1-18-08 Project Cloverfield - Warning! Spoilers

I've checked out the 1-18-08 Official Site today and there were no updates. I checked later today and it was gone. It redirects to the Paramount homepage.

Does this mean that they are revising the site or maybe making a new one with the title of the film? At this point there's no telling.

The site had updated 5 times in July with new pictures added. Then they made it where you could flip the pictures over and some had text.

But for the last couple of weeks the site has been silent with no updates. Now, it looks like they might be up to something.

This last week there has been some debate as a website called Dread Central reported an inside source claimed the Cloverfield monsters to be a bunch of raptor-like monsters who terrorized the city.

I really didn't buy it because of a number of reasons:

1. It's been done. And, it wasn't that good. It's the American remake of Godzilla.


2. JJ Abrams is better than that. He spent enough time/money making this movie and I believe it will be more original and thought out then this.


3. Inside sources who sneak out info for movies like this usually never pan out. Give it a few days and if it's fake it will be debunked.

Well, #3 came out a few days later with /Film pretty much looking into the sources of information that started this rumor and shooting it down. [read more]

Also, there are rumors [see here] this week of a new trailer being dropped for the release of Resident Evil: Extinction which opens Sept. 21. I take this one with a grain of salt because of the rival studio notion.

First, the 1-18-08 trailer has enough buzz around it to boost that movies opening weekend. With Sony releasing Resident Evil and Paramount/Dreamworks producing 1-18-08, it is usually the case that a studio would only do this for their own movie. Ya never know, though...


cloverfield

No new trailers, pictures, posters, or information has leaked out on the 1-18-08 movie in quite awhile. Don't get me wrong, there's a ton of "I have inside, secret information..." sites and information out there.

That's getting a little old.

That's the problem with viral-based movies or websites. With enough downtime, people start making stuff up. They make stuff up anyway, but without real facts coming in the junk is more prominent. The actual amount of information out on the Cloverfield movie that is legit is very little. A teaser trailer. A poster. A few websites.

However, the storyline is AWOL and the picture doesn't even have a title yet.

Now, some of you might ask why would the producers of the movie choose such a route?

Usually, it comes down to budget. The 1-18-08 movie is slated to be a rather small budgeted movie of a reported $30 Million. That's a very small budget for any monster/sci-fi flick. With a cast of no-names and a super secret plot, producer JJ Abrams may have turned to the net for promotional reasons.

JJ's success with viral promotions for his other TV shows have helped promote his product immensely. TV promos and posters cost money. If people are promoting your movie through forums, blogs, and websites then you have a chance to not only get great buzz for the movie but to get feedback as well.

Mental Floss takes a look at How Do You Advertise a Movie with No Name? The viral promotion of such blockbusters as "Blair Witch" and "A.I" have set the bar which Cloverfield has a chance to easily overtake.

This week's episode of 'INSIDER INFORMATION' , in which mild mannered contestants pose as industrial moles and enjoy giving movie secrets, comes from mysterious John Murphy who likes to post on forums at SteakNBJ.com.

What's Cloverfield found this little tidbit of information in a post from John Murphy, who just happens to have the storyline from the first 1/3 of the movie. As usual, John is going out on a limb and having to mask his identity and computer trail to give us this information, so the least we can do is lend him an ear.



So, here's John's story. I'll post it below but be warned (in case he's telling the truth) that it contains SPOILERS!!!

"Here is the first third of the film…About one billion (yes billion) years ago, life on Earth was still at the multi-cell level and they remained mostly in their habitat. One of the organisms was more passive and preferred a symbiotic relationship for their survival.

Another (and there were more) was more aggressive and preferred to control larger beings for their survival. Back then, the world had only one continent. The two organisms were separated, for the most part, by land.

But the aggressive organism had developed a taste for the passive one and tried to feed on it as often as possible by going around the land mass. Until a cataclysmic event changed things, burying most of the ancient organisms under the oceans. The surviving organisms either died off or evolved (later becoming humans and what not).

Fast forward to present day and we have Japan discovering the passive organisms buried off their coast and eventually came to the conclusion that the American continents (North and South) had drifted over the aggressive organisms (more on them later) during the past billion years.

Japanese scientists begin studying this passive organism and find that it is a perfect nourishment supplement to humans. Grown in an agricultural field on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, these organisms create the appearance of cloverfields. The scientists learn that these organisms are beneficial symbiotic parasites that give us additional nourishment and make us feel happy. Thus humans and the parasites become one.

They are kept cold to prevent them from dying from exposure until they are introduced into their host. Thus the development of the awesome and delicious drink – Slusho! (It makes me happy).

Rob is a college graduate who has been hired by Slusho and has just accepted an offer to work in their technologies division in Japan. Rob also knows the basics of the organism, the story that Slusho “invented” as a marketing campaign and has recently been informed that the scientists have found trace amounts of the aggressive organism.

This aggressive organism likes to pool up into a larger being, control it, own it, even change it. It also eats the smaller passive organism much the same way a whale will eat plankton. Slusho is now one of the most popular drinks. In it’s own right it is a tasty meal that does not add fat and is proven to be healthy with claims that it cures cancer and many other diseases.

Slusho and it’s by-products are now being flushed (literally) into the sewer systems and drained out to sea by way of urine, fecal matter and just straight unconsumed Slusho. This builds up on the ocean floor and eventually awakens a very hungry and aggressive organism.

This aggressive organism, hungry and well, aggressive, follows the sewer trail back to New York and emerges through the sewers breaking and igniting a natural gas pipeline in it’s effort to feed on the passive organism, which is now us."

1-18-08 is an upcoming science fiction movie nicknamed "Cloverfield" and being produced by J. J. Abrams, directed by Matt Reeves, and written by Drew Goddard. Paramount Studios is carrying out a viral marketing campaign to promote the film. This post will help catch up those that are looking for some more information into the production of the film.


First information on the movie surfaced during advance screenings of the Transformers movies which was released during the July 4th, 2007 week. So far, the top secret project nicknamed 'Cloverfield' is slated for a January 18, 2008 release.

Although the story should take place mostly in New York City, various shoots occurred in different parts of L.A. which are thought to mimic scenes in New York City that weren't feasible to be shot in Manhattan. Military crews arriving in the city and numerous explosions and firefights were reported to be carried out in these scenes. The crew then headed to finish up the film in New York City where they were centered around destroyed city street sets (see Say Cheese ! 'Cloverfield' Being Shot Right Now in NYC ), a shoot at Coney Island, and a shoot in Central Park. ( see Cloverfield Central Park Shoot Videos )

1-18-08 Cloverfield Working Titles and Set Notes

The "Untitled J.J. Abrams Project" is called either 'Cloverfield' or '1-18-08' in most circles. However, when filming in L.A. and New York City the production team used many fake names like 'Chocolate,' 'Cheese,' and 'Slusho.' Hardcore fans of Abrams' "Alias" may remember "Slusho," a Slurpee-type beverage, from the second episode of the series when Vaughn offers one to Sydney.

IGN was able to get a copy of a shooting description during the L.A. 'Slusho' days that explained : "Exterior dialogue. Driving scenes. Occasional traffic & pedestrian control. Camera & equipment on sidewalk, street and property. 200 extras. Military vehicles. Destruction aftermath. Weapons brandished. Emergency vehicles with flashing lights. Exterior dialogue on fire escape on 8th floor." (see 'Slusho' Filming )

During the NYC shoot, a copy of the call sheet for the movie was snagged and published by New York Magazine. The movie shoot for that part of the movie involved scenes from Central Park and was being filmed under the fake title 'Cheese.' (see Paramount Cease and Desist )

The Cheese call sheet revealed a 33 day shoot with possible plot spoilers. Since the publication of the call sheet, Paramount's lawyers have officially sent out Ceased & Desist letters for the publication of the Cheese call sheet which gives weight to their being legit.

Only a handful of inexperienced and young actors have been confirmed for the 1-18-08 cast. The only major actor confirmed to take part in the film is Greg Grunberg (see Greg Grunberg Will Be In ‘Cloverfield’ ), who currently stars as police man Matt Parker on the hit NBC show, HEROES. Grunberg and Abrams have been friends for many years and it is almost a sure thing that Grunberg will pop up with a cameo in any Abrams project.

The lead role is slated for Michael Stahl-David who will play character Rob Hawkins, a businessman who is having a party at his NYC apartment the night before leaving to Japan.

Other cast members include Odette Yustman, Mike Vogel, Lizzy Caplan, Greg Grunberg, and Blake Lively.

MySpace profiles (see 1-18-08 Picture #5 And New Characters )have been created for the characters and can be found here:
http://www.myspace.com/jamielascano
http://www.myspace.com/robbyhawkins
http://www.myspace.com/lily_ford
http://www.myspace.com/beth_mcintyre
http://www.myspace.com/jj_hawkins
http://www.myspace.com/marlenadiamond
http://www.myspace.com/hudsonplatt

1-18-08 will be directed by Matt Reeves. Previous work by Reeves include writing movies such as The Pallbearer, The Yards, and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Reeves worked for JJ Abrams for the show "Felicity" for which Reeves not only wrote for but also directed a handful of episodes.

1-18-08 was written by Drew Goddard, who is another Abrams alumni. Goddard wrote and produced episodes for Abrams projects "Lost" and "Alias" as well as writing for cult favorites "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spin off, "Angel."

Bryan Burk helped produced and his previous experience include working with Abrams on all his projects since "Alias"

J.J. Abrams created the 1-18-08 film for his Bad Robot Productions. Abrams has been the catalyst for multiple hit Television shows including "Alias," "Lost," and "Felicity." He made his feature film debut as director for Mission: Impossible III, which was the highest budgeted film for a first time director at around $200 Million.

"I have nothing against larger budget films, but as someone who's worked in television, I know that some pretty powerful stories can be told for somewhere under $200 million," Abrams said.

Although Abrams will direct the upcoming Star Trek film, he has expressed an interest in creating smaller budgeted films. Last summer Abrams signed multi-year movie deals, five years for Paramount and six years for Warner Bros., to make Abrams one of the highest paid writer-producers in Hollywood.

The 1-18-08 poster released during the 2007 Comic-con featured an image of the Statue of Liberty as seen from behind and having it's head ripped off. A water trail, evidence of something big, leads toward Manhattan where a gap of smoke and destruction open up. Prior to Comic-con a bootleg pic of the poster was revealed with the title 'MONSTROUS' at the top. (see 'MONSTROUS' Poster Explained )

This led many to believe it to be the title of the movie. However, JJ Abrams debunked that theory by saying that was not the title and it was one of 4 posters mocked up with adjectives describing the movie. Other titles are FURIOUS, TERRIFYING, and BARBAROUS with all but the last having been found.

1-18-08.com Contains photos which are draggable around your screen and now can be flipped over to reveal messages selected . Each photo is time stamped with the date 1-18-08

Slusho is a fake Japanese drink company. Think of it like a Slushee but apparently made from ingredients found from the bottom of the ocean.


More sites with 1-18-08 information:

• 1-18-08 (2008) - MovieWeb



• Cloverfield - From Wikipedia



• It's Alive: 1-18-08 The scoop on J.J. Abrams' top secret project.



• Apple - Trailers - 01-18-08



• Untitled J.J. Abrams Project (2008)



• Cloverfield / 1-18-08 Video Secrets and More!



• 1-18-08 Video Clips, Previews, Teasers & Trailers - MovieWeb
  1-18-08 (2008)

Cloverfield Clues is making us all look bad. Not only did they get the Slusho shirts already but they have also made up avatars ( here) based on the Slusho site.

The odd assortment of characters you find on Slusho will probably never be fully explained. Of course, how could you explain why a cartoon horse is thinking of cheese or an oven mitt?

Slusho Newspaper is Nikkan San

The Slusho shirt Cloverfield Clues received in the mail the other day was wrapped in a Japanese newspaper and even had an odd reference to 'Godzilla!'

They have determined it to be the Japanese newspaper Nikkan San (here) or Japanese Daily Sun, a free paper from Hawaii.

Rob on his MySpace

"Another interesting tidbit is that they were shooting with professional film or HD cameras, and not a consumer/prosumer grade camera. This leads me to believe that not all of the footage will be from the handheld camera POV. " [ ...more ]

Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, that's my nutty rant for the week. Thanks for playing along and I hope you had a laugh. Remember, it's just a movie but that doesn't mean we can't have fun with it.

Also, for those of you that might not know already(or just don't want to admit) the Ethan Hass tie-in was just a video game that their producers, in my eye, were using the 'Cloverfield' momentum for their own gain.

In the beginning a few blogs were leaked out with the Ethan Hass/Cloverfield tie-in. It was called out by someone (I don't remember who made the finding offhand) for being a video game called Alpha Omega. They have officially changed the Ethan Hass stuff over to the game now. Guess they milked 'Cloverfield' for all they could get.

If I remember right, and maybe someone can back me up on this, they stuck 'Cloverfield' tags in their blogs to get the 'Cloverfield' traffic or something like that. I'll have to look into that. Anyway, stick a fork in it - Ethan Hass is now officially out of the game.

Cloverfieldmonster.com and 11808news.com (Not my site of course) are gone! These were two websites that Remedios submitted his info to just as he did with me. The two sites told him that they were gonna use his info and now…They no longer exist. And these two sites were working yesterday.

Remedios mentioned this to me regarding 11808news.com:

“…And after a quick question i asked a friend it is owned by the same man who owns the Ny daily news Mort Zuckerman who has infact provided 5 million+ to fund 1-18-08. Very interesting…“

What’s going on? Is Paramount trying to shut Remedios up from leaking this plot? It appears as if the sites were spyware’d or D’DOs’d. Not entirely sure.

Hopefully this doesn’t happen with us.

Something strange is really going on…Have you begun to notice?

Are you starting to believe me now?

Again, there’s doubt saying that the source who has confirmed my findings isn’t authentic. “Remedios” has given me permission to release this email to you. One finding I wanted to clarify in the video was that the “Creature’s face” was my own discovery and not “Remedios.” His fact was that the creature was rising up from the explosion, but he didn’t mention about a face, again that was my finding. One thing is certain, the creature is rising from the ground.

Anyway, here is “Remedios” public email that you can see for yourself:

Hello Brad,

The only proof I can give you without revealing myself(again the contract is supremely strict, hence why it is called a gag-order), I work alongside Shane Buttle and John Campbell. Out of the seven headmaster’s i sent this info to 3 acknowledged them(including yourself) and two were immediately shutdown by an unknown source after
receiving this info by a certain “spy ware entity”. Luckily enough i went to check on your site to see if you had fallen but amazingly enough your video post was not removed. After reading your post I am also sorry your fans did not respond well. Granted many of my tips were almost completely confirmed. But I mainly wanted you to focus on my last hint.

To all of the headmasters of your sites, try reviewing your history of not just folklore and mythology but science where every monster movie is created.(see Below)
> >
> > Sargasso Sea->Bermuda triangle->”graveyard of the ships”-birth of
> >
research pertaining to Metagenomics or Ecogenomics-> productivity of
>
> Molecular cloning.

Follow this and a corrective theory should follow. I am still human and love to see the curiosity in people flourish after given a RIGHT clue. Especially the end of that diagram in molecular cloning and everything previous. To any film there is a background story to a human or monster, especially if they may be one in the same.
And to clarify something. It did rise up but I never said that there was a face.

Think. Has any theory of smoke or fire or “I saw this in that” ever really be true to any trailer or type of commercial sponsoring. No, and it won’t start now. There is no monster in this trailer.

I know for an anonymous source, I am awfully befriending in releasing info. But considering after my rampage of info release yesterday and no repercussions this morning, I feel my identity is safe as long as it is not released. I might be filming the next few days but to avoid heat on your part, you can post this email on your site so if anyone gets crap it is someone unknown instead of yourself. I don’t want your credibility to suffer.

Remedios

So, there you go. Check out Brad's site tomorrow and see if he's still up and we'll know some thing's really going on.

I'm not sure what statue that hand is supposed to be of but it doesn't match Lady Liberty. Her left hand looks like this (notice no thumb) and the right hand, which the poster shows, in reality is nowhere near a match for this pose. Although I do not live in New York City (been there- great town!) I'm also not aware of any other large green statue.

Also, the city skyline is messed up. You can see where they took the image from the 'Cloverfield' poster and put it in front of another NYC skyline. They even left the helicopters in! Heck, the shadows don't even match.

I'll let you have fun with the other 2 posters. Now, watch his video he put up today about a secret source from the set of the 'Cloverfield' movie and the clues he's been given.

He states he has found the complete answer to the clues of 'Cloverfield' but still uses the posters as part of the basis for this theory. Well, I enjoy Brad's site because he's having fun, like me, trying to work this mystery so I won't bust his balls on the poster thing. While I don't agree with his theories all the time he does a good job investigating the 'Cloverfield' movie.

Picture of the Cloverfield Monster from the trailer?

My quick analysis is as follows:

1. The posters are fake


2. I don't see a face in the fireball just like there's no face on Mars


3. The monster is an alien goes against the 'Monster' movie theme and enters too much into Sci-Fi. I firmly believe the monster will be of Earth origins.


4. Slusho and its deep sea ingredient is the key to the monster. Probably made from a food the monster needs or from the monster itself. Either way, harvesting the Slusho ingredient has pissed off the sea monster.


5. I like that consuming the Slusho makes the person a marked person to the monster.


6. The fireball from the Statue of Liberty is the monster rising through the bedrock and breaking gas lines and such makes sense. A fire breathing dragon/monster is a little too 'Godzilla' for my likes.

slusho

cloverfield

jj abrams