Update (July 10, 2007): Paramount has released the trailer, which is available in high-res at apple.com. Very cool.
I hate to add to what is going to be a huge and probably overwrought viral meme, but a trailer shown before "Transformers " is getting quite a buzz. It looks at first like a comedy (guy leaving town, video shot using hand-held cameras at going away party: will he find out his girlfriend is pregnant, or his best friend’s girlfriend is pregnant, or he is pregnant?), or maybe a thriller (maybe people at the party start getting killed…), but then, well, all hell breaks loose. It was an extremely well done trailer; there’s enough in it (giant explosion in downtown NYC but seen from far away! Giant pieces of debris arcing slowly in the air, raining down in the street!) to make you excited, but not enough to give you any ideas of what’s going on.
And it’s certainly designed to do things like having me write a blog entry about it.
The trailer was on YouTube but was taken down by Paramount’s request… or is this part of the marketing strategy?
See how this works? Hmmm?
Oh yeah– no title is given, just "Produced by JJ Abrams" at the end, and the release date: January 18, 2008. Rumor has it the name is "Cloverfield". Not much help, eh?
The official movie site — www.1-18-08.com — only has this image on it:
Some blogs have pirated versions of the trailer, like Four Guys and ScreenRant (I just added the latter to my feed list; it looks like a fun site). Watch it while you can.
A modicum more info can be found at Slashfilm and Movie Marketing Madness. First Showing has a much longer description of the trailer, too.
I’ll admit it looks very, very cool. I’ll watch it.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
A tiny little bit tasteless, post 911?
OK, it’s been 6 years, but still…
July 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Gabbo Gabbo GABBO!
July 5th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
The trailer was incredibly intense, mostly because of the amateur-style photography and the total lack of context for what was going on. The sketchy amount of info out there about it just makes me chomp at the bit for more.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Could it be something to do with “Lost”? Here it is on IMDB, although not much useful info there… http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/
P.S.: Am eagerly awaiting the BA evaluation of “Transformers”.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Theropod: Your every wish has been thought of in advance. See the last Bablog entry for BA’s Transformer’s review.
July 6th, 2007 at 1:07 am
SciFi Wire also has a story about this
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=42332&type=0
J/P=?
July 6th, 2007 at 2:32 am
What’s this about Gabbo?
July 6th, 2007 at 4:40 am
When will it be OK to explore 9/11 in film and literature? it’s going to happen, for sure – people will want… they will demand… treatments of 9/11 in film and literature. When won’t it be “tasteless”?
I’m not trying to torque you up, I’m very serious. This very topic comes up occasionally in places I frequent.
July 6th, 2007 at 4:49 am
No.
July 6th, 2007 at 5:38 am
Honestly? The creature sounds like Godzilla — though Godzilla never really made things blow up.
July 6th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Honestly, the first thing I thought of was Tetris.
July 6th, 2007 at 7:30 am
Actually, there have already been some movies on 9/11 – “Flight 93″ is the title that springs to mind, though I know there are a couple of others. There is also a very well-done foreign film, “The Hamburg Cell”, that is a fictionalized story of the terrorists involved. (We watched this one for my Terrorism class last semester and I highly, highly recommend it.)
July 6th, 2007 at 7:59 am
“Could it be something to do with “Lostâ€?”
I doubt it. It’s just by the same guy, is all.
July 6th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Both at the beginning and the end, the credits show a title of ‘Bad Robot’.
In any event…what’s this stuff doing on Bad Astronomy? Or is there a joke here I’m missing? Something to do with, “Bad X”.
Maybe you need a second blog, Phil, devoted to stuff that’s not astronomy related?
July 6th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Oops, nevermind. Bad Robot, of course, is the name of the production company. I new that. Really.
July 6th, 2007 at 8:37 am
R O B E A S T !
Somebody call the Voltron force, quick!
July 6th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Or he could, maybe, continue to post anything he feels like on his blog, and you can ignore posts that aren’t up to your standard.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Haven’t any of you guys heard of IMDb? It’s listed under J. J. Abrams, as “Untitled J. J. Abrams Project (2008).” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/ It’s a giant monster movie seen through the cameras of various people during the attack.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Oops…I see someone already posted that link, I must have been skimming. But it seems no one looked at it. As far as the relevance to this blog, though, we can always hope it’s a monster from outer space.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hang on a sec, Will. I know we get a lot of people getting all testy here when I post non-astronomy stuff, but I think Tailspin Tommy was just making an honest suggestion.
TT, I do post off-topic here, though usually it has something to do with science and skepticism. I don’t post off-topic often enough to warrant a second blog.
Mighty Favog, if you read the IMDB entry carefully, you’ll see that it never says it’s a monster movie. That was one reader’s opinion. The rumors are that it will be some sort of monster, but no one knows for sure.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Clarification my above remark regarding the trailer being tasteless post 9/11:
It seems to me that the trailer is knowingly playing off our 9/11 fears- large explosion/fireball in downtown NYC.
Of course, blowing up Manhattan has been a staple of Sci-Fi schlock long before 9/11. Every summer we’ve seen aliens being fought off by plucky New Yorkers, who must be getting pretty tired of being invaded by now.
Still-
I think the trailer shows bad taste at the very least.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Gabbo will be here soon….
July 6th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Via Whedonesque (because Buffy & Angel alum Drew Goddard is the writer), a link to Box Office Prophets has (very little) more information.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am
I think the cries of “GOJIRA!” and “VOLTRON!” are WAAAY off. My personal way-off guess is “Parasite Eve,” as it is set in Manhattan and involves huge mutant blobs the could shout fireballs. The only problem wth that is that the games aren’t nearly popular enough for a movie of this size to be made by a director of such clout.
I think we all just need to take a chill pill and relax like Frankie until we get the full story.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Christian, the best way for the general public to defeat terrorism is to ignore it. And 9/11 is no different in this case. Tip-toeing around it serves only to please our furry friends, the Taliban.
There are a lot of tasteless movies out there, and this may well be one of them. But it is not because of implicit or explicit links to 9/11.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:36 am
PK: Yes, but it’s tacky to try and make money off people’s fears in this way.
I wouldn’t care os much if this wasn’t a hyper-realistic trailer that appears to show a normal day in NYC being interrupted by a huge explosion. They’re marketing the movie in a way that exploits our memories of 9/11.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News has a bit more on this. It could be Cthulu.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33238
July 6th, 2007 at 11:01 am
9/11 was six years ago. Get over it.
Things exploded before September of 2001. No, really. They did. All the time. Sometimes even in cities! Sometimes, people died!
I swear to you that all I am saying is true.
July 6th, 2007 at 11:17 am
I vote for a Godzilla remake.
The party is a send-off for a trip to Japan.
Note the lady in the teaser said “Good luck in Japan?”
If it is a remake, it’s the one that they should have done, and not that awful giant Iguana thing.
Looks excellent!
P.s. If it were Cthulhu, that would be cool too…But I don’t think he’s that big…
July 6th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Okay, beating a dead horse…but IMDb DOES say it’s a monster movie. Just go to the synopsis page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/synopsis
Since the information on IMDb is provided by the filmmakers themselves, we can trust that this is accurate.
July 6th, 2007 at 11:56 am
A Reuters (via Yahoo!) article agrees with the Giant Monster/Blair Witch thread
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070706/film_nm/cloverfield_dc
Um, Favog, you might check the top of the page:
The content of this page was created directly by users and has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff.
J/P=?
July 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
John, I see you’re right about the disclaimer, that little synopsis box is apparently a new feature that is different from the “Plot Outline” they’ve always had. In the past, at least in my experience, any information on IMDb concerning a film that was “in production” was provided by the filmmakers, since no one had seen the film. I base this on the fact that I have been involved in a couple of small films listed there. However, the synopsis information comes from a highly reputable source, AintItCoolNews. If you follow their reporting regularly, you know they often deal in rumors, but rumors are clearly treated as such. They have the trust of many of the higher-ups–some VERY high up–in Hollywood, and when they say that they can confirm something, then you can consider it CONFIRMED. Here’s the link to the relevant article: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33197
Of course they can’t always reveal their sources, but they have very rarely been proved wrong.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Incidently, the “Gabbo” line cracked me up. I think about that whenever I read about lunar regolith with gabbro in it.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
As many of you know, its a long standing film tradition (like using “MOT” for filming second unit silent footage,) to apply a code name for a production, so “Cloverleaf” is likely the project’s working title. How old it this tradition? The original King Kong (1933) was shot under the title “Jubilee”.
By the way, the filming of this trailer is only in the style of “amateur photography” but is not really amateur. Its very professionally made in that every scene, even the short blurry running ones, counts as a well planned panicky glimpse of mounting tension. The editing is quite good.
July 6th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Good point, Chip. Also, it’s likely that it isn’t shot on consumer-grade home video cameras either. It’s most likely shot in hi-def, so the special effects can be added seemlessly, then digitally degraded to look like it was shot with a cheap camera. It would be extremely difficult to add the effects and make them match the poor quality of home cameras.
July 6th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Oh, and BTW, supposedly “Cloverfield” is the name of the street where the production company has offices, as referenced in that last link I posted.
July 6th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Seeing as how the imdb synopsis has a little “edit” tab right there, I think we can assume it didn’t come from the studio.
I hear that two viral sites about “Ethan Haas” may be connected to the movie.
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com/
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com/
July 6th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Yup, no criticism intended, Phil. It’s just that I come here for astronomy/science and always get my money’s worth and then some. And as an exceptional thinker/writer it’d be a shame if you stifled yourself. I was just suggesting maybe a little focus.
Will: thbbbbbbbbbbbb
July 6th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I just hope to God it doesn’t suck as bad as War Of The Worlds. I was SO psyched to see that flick……..and I was greatly disappointed……same old Spielberg fare. (Though those tripods were VERY cool!)
Lets hope there are no scenes of:
Astronauts/heros walking in slo-mo towards the camera
1) People outrunning fireballs/explosions (in slo-mo…..or regular-mo)
2) Characters who were once a couple (but are now separated and just need to sign the divorce papers…..but neither wants to) discussing “….how good we were together…” all while the planet is under attack.
3) Characters smiling and laughing at the end, despite having just dodged numerous grisly attempts to kill them by horrific means and witnessing the attempted slaughter of civilization
4) Characters who just get back up and shrug off getting whacked in the nads/jumping from agreat height/getting the snot smacked out of them
5) ‘Matrix’-style slo-mo moves. I HATE that stuff!!!!
6) Speeding automobiles striking a solid, stationary object, yet same object acts as a ramp and propels auto directly into bad guy/alien/whatever.
7) Cutsey references/nods to other sci-fi/monster flicks
9) Some nerd/slacker with a backpack full of computer stuff who can hack into any system, at any time, from any location…….because he just happens to have this handy algorithm….
(The bad guys are mere seconds away……our hero opens his backpack, pulls out some USB port gizmo, plugs in….hammers away on the keyboard…….”OK! I”M IN!”)
Feel free to contribute.
July 7th, 2007 at 1:02 am
10) People getting shot in the shoulder and then declaring: “It’s only a flesh wound”. (Maybe it’s me, but my body seem to keep a lot of bones and major arteries there).
11) People chucking a wounded comrade up on his shoulder and then outrun the bad guys chasing them with a motorbike/helicopter. (Just carrying a woman over a door threshold is an undertaking that might give you hernia or strain a back muscle, not to mention what she will put you through for years to come).
July 7th, 2007 at 1:03 am
12) The Hidden II.
July 7th, 2007 at 11:11 am
13) The amazingly nerdy Scientist who ‘just happens’ to be working on an invention – almost complete when the movie opens, and usually in his basement, and without the permission of the Discredited Scientist – which is originally designed to do Wonderful Things for the World, but is coincidentally the ONLY thing to which the aliens/monster/evil genius is vulnerable.
14) The incredibly Beautiful Daughter of the Discredited Scientist who helps #13 in defeating the aliens/monster/Evil Genius (As her father dies – in the penultimate scene – he tells #13 that he’s always considered him the only fit match for his Beautiful Daughter).
July 7th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Check out http://www.ParasiteMovie.com
July 7th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
[...] around, reviews the science of the movie. He too wants to know what’s up with this whole Cloverfield [...]
July 8th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Go to http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com/ and click on the star on the left.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Interestingly, on that glove, if you click some of the icons, it plays a pattern. If you repeat the pattern, the site gives you a video clip. I don’t have my audio up at work, so I can’t hear what it says. But this whole thing is giving me Cthulu vibes.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:25 am
The “Ethan Haas” wikipedia page has little info, but a link to that ethanhaaswasright.com was added July 6th. Very recent.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Also, (sorry for so many posts in a short time!) the WHOIS for the ethanhaaswasright.com shows the domain was registered on the 7th. Interesting.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:31 am
This would explain how the Wikipedia page was changed a day before the site was registered. The person who updated the page came from the Exetel network in Sydney, Australia. International date line and all that
July 9th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Am I the only person who cannot find the star on the left side at http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com ? I hear people talking about clicking on the star, but I see no star
July 9th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
It’s Lavos!
July 9th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
its also featured on http://www.comingsoon.net, though there still isnt anything else said about it! the monster is currently dubbed “the parasite”
July 9th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
a Godzilla movie could be. because i remember when last one came out their talk about making other one and if you seen their doritos ad with Godzilla in it last their make that ad was when Godzilla movie came out
July 9th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
watching trailer it look like Godzilla movie i think their going make it like old Godzilla movie were he fight other Monster it sound like Godzilla is coming back to ny like he did in other movie
July 10th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Full trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/11808/
July 10th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Great piece of marketing. I like how the Statue of Liberty head causes an explosion in the builiding it crashes into. This must be that super explosive paint the City of New York used while restoring Lady Liberty a few years ago.
This is definitely a Godzilla movie. Godzilla’s signature weapon is his distinctive atomic breath. This power is commonly mistaken for breathing literal fire.
Japanese Godzilla films show that in addition to his deadly atomic breath, Godzilla can also emit atomic energy in all directions from every inch of his body in a short-range pulse. The pulse was first seen in his fight against Biollante. Godzilla only used the nuclear pulse in the heisei series, although many consider the climactic scene in Godzilla 2000 to be a use of Godzilla’s nuclear pulse. The Nuclear Pulse returns in 2004′s Godzilla Final Wars, where Godzilla used it against Kaiser Ghidorah. I think the downtown nuclearesque explosion in the “Cloverfield” trailer is Godzilla’s nuclear pulse or breath.
There have been rumors that a Godzilla 2 will be released by Sony. Time will tell.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Has anyone else noticed on the the official movie site (www.1-18-08.com) image that there appears to be a subliminal image of a monster-like creature in the intersection of the two women’s hair? Am I just crazy, or do others see it?
July 10th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Has anyone noticed the girl on the far right in the second picture? Looks a little strange to me
July 10th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Hey, check out:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/11808/
for the un-pirated, much better quality trailer.
Jake
July 10th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
This is NOT a Godzilla movie. Godzilla is license to UNIVERSAL, this is a PARAMOUNT movie, so no more talk of Godzilla.
Also, JJ Abrams has now publicly stated that ethanhaaswasright.com is not affiliated with his film, but he HAS hinted that they are doing some viral vid sites online (he also claims that the only one that has been found sofar is 1-18-08.com – so keep looking!) Read the article here:
http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/07/09/jj-abrams-says-ethan-haas-has-nothing-to-do-with-cloverfield/
Whatever it is, i have a feeling we’re not going to be dissapointed.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I found a clue. http://www.slushozoom.com
July 13th, 2007 at 10:47 am
THE CREATURE ON THE LOST PILOT WAS NOT THE SMOKE CREATURE ON LATER EPISODES. JJ ABRAMS JUST HAD THE CREATURE ON THE PILOT THEN DROPPED IT. I BELIEVE THIS IS THE SAME “MONSTER” THAT WILL BE IN “CLOVERFIELD”. IT HAD THE SAME EXACT ROAR AND WAS HUGE AS WAS SAID IN THE “CLOVERFIELD” TRAILER. I BELIEVE THE MOVIE WILL HAVE A GREAT SPIN ON THE LOST SEASON PREMIER. (Which starts in Feb 08). I THINK THE MOVIE WILL LINK WITH LOST. HMMM. HOW DO I KNOW SO MUCH???
July 13th, 2007 at 10:50 am
HEY GUYS, MAYBE JJ ABRAMS LEFT THE POST ABOVE????
I THINK HE DID.
July 13th, 2007 at 11:17 am
I FOUND A CLUE!!!!!!!! I TYPE IN THE LICENSE PLATE OF THE SUV THAT THE STATUE OF LIBERTY HITS AND IT IS DEFINATLEY A SITE FOR THE MOVIE. CHECK IT OUT HERE AND COMMENT AFTER YOU WATCH IT.
http://www.abz3293.com/
July 13th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Some told me that this Side Production has something to do with the whole thing. I don’t see how. They have a Web site that was recently registered. The only thing I could find on YouTube was this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5JkGfoQrPw. Not sure it has anything at all to do with it but it’s been getting some buzz.
I’m certainly confused.
July 13th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
It’s an Alias spin off movie….
July 14th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
The Gossip Rag is reporting that the movie title for Cloverfield is going to be revealed later this month at Comic Con! Pretty cool … http://www.thegossiprag.com
July 16th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
This is quite ridiculous just about as bad as the cloverfield rumors out there. sheesh.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
ITS A MOVIE ABOUT DONKEY KONG.
MARK MY WORDS.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Its quiet obvious. Its Trent Reznors movie (Nine Inch Nails if you dont know) for the album YEAR ZERO. He said it would come. These are the same marketing tactics he used for the movie. Anyone else notice in the preview its 63 degrees in NEW YORK in JANUARY?
Think about it.
My other thoughts are its a “Kamen Rider” movie, or.. what I would love.. “RAMPAGE” (Playstaion) THE MOVIE!
July 18th, 2007 at 12:09 am
And for the comment above my first one saying “DONKEY KONG”… he might not be wrong either. Slusho shows a DONKEY on their website and a yoshi looking cloud. It would be interesting if they remake Super Mario Bros. the movie, or something similar.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:12 am
Er sorry for wasting space but for my final thought… I really truely believe… Year Zero… it just with all the sixes floating around…
Also, the reason I think RAMPAGE THE MOVIE is because of the history of Slusho. In the video game, the humans drink SCUM soda to become the creatures. Scum comes from the ocean. Slusho’s ingredient comes from the waters as well. If you hear the roar closely, it sounds like a mammal, or possibly a water creature…or both, one calling the other with each growl.
Just a thought. Need more? contact me.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:17 am
PS THIS IS NOT, I REPEAT, NOT A GAH DAMN GODZILLA MOVIE
SONY OWNS GODZILLA AND THERE CANT BE ANOTHER FOR 13 YEARS
July 18th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
it can’t be a godzilla movie or remake b/c this project was picked up by paramount pictues. They do not have the rights to do a godziilla movie and godzilla is officially retired until 2013.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:54 am
At the 1-18 website there are three pictures. There’s been no update there since the release of these three photos.
Take a clue from the Slusho website and flip those three pictures upside down. Each of these images contains the number six embedded within it (only viewable upside down).
July 19th, 2007 at 12:58 am
At the 1-18 website there are three pictures. There’s been no update there since the release of these three photos.
Take a clue from the Slusho website and flip those three pictures upside down. Each of these images contains the number six embedded within it (only viewable upside down).
I can’t believe there’s been no analysis of this. In the first photo of the two girls, there’s a six visible under the eye of the girl on the right (when you flip the image). On the second, there’s a much more obvious image of the number six which has been much ballyhooed-about.
On the third, there’s a six on the face of the woman in the center of the picture.
666. LOOK.
August 1st, 2007 at 11:40 pm
UPDATE ON 1-18-08.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you shake the picture on top of the stack, it eventually flips over with a message. The same can be done with all pictures but only the pics of the party have writing. A huge development on the story? No, but an interesting one at least. I’m positive the pictures will keep coming and I’m sure messages will as well. If you read this, send this to as many as you can.
Long live ARGs.
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:04 am
[...] these be location shoots for the much-blogged "Cloverfield" movie? I’m not sure. It seems possible, though it also seems to be [...]
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 am
Light~ 300,000 km/sec
Sound~ .3 km/sec
August 6th, 2007 at 10:27 am
JJ Abrams is too clever to make a simple Godzilla ripoff. there is some twist here, and I’m putting money on the fact that we’re all supposed to think it’s a Godzilla ripoff.
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Hey guys,
Check out my premise if you get a chance. This is not a spoof video. One reason I feel certain I know what the monster is that I’ve been working on a very similar premise.
Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb8O6HpWEgs
January 14th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Well this is a little bit late but yea…
It’s confirmed that this is America’s version of Godzilla bascially. The director “thought we needed our own monster”
Name is Cloverfield after changing it to sluho, then alias,then cheese (to tyr and maintain secretive) and now post production back to Cloverfield.
Kthx