New ‘Cloverfield’ Finds Director in ‘Under the Shadow’s Babak Anvari
The next Cloverfield film, penned by Joe Barton, has found its director in the filmmaker behind 2016’s horror darling Under the Shadow.
After more than 20 months, we’ve received an update regarding the next installment in the Cloverfield franchise, which was reported back in early 2021 to be a straight sequel to the Matt Reeves-directed original found footage flick. According to Deadline, British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari has been given the director’s chair in the long-anticipated project, currently set at Paramount. Those familiar with festival circuits might remember both Under the Shadow (2016) and Wounds (2019) getting some recognition despite not cracking the mainstream discussion.
Even though this marks Anvari’s first tentpole project, he’s been quite busy recently, after he landed a TV development deal at AMC alongside Lucan Toh through their company Two & Two. A varied slate of projects is said to be in development there. He also directed the thriller I Came By — starring George MacKay — for Netflix. It dropped on the streamer on August 31 this year.
January 2021’s report on the new Cloverfield (by The Hollywood Reporter) claimed it was being developed as a sequel to the 2008 original, but Deadline isn’t sure about that part. With 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) taking the franchise into more of an anthology model — though somewhat linked — it seemed like a straight sequel to the most unique American kaiju flick around would never happen, but now there’s a flicker of hope. Joe Barton (The Ritual) remains attached as the sole writer, with J.J. Abrams, Hannah Minghella, and Jon Cohen producing from Bad Robot. Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves, and Drew Goddard (writer of the original film) will executive produce.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
