We’ve been operating under the assumption that Bad Robot’s WWII-set sci-fi/horror movie Overlord was a Cloverfield movie for ages now, essentially because it’s Bad Robot and it’s sci-fi, and if anything screams “Cloverfield” it’s that.
However, JJ Abrams has stated that the film, directed by Julius Avery and starring Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Jacob Anderson, and Pilou Asbaek, is not in the Cloverfield universe, per Variety.
The Bad Robot head honcho made the statement in a pre-taped chat at CinemaCon, where he described the film as “bat shit crazy.” It’s also the first R-rated Bad Robot movie, and descriptions of the footage shown at the event sound pretty damn gory. Overlord is “about World War II soldiers who find out the Nazis are using supernatural forces and engaging in gruesome experiments.”
He also noted that a proper Cloverfield follow-up was on the way, saying “we’re actually developing a true, dedicated Cloverfield sequel.” This presumably means something that isn’t retrofitted, like the critically-mauled The Cloverfield Paradox, which will forever be remembered for suddenly being dropped on Netflix with no warning and Chris O’Dowd having a conversation with a severed arm.
Overlord is released on 25 October. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.