Still no title for 1-18-08/Cloverfield

Well, JJ Abrams made his schedulded appearance at Comic Con today about 1-18-08.  He gave us very little info, but here’s a quote from the man himself:

“I want a monster movie, I’ve wanted one for so long. I was in Japan with my son and all he wanted to do is go to toy stores. And we saw all these Godzilla toys, and I thought, we need our own monster, and not King Kong, King Kong’s adorable. I wanted something that was just insane and intense. It’s almost done shooting and I watch dailies and I’m more excited for them than the trailer, which has had an overwhelming response. We have 6 months before this comes out. We’re going to have a whole bunch of things, a whole bunch more.” He said a full trailer, more clips, full posters, and much more will be coming out over the next 6 monts, including the name, which he will NOT reveal today.

“You think we’d call it Monstrous? No…”

A couple of days ago, this image of a movie poster was leaked:

Well, today this official poster was released:

 

Its the exact same thing, minus the word “Monstrous”.  Looks like JJ Abrams was a little upset that his poster got leaked, so he’s just denying that “Monstrous” is the title and will now change it.  Or, maybe “Monstrous” is just meant as a tag line for the movie.  Or, maybe the word “Monstrous” was just photoshopped onto the original movie poster.

Regardless, the fact remains that we learned very little about the upcoming movie today.  I guess we’ll just have to continue to wait for now.  Thanks to the guys over at firstshowing.net and their coverage of Comic Con 2007.

Ethan Haas websites not related to the Cloverfield project

Alas, we have all been duped.  Over the last several days, it has become clear that the Ethan Haas websites are not related to the upcoming JJ Abrams movie.  JJ Abrams flat out said they were not related to his movie, and we have since learned that they are part of a promotional campaign for an upcoming RPG game called Alpha Omega.  If you really want to dig into all the proof that the two are not related, I suggest taking a look at this blog that is dedicated to the Ethan Haas angle.

JJ Abrams comments on 1-18-08/Cloverfield websites

A couple of days ago, JJ Abrams commented ever so briefly on the websites surrounding his upcoming movie being release on 1/18/08.  Here’s what he said:

“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.”

For his full quote you can click here.  I’m not completely convinced that the Ethan Haas websites are unrelated, but it is interesting that Abrams definitely implies that there are other websites out there.  The biggest indication that the Ethan Haas websites are related to Cloverfield or 1-18-08 or whatever his movie is going to be called, is that Paramount has been telling YouTube to remove the video clips found on ethanhaaswasright.com, just like they were removing all of the pirated copies of the 1-18-08 trailer.  Perhaps it’s some other Paramount-related movie or video game.

Speaking of related websites, there seems to be one that is almost definitely related to the film – http://slusho.jp/.  You’re not necessarily going to learn much about the movie on the Slusho site, but it is apparently one of the “hidden” websites.  About 52 seconds into the trailer, you can see one of the characters is wearing a Slusho shirt.  More info on this development here and here.

JJ Abrams is slated to appear at the Comic-Con Conference (redundancy?) in San Diego in a couple of weeks.  He’s appearing with others from Paramount to preview upcoming movies, so maybe he’ll get cornered and give some answers about the movie then.  We shall see…

1-18-08 Trailer Now Online

The trailer for JJ Abrams’ upcoming monster movie, codenamed Cloverfield, is now available on the Apple Trailers website. No longer do you have to watch some pirated version of the preview. It’s now available in HD quality exclusively on the Apple Trailer page. It’s also interesting that the movie is titled “1-18-08″ right now. I wonder if that is the actual name of the movie?

More “Ethan Haas Was Right” Cloverfield Puzzle Help

If you are still trying to solve the puzzles on ethanhaaswasright.com, and need some help, you may want to check out this blog post. The 4th puzzle was driving me crazy, but thanks to this walkthough, I was finally able to get through the 4th and 5th puzzle. Good luck!

“Cloverfield” related webistes and links

Not a whole lot of new information on the upcoming JJ Abrams disaster movie has surfaced, but it appears that they have started a couple of new websites to generate more interest. The first is a blog called “The Truth of Ethan Haas”. The second website, ethanhaaswasright.com, has a series of puzzles that as you solve them, you are shown a short video.

If you are like me, and don’t have the patience to figure them out yourself, check out this link. They tell you how to solve the puzzles and have transcripts of the videos.

Its not really clear what all this means exactly, but it is pretty intriguing. Obviously, the point is to generate some buzz, and clearly it is working. One final link: this Reuters news story gives a summary of what we know so far about the Cloverfield movie.

JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield info is scant, but rumors abound…

The movie websites and blogs are abuzz with talk of the “Cloverfield” trailer that is attached to Transformers. There is very little to no official information on this movie coming from Paramount or any other official source, but there is lots of speculation of the unofficial variety. Here’s what we know (or at least think we know):

• Produced by JJ Abrams
• Directed by Matt Reeves
• Written by Drew Goddard
• Release date of 1/18/08 (or maybe not…see below)
• Shot using handheld cameras (think The Blair Witch Project)
• The movie is code-named Cloverfield
• New York City appears to be getting blown to bits (reminiscent of Independence Day)
• There’s also something code-named “the parasite” (maybe the monster?)

There’s now an official website up – www.1-18-08.com. The website gives you no new info really. It’s just a photo of two faces looking up at something, maybe the monster, with a date stamp at the bottom right of the photo of 1/18/08. So does the movie actually come out on 1/18/08? Or is that just the date that the mayhem happens in the movie itself? Perhaps the movie will be released at a later date, like summer 2008. It sure does look like a big summer blockbuster.

There are also lots of theories about what the movie will be about. Some that I’ve read are:

• Godzilla – I’ve read that JJ Abrams is a big fan of Godzilla, but apparently the rights to Godzilla are owned by another company, and there is already a Godzilla project in the works.
• Voltron – This would make sense since the preview is being shown with Transformers, but it seems that a different company owns the rights to this movie as well.
• Lost – JJ Abrams is the producer of the TV series Lost, and season four of Lost will start just a couple of weeks after 1/18/08. The loud noise that accompanies the explosion also sounds an awful lot like the smoke monster in Lost. Could there be a Lost movie? I doubt it during the middle of the series, but who knows. Maybe it’s some sort of intricate promo for Lost.
• Remake of The Host – This was a Japanese monster movie that came out last year I think. Seems a little quick to be remaking that movie.

There is also no indication that principle photography has even started on this film, so it would seem difficult to release a big action movie within six months when production has barely started. Maybe 1/18/08 is when the next trailer will be released.

We know that JJ Abrams is very creative, and is very capable of stringing us long by revealing little bits of info (see Lost). I don’t think anyone knows what this will ultimately turn into, but it’ll be interesting to find out. Check out this slashfilm.com post for more info.

Did you see the JJ Abrams movie trailer before Transformers?

I have to admit, I’m a fan of movie trailers. I always look forward to the previews you have to watch before the movie starts at the theater. I think I may have just seen one of the best ever. Going to Transformers, I figured there would be a bunch of previews for action movies. Instead, we got trailers for all comedies like “Hot Rod” and “The Simpsons Movie”. That is, until the last one showed up. It was one of the most genius trailers I’ve ever seen. There’s no sense in explaining the trailer in detail, but if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. The fascinating thing is that they don’t give you a movie title, or really tell you anything about the plot at all. All you know is that New York City is getting seriously messed up and all heck is breaking loose. At the end they flash on the screen “From producer J.J. Abrams” and that it opens on 1/18/08. Very little info is given, just enough to pique your interest. Genius marketing if you ask me.

Apparently, the movie is code named “Cloverfield”, and it is some kind of monster flick. The moster is being reffered to as “The Parasite”, although, based on the explosions in the trailer, I don’t see how it is about an actual parasite. Probably just a code name like the the title Cloverfield. Unfortunately, the only way to view the trailer right now is on video sharing sites, and that’s just with someone using a video camera in the theater so the quality is poor. You can check that out here. For more info on the film itself, this website seems to have some good info. I really have no idea what the movie will ultimately be about, but I can tell you that there’s about a 99% chance that I’ll be seeing it in the theater when it comes out. Props to JJ Abrams and Paramount for doing something unique and creating some real buzz. Oh, and by the way, Transformers was really good. Best movie I’ve seen in a while.