Back in 2008, Paramount took a gamble on producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves with a found footage monster movie titled Cloverfield. Using untraditional marketing tactics such as vague trailers, some of which that didn’t even give any information for the movie, not even the title, outside of a date, and a viral marketing campaign on the internet.
Flash forward about 8 years later, Paramount surprises everyone with a sequel titled 10 Cloverfield Lane after years of waiting. They announced the sequel about two months before actually releasing the actual movie and did another ARG (alternate reality game) on the internet. It proved to be successful even though the movie had very loose connections to the original Cloverfield.
While many assumed the Cloverfield franchise was dead prior to 2016, a new entry called God Particle (which will supposedly take on the name of Cloverfield Station upon release) was quickly greenlit. The movie is about some astronauts on a space station who uncover a dark mind-bending secret that tests their survival instinct.
With several delays pushing back the release for unknown reasons, the movie was recently pushed from February 2018 to April 20th, 2018 leaving many wondering when will get any official information. The viral marketing campaign quietly kicked off quite recently but we’re still waiting for a trailer, official title, and any other details to come from Paramount themselves.
According to Deadline, Paramount will potentially skip a theatrical release in favor of handing it to Netflix where it may thrive more. The space horror film has not been officially confirmed for Netflix but Deadline has been told that the announcement will be made during the film’s first look on February 4th during the Super Bowl.
It’s also being reported that Netflix could push God Particle/Cloverfield Station out even sooner than the slated April 20th release date but none of this has been confirmed. This would be an interesting play by Netflix and Paramount as it puts the film in front of the biggest possible audience without making them pay for a ticket or having them leave their home.
After the success of Netflix’s Bright which garnered enough viewers in its first weekend that it would have pulled in over $100 million at the box office if it had released in theaters, this could be a major win for both parties.
As of right now, J.J. Abrams’ God Particle is scheduled to hit theaters on April 20th, 2018 under Paramount’s supervision.
