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New ‘Cloverfield’ Movie in Development From Director Babak Anvari, J.J. Abrams Producing for Bad Robot

Another chapter in the “Cloverfield” universe is coming.

“Wounds” director Babak Anvari has been tapped to helm the newest installment of the hit horror series. J.J. Abrams is producing from Bad Robot, along with Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen. Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves and Drew Goddard will executive produce. Joe Barton, who penned the 2017 cult horror hit “The Ritual,” is set to write the script.

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This next installment is currently in development at Paramount Pictures and will be the fourth chapter in the experimental sci-fi series. The first film, 2008’s “Cloverfield,” was a found footage alien invasion movie that became a sleeper hit. The second chapter, 2016’s “10 Cloverfield Lane,” modified an existing script to fit within the “Cloverfield” universe and became a commercial and critical hit, anchored by strong performances from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman. The third installment, 2018’s space thriller “The Cloverfield Paradox,” was widely panned but gained notoriety as Netflix announced the project during the Super Bowl, confirming that fans would be able to watch it immediately after the game.

Abrams, who has produced all of the films in the series, spoke to Time when the first installment came out in 2008 about why he thought found footage was the proper medium for this creature feature.

“The movie is meant to be entertainment, to give people the sort of thrill I had as a kid watching monster movies,” he said. “I hadn’t seen anything that felt that way for many years. I felt like there has to be a way to do a monster movie that’s updated and fresh. So we came up with the Youtubification of things, the ubiquity of video cameras, cell phones with cameras. The age of self-documentation felt like a wonderful prism through which to look at the monster movie. Our take is what if the absolutely preposterous would happen? How terrifying would that be? The video camera, we all have access to. There’s a certain odd and eerie intimacy that goes along with those videos. Our take is a classic B monster movie done in a way that makes it feel very real and relevant, allowing it to be simultaneously spectacular and incredibly intimate.”

Adam B. Vary contributed to this report.

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