vomit worms and where they find the thing).

 

[KaijuDude1992]

If people really are the fence about I'd say its definitely worth checking out, but its probably best if you go in with the lowest expectations. Its well made and the performances alone do elevate it beyond your typical sci-fi horror film, but the weak writing is really its biggest problem IMO. Much like another movie I wasn't a big fan of called Life the many, predictable horror movie tropes are what annoyed me the most.

 

[Broseph44]

Same.

You watched it right when it released last night too?

 

[terry78]

So the consensus is the film is garbage?

 

[The Apocalypse]

So the consensus is the film is garbage?

Unfortunately.

 

[Broseph44]

So the consensus is the film is garbage?

I personally don’t think so

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Well I liked it, but it was still pretty weak in my opinion. I didn’t get how it connected to 10 Cloverfield Lane at all, and the world of the original didn’t feel like a world suffering a crisis or on the brink of war, so was the ending [blackout] another alternate universe [/blackout]?

 

[Doctor Jones]

This movie is lazy in that it uses

Spoiler

alternate dimensions to blanket explain everything going on when it's not totally clear how things are happening.

This can be a problem for sci fi fantasy stories where they use that as an excuse to not explain things which is difficult because how these stories run on these elements function. I still am not clear on everything. I guess

Spoiler

the absolute giant Cloverfield monster in 2018 is a different dimension than the one from the movie?

It's just so sloppy.

Also, what in the actual **** was the point of that sub plot? Where did it lead? Hey, remember that girl? That went absolutely nowhere.