We are now just eight days away to the release of the first highly-anticipated film of 2008- Cloverfield. Since its trailer sprang out of nowhere to leave audiences wondering what they had just seen the weekend Transformers opened, speculation, most of it inaccurate, has run rampant as to what the film could actually be about. Slowly, we’ve learned that it is about a giant monster attack on New York City told from the point of view of a group of 20-somethings who leave their video camera on to document their flight from Manhattan. I’m guessing that the pitchmeeting went something like, “Think Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project!”
Producer J J Abrams has been keeping the movie’s cards pretty close to his vest, with only the few snippets of footage seen in the trailers and a few non-descript photos being released. Folks were kept entertained with tantalizing clues that lead to viral marketing games that caused us to wonder what does the mysterious drink Slusho have to do with any of this.
But now, as the film’s release looms, about two dozen publicity photos have been released by Paramount Studios. You can view them all over at Coming Soon. While there still haven’t been any released photos showing what the Cloverfield monster actually looks like, they still contain what might be considered some minor spoilers.
Also recently released is a fake news report, showing a mid-Atlantic oil rig being mysteriously destroyed, further adding to the metatextuality of the film’s marketing.
Of course, when such a movie is so highly anticipated, it can not possibly live up to every one’s expectations, leading to an inevitable backlash. This guy, who blogs for the Guardian in Great Britain, however, seems to be jumping the gun with the Cloverfield hate, already bashing the film even though he has a month or so wait before the film reaches England’s shores.
