I didn’t see Transformers and have no plans to check it out. Sue me. No interest at all. So this is how the Cloverfield trailer eluded me. I saw something mentioned on Ain’t It Cool News a while back that Alias/Lost producer J.J. Abrams was involved in a super-secret monster movie in production, tentatively titled Cloverfield. With such an ambiguous title and a producer from two shows that I haven’t really ever watched, I filed it away in my mental notebook that when the trailers started to hit, I would later acknowledge that I’d seen something about this a while back and that would be that.
However, Cloverfield is running out front of Transformers with a really strange teaser.
Drop by firstshowing.net and check it out before it gets pulled.
All set? Good. Here’s what I know after a few minutes of research. For the moment, everything involved with this movie appears to be some kind of guerilla marketing attempt. I’m sure that the up and down trailer videos from Youtube that look like some cam job of a Transformers piracy are part of it. You don’t see anything in the teaser, but this is supposed to be some kind of American produced kaiju, you know? Like Godzilla. The studio is being extremely hush hush about it. Why? I have no idea. The shitty, blurry, cam trailer shows a series of home video camera POV shots of a party and then all hell breaks loose in the city as some kind of Godzilla roar fills the air. Something blows up and then chaos ensues on the streets. The end. The best part of this news, to me, is that the entire movie is going to be shot in that handheld way. It’s like you’re supposed to be there as some kind of giant monster destroys New York. Cool.
Color me interested. Very interested. I like me some kaiju. With any luck, they’ll do this right and it’ll be cooler than Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla.
There had better be a giant robot involved.
July 5, 2007 9:12 pm
SO THAT’s WHAT THAT TRAILER WAS FOR!!!! I saw Transformers today and was wondering WTF was going on with that trailer. At first I thought it was just some winner of a movie short project or something. There were some ads for Coke or Sprite or something like that where a UFO is attacking and the kid pulls out a really poorly CGI’d Rocket launcher which was a representation of what he could do as a fimmaker.
I will say though that the trailer had me REALLY intregued.
July 6, 2007 5:27 am
The concept is great. It’s a ground-level view of monster mayhem in a major city. From what I hear, it’s scheduled to be released in January and the pitch for the movie was that short that you saw. The studio bought it right away.
July 6, 2007 7:49 pm
Yup I just got back from Transformers and the trailer for Project Cloverfield (or whatever the heck they’re going to call it) was there ad was insanely cool. that bad camcorder capture of it doesn’t do it justice. It’s seemed so real. I think it taps into our fears of 9-11 again. With Abrams involved you know it’ll be intense. By the way Transformers was fantastic. I was completely surprised how much I enjoyed the movie. Definitely check it out. A lot of fun for a popcorn flick. The new Camaro is sweet! I drove a 69 Camaro SS back in high school so it was great to see the old body style return.
-Retroman DC
http://www.dchighway.com
July 7, 2007 12:19 am
From AICN:
Now What Is The Film About?
That’s been tightly underwraps too. However, I’ve been hit with a tidbit that has me very curious. Here’s one of several emails I’ve received about this project…
Hey Harry,
I’m sure you are already on top of this, but if you’re not, google “Ethan Haas”. There are two new viral sites for the new JJ Abrams project, and some of the names thrown around on the sites, including Mezin, Alhazred, and references to a “Mad” prophet lead me (and several bloggers) to believe this project has something to do with Lovecraft’s Old Ones.
Please jump all over this one and let us know what the hell is going on! A JJ Abrams Lovecraft project would be unreal!!!
Aaron
Well – doing that leads you to this painfully annoying site: EthanHaasWasRight.Com
At this stage – it’s a rumor. Is JJ playing with Cthulhu? Is this film about the ancients returning to tear our world asunder? Is it really going to be captured entirely through hand held cameras operated by us mere ants? OR – is that just the marketing push?
:::MALACHE WATCHES BRYAN PISS HIMSELF IN A FIT OF THE OMG GIGGLES:::
July 7, 2007 4:48 am
CTHULHU FTAGN!
July 7, 2007 4:57 am
Looks like ethahaaswasright.com is part of an alternate reality game. There’s a puzzle on the front page (works like the old Simon toy) and if you break it, there’s a video behind it. Then there’s another puzzle behind it. Still working on it. If this is some kind of Lovecraft flick, I will freak the fuck out.
July 9, 2007 11:10 pm
Looks like we’re heading in the wrong direction!!
FROM AICN:
Hey folks, Harry here… There’s conspiracy theories abounding regarding JJ’s little flick to juice us up for his badass STAR TREK recreation. So JJ Abrams wrote me to give us all a clue, cuz we’re at square one of this mystery! But note… the game sites apparently have nothing to do with JJ. And also… he seems to be stating that you guys have yet to find all the sites he’s put up… and yes, you’ll have to find them. The man is laughing at you, me and all of those hiding in the shadows. SO… find em if you can… let us know here at AICN… seems we have a scavanger hunt, ain’t it cool?
Dear Sir,
Thanks for your support of our little movie. I can’t wait to talk to you more about it — of course, knowing you, by the time we talk you’ll know more than I will.
Regarding the online stuff you posted: yeah, we’re doing some fun stuff on the web. But, obviously, if the movie doesn’t kick some massive ASS, who gives a rat’s about what’s online? So as you can imagine, we’re focusing mostly on THAT. For what it’s worth, the only site of ours that people have even FOUND is the 1-18-08.com site. The others (like the Ethan Haas sites) have nothing to do with us.
Stay cool the rest of the summer — and thanks per usual for AICN!
JJ
September 26, 2007 1:35 am
I just don’t see how this guy has the balls to put a trailer out for a movie to which has no name. I mean, so what he’s done lost, do I really care that its a JJ Abrams movie? Would I be more or less excited had i not known? I just think he’s playing a little game with us using his ego.