Considering the whopping commercial success of CLOVERFIELD, $25 million
production has earned over $80 million worldwide, natch it has to be
turned
into a sequel and preferably, by Hollywood, a franchise trilogy. But how?
What story is left? Can it still use the conceit of a single-camera POV?
In reverse order:
--Yes.
--We either saw the Creature survive--or it had an heir.
--CLOVERLAND: Two years after CLOVERFIELD, the country officially breaks
ground on the NYC memorial, with politicians from across the country
onscene, months after the city was nuked (with the radiation being key to
tracking and destroying any hidden minions). A local reporter and her
videographer are watching the event--on tv--and going back to her normal
fluff pieces--in Miami--when guess who--or what--shows up for pulled pork
sandwiches, sun, surf and some spare ... to kill? This time, the Creature
has more than minions, but family. Now instead of the chase going on in a
city it goes across the country, with mass exodus of people to Mexico and
Canada (but not for the free meds and medical mj). Natch, it's not one
long
continuous shot, but multiple breaks and the reporter and videographer
report on sightings and fleeings and "action" shots of Creatures and
Minions. How does it end?
After nine years, things have been tough.on the US--and especially coastal
cities, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco,
Seattle, etc. leaving Chicago as the most populous city in the country as
many fled there for shelter. The Creatures had shown up and devasted the
coasts, tho seemingly limited to the coastal regions, the spidery Minions
have shown up ranging far afield inland, menacing tho not devastating the
larger inland cities and towns, but making travel in-country between major
towns trickier. Ultimately a detente has been reached with people in gated
communities and armed caravans, trains and planes armed with missiles.
--CLOVERWORLD: And then things get bad. Creatures start popping up inland
when the horrifying truth is revealed: The Minions were mothers, leaving
eggs across the country. Now the Creatures and Minions are everywhere.
Using
state-of-the-art camera technology, a pair of top-classified agents report
things have gone from horrific to nightmarish: And then Creatures start
appearing in other continents, South America, Canada, Europe, Asia,
Africa,
India, Australia, everywhere but the poles. Why? The agents have cracked
the
case: The Creatures are attracted to radiation generation, initially
following nuclear sub back to the US. Thus while radiation kills them and
they avoid it, they are attracted to the process of *creating* radiation.
Of
course knowing, to quote GI JOE, is only half the battle. Destroying the
Creatures who are now so spread out without nuking the planet, is a bit of
a
mystery.
Altho after years of researching the Creatures, the agents have a plan.
Or something like that. Ya gotta increase the threat, the danger, while
providing characters the audience care about:
--Where in the first movie, you have "average persons" as the stars of the
movie dealing with this crisis. Hud was a pivotal character, given the
relative "shallowness" of his persona, it explains why he would keep
filming, he's essentially using the camera as a security blanket. It's
also
a way of distancing the danger from himself.
--In the second one, having reporters featured would explain why they
would
keep recording despite the danger, yet having them be local reporters
would
make it easier for the audience to identify with them and the reporters'
dreams of going to "big" in the initial setup before revealing the
monsters.
--The third flick, having government agents be featured would make sense
given the increased global danger of the threat, plus explains why they
have
microcameras and have access to get into the action zones that average
people or even reporters would lack. Moreover the 3rd flick in the trilogy
turns the tables by having the Creatures and Minions be the known quality
while the agent humans are the mystery, who are slowly revealed as they go
about their Plan to save the planet.
-- Ken from Chicago
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