Last year, screenwriter Joe Barton emerged from relative obscurity to tackle two major franchises for rival studios. The first, a spinoff from The Batman focusing on Gotham City’s police department, ultimately didn’t pan out. But he’s still hard at work on the next installment of Paramount’s Cloverfield series, which will reportedly be a direct sequel to the original 2008 film. And in a recent interview, Barton offered a status report on how the project is coming along.
Updates on Cloverfield 2 have been few and far between since Barton signed on to write the film in 2021. But last month, Paramount hired Babak Anvari to direct the sequel, indicating that development was moving forward as planned. While speaking with Variety, Barton confirmed that his final draft of the script is almost complete. He also revealed new insight into his working relationship with producer J.J. Abrams.
“I’m writing it on my own, JJ is a producer on it,” explained Barton. “So I go away and do my drafts and then he gives notes and the Bad Robot execs give notes, and then he’ll jump in occasionally and look at drafts and stuff. I imagine probably the next one, because Babak Anvari just came on to direct so we’re getting closer to production. I’m doing some revisions at the moment and the hope would be that this would be the last sort of big script push, and then we get on to actually making it.”
RELATED: Babak Anvari Will Direct Paramount’s Next Cloverfield Film
So far, Paramount has released two other Cloverfield films: 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane and 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox. However, they both bore very little connection to the original found-footage thriller about a giant monster that attacks New York. If it does turn out to be a sequel, Barton’s film will presumably show the aftermath of the monster’s rampage. It should also reveal once and for all whether the creature survived the U.S. military’s “Hammer Down Protocol” that leveled the city. But although moviegoers have waited nearly 15 years for answers, Barton remains undeterred by fan expectations.
“I think what we’re gonna do with it is going to be really good,” said Barton. “If I didn’t think we had a good idea, I didn’t actually think it was gonna be good, then I’d be worried. But I am really excited about the potential for what we’re doing with Cloverfield, and particularly the story that we came up with. I don’t know, I just think that I would really like to watch it, I think it will be a good movie. People are waiting with different preconceptions or prejudices or whatever. But all you can do at the end of the day is try and make something that’s really good, and then give it to them and see.”
Paramount hasn’t announced a release date (or an official title) for Cloverfield 2.
Are you happy to hear that Barton is almost finished with the script for the sequel? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: 10 Cloverfield Lane (Novelization)
