What does Cloverfield mean?
Ok, so we’ve seen the movie Cloverfield, shaky cam, monster and all, what what does the title of “Cloverfield” mean? We’ve heard different answers from producer J.J. Abrams (MI 3), writer (Lost) Drew Goddard, and director Matt Reeves, a childhood friend of J.J. Abrams. So we scoured the web, and here are the main people talking about exactly what the name and title Cloverfield means. Is it the name of the tape? Is the the government code name of the monster, a freeway exit or was it a temp movie title that stuck?
Here’s writer Drew Goddard from Entertainment Weekly:
Paramount exec Rob Moore had the idea to pique curiosity by forgoing a title and ending the trailer with only Abrams’ name and a date: 1-18-08. ”It was all about using showmanship to elevate the profile of a movie that had none,” he says. (In the movie, ”Cloverfield” is a military code name for the videotape that holds the film’s story. Goddard, who chose the title, declines to explain its significance. ”I’ve never told anyone my reasons — not even J.J.,” he says.) But has the teaser raised expectations that can’t be fulfilled? Abrams acknowledges that this kind of marketing risks inviting ”the din of Snakes on a Plane.” Indeed, immediately after the teaser’s release, the online world was rife with speculation about the movie’s plot — and skepticism about how cool the monster would be. ”If the worst thing that happens is that the trailer made people get too excited, I’ll take that over the alternative of nobody caring at all,” says Abrams. Adds Moore: ”What the teaser promised was a unique experience. When you see the movie, you will get that unique experience.”
From Yahoo Movies:
“To keep the movie a secret, the project was given the codename “Cloverfield,” after a street near Abrams’ office. The filmmakers had planned to release the movie as Greyshot, the name of a key Central Park location. But the temporary title spread through the internet so quickly that crew decided to keep it.”
Here’s Matt Reeves, Director of Cloverfield from LAist:
“When we started the project there was going to be an announcement in the trades. In this case, they wanted to keep everything under wraps. So the movie was going to be made under this outside corporation that was basically a property of Paramount. That corporation had a name that I don’t know the name of. I think Clover was the first part of it. Maybe it was Cloverdale. When Drew [Goddard, LOST writer] was putting a name to the project, there was supposed to be a name for the project like there was for The Manhattan Project. So he said, “I am going to use that weird mysterious thing,” and he misheard it. He didn’t even understand that it wasn’t Cloverfield, it was Cloverdale. Maybe that was because of the street by J.J.’s old office, but the truth is he just misunderstood it.”
Via Wikipedia:
“The film’s final title, “Cloverfield”, is the name of the freeway exit Abrams takes to get to his Santa Monica office.” However, that exit indeed is called Cloverdale.
Here’s even more from an interview from IGN:
“There were various titles along the way, but the first title and the end title has always been Cloverfield,” explains Reeves. “When I read the outline it was Cloverfield. And ‘Cloverfield’ is the case designate. And when the first draft of the script came out it was Cloverfield. It’s always been Cloverfield. And then we started changing the name over the course of making the movie because the irony was that when we first started no one knew anything about the movie and there was no danger in people finding out where we were and stuff. But then there was such excitement, and we were just in the early stages of shooting when the trailer came out, and that excitement spread to such a degree that we suddenly couldn’t use the name anymore. So we started using all these names like Slusho and Cheese. And people always found out what we were doing!”
Reeves adds somewhat cryptically that there was another title that they almost used…
“There was this other title that we really loved,” he recalls. “And it was again another title that had to do with an aspect of the movie… you would have to see the movie to understand what it was called. And so it was in a way another mysterious word. And when it finally came down to it, we thought, ‘Well, first of all, it’s been Cloverfield in our heads for all this time. And second of all … everyone already knows that it’s Cloverfield, and we’re going to change it from one word that people think is mysterious to another word that people think is mysterious? What’s the point of that?’ So we were like, ‘You know what? The movie is Cloverfield.’”
As for that “case designate” reference, anyone who has seen the clips from the film knows that “Cloverfield” is the case name that the government has assigned to whatever or whoever is doing all that destruction in New York.
“In the way that the Manhattan Project was the name of that program, that’s what this is,” says the director, though he specifies that doesn’t mean that it was created by the government the way the Manhattan Project was. “And it’s not a project per say. It’s the way that this case has been designated. That’s why that is on the trailer, and it becomes clearer in the film. It’s how they refer to this phenomenon [or] this case.”
Lastly, from IMDB:
Filming in Los Angeles was done under the fake production title “Slusho”, while shooting in New York (in 33 days until August 8, 2007) was done under the fake production title “Cheese”.
The title “Cloverfield”; initially just a codename for the movie, is named for the boulevard in Santa Monica where the Bad Robot offices were located during the making of the film.
New on DVD this Week
Here’s the latest from Popcandy:
Extras: The Complete Series. I mentioned this set last week — it includes the first two seasons and the two-hour finale that had people calling Ricky Gervais “the next Bill Murray.” Check it out, and see why the show deserved the Golden Globe.
- Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest. This release includes the Family Guy episode that parodied Star Wars. A “special edition” comes with extras including a T-shirt, trading cards and a collector’s booklet. DVD features include commentary and a conversation with George Lucas.
- The Ten. Director David Wain incorporates every star from The State into this film … and even throws in Winona Ryder making out with a dummy (insert joke here).
- When Harry Met Sally: Collector’s Edition. This new edition comes with commentary, a making-of documentary and more.
- An Affair to Remember: 50th Anniversary Edition. This could be the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your girlfriend. Or your grandma, provided she knows how to operate a DVD player.
- She’s Gotta Have It. Spike Lee’s early, acclaimed film finally arrives on disc.
- Suburban Girl. This straight-to-DVD flick starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin could be so bad it’s good … or maybe it’s just bad.
- Killer Diller. I saw this indie about a Southern musical prodigy at South by Southwest two years ago. Mary Kay Place and Fred Willard appear.
- Post-War Kurosawa Box. Criterion issues the director’s No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), along with One Wonderful Sunday, Scandal, The Idiot and I Live in Fear.
- Henry Rollins: Live in the Conversation Pit. Rollins’ first spoken-word DVD was filmed in Australia. If you don’t live near a major city, this might give you a good idea what his performances are like.
- He Was a Quiet Man. Christian Slater and William H. Macy star in this little-seen (but liked) drama about an office worker who becomes an unintentional hero.
Also out: The New Adventures of Old Christine: Season 1, Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, Mr. Woodcock, Saving Sarah Cain, Criss Angel Mindfreak: The Complete Third Season, Good Luck Chuck, Wedding Daze, The Rockford Files: Season Five
Bucket List Top Movie
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman took an early lead at the weekend box office in North America with their comedy “The Bucket List,” according to preliminary estimates issued on Saturday.
The movie, in which the Oscar-winning duo play cancer patients looking to live their last days to the fullest, earned $6.4 million on Friday, said box office analysis firm Box Office Mojo.
The new Ice Cube comedy “First Sunday” followed at No. 2 with $6.15 million, and the teen-pregnancy comedy “Juno” at No. 3 with $4.6 million.
After three weekends at No. 1, “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” fell to No. 4 with $3.3 million. Another former champ, Will Smith’s “I Am Legend,” was No. 5 with $2.6 million.
Rankings could change when the studios issue three-day data for the Friday-to-Sunday period on Sunday.
“The Bucket List” expanded across North America after two weeks of strong sales in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. Director Rob Reiner’s comedy was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
“First Sunday” stars Ice Cube as a ne’er-do-well who decides to rob a church. Tracy Morgan and Katt Williams co-star. The film was released on Friday by Screen Gems, the low-budget arm of Sony Corp’s Columbia Pictures.
“Juno,” the most commercially successful movie among the awards-season favorites, was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, a unit of News Corp. It has earned about $62 million to date, said Box Office Mojo.
Walt Disney Co’s “National Treasure” sequel has pulled in about $179 million, while Warner Bros.’ “I Am Legend” has risen to $235 million.
Video of Disney’s Fingerprint Machine in action — privacy issue?
Video of Disney World’s Fingerprinting Machine in action, required to enter the Magic Kingdom. Tied to one card with all your info, hotel resort key, credit card, personal information and fingerprint.
Bryan Singer’s Superman moved to 2010
Could the WGA strike prove Kryptonite to the Man of Steel?
With the work stoppage playing havoc with studio slates, Warner’s planned sequel to Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” could be locked up in the Fortress of Solitude for some time.
No screenwriters are on board. “Returns” writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris opted out of penning “Superman: Man of Steel,” and the strike arrived just as other scribes were to pitch ideas. Internally, Warners has moved the release date from 2009 to 2010.
After “Superman Returns” delivered a disappointing box office take of $386 million worldwide, Warner Bros. and Singer debated how to proceed with the next “Superman” pic. The studio even considered rebooting the franchise with someone else.
But eventually WB execs Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov agreed to proceed with Singer at the helm of a $170 million “Man of Steel” packed with more action, a super-powered villain and less romantic melodrama. Before Singer started production on UA’s “Valkyrie,” WB and co-financier Legendary Pictures closed a deal for him to produce and direct “Superman: Man of Steel.”
According to a spokesman for the director’s reps at William Morris, “ ‘Superman’ is moving forward with Bryan Singer attached.” But inside the studio, “Superman” is not on any fast track, and word is that Singer may wind up not directing it.
Nothing is happening. The WB supervising exec on the project, Dan Lin, has moved over to a studio production deal; exec Lynn Harris is taking over.
For now, the next Superman auds will see on the bigscreen will not be Brandon Routh but a younger Superman among a cast of youthful DC superheroes in George Miller’s “The Justice League.” That movie likely will not be shot, however, until after the WGA strike is resolved.
So while Internet comic sites are rife with rumors about Warners replacing Routh with the new Superman from “The Justice League,” the question of who plays Superman will depend on who directs Superman.
And with “The Mayor of Castro Street” also up in the air due to the strike and “Milk” going forward with Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn, Singer is looking for a another directing gig.
Blu-Ray Early Adopters
Blu-ray may have taken a commanding lead in the next-generation format war, but the group has a big problem looming: early supporters of the format will be left out in the cold when the Blu-ray Disc Association introduces BD Profile 2.0Unlike HD DVD, which mandated features such as local storage, a second video and audio decoder for picture-in-picture, and a network connection from the very beginning, the companies behind Blu-ray took a different approach. Initial hardware players lacked these capabilities in order to keep costs down.None of the Profile 1.0 players can be upgraded to Profile 1.1, which was finalized recently, with the exception of the PlayStation 3 — whose update arrived in mid-December. Likewise, Profile 2.0 is expected to arrive in October bringing Internet connectivity that Profile 1.1 players lack.Representatives at the Blu-ray booth at CES told BetaNews that the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform. But Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony have all been selling standalone Blu-ray players to customers.In order to allay confusion, the BDA has adopted special labels that will be placed on Blu-ray movies. Those with a “Bonus View” sticker will require Profile 1.1 players, while those with “BD Live” will require Profile 2.0.In addition, the BD-J interactivity layer, based on Java, has continued to evolve since the introduction of Blu-ray Profile 1.0. This means that early players may have a buggy implementation and perhaps more importantly, they are not powerful enough to play the latest films properly.When BetaNews asked developers of BD Live whether they were concerned about a backlash from early adopters who supported the format from the beginning, we were told: “They knew what they were getting into.”BDA President Andy Parsons echoed that sentiment at the Blu-ray press conference Monday, telling BetaNews that it’s normal for new technology to change and older hardware to become obsolete. He added that early Blu-ray owners can continue to do everything they could in the beginning: watch movies in high-definition.Still, the confusion will only likely further alienate existing and potential customers of the nascent format. One key Blu-ray developer told BetaNews that although he builds discs for studios including Fox and Lionsgate, he did not buy a Blu-ray player for personal use.When BetaNews asked why these manufacturers rushed out players that were not fully capable and potentially buggy due to their BD-J implementation, the Blu-ray partner pointed blame across the room to HD DVD. “We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation,” he said. HD DVD was already coming and the BDA had no choice but to launch Blu-ray.
HD-DVD is Dead
Nothing has been announced, but Variety is reporting that the last two major studios backing HD DVD — NBC Universal and Paramount — are opening the door for a switch to Blu-ray. These studios have commitments to release some discs this year in HD DVD, but both have ended their exclusive commitment to that format, which is backed by a group led by Toshiba.
This comes after Warner Brothers, which had been issuing movies in both formats, decided to go exclusively with Sony’s Blu-ray format. Variety also reports that retailers may also put pressure on Universal and Paramount to back Blu-ray. Last summer, Blockbuster decided to go with Blu-ray only.
So what appeared to be a stalemate may, with one relatively small move by Warner, now turn out to be a quick victory for Sony. The fight between the systems has hurt studios, electronics makers and consumers. And I suspect a winner — any winner — will be welcomed by all sides (except Toshiba and Microsoft, a key partner).
Of course, one reason for the standoff is that there are real merits to both sides, as many of the comments to our post on Warner’s move expressed.
Loosely speaking, Blu-ray discs can hold more data, while HD DVD discs and players are less expensive to make. Also, several readers who have used both say they prefer the menu system on the current batch of HD DVD players. My take on this is that once the format wars are over, the normal process of engineering improvements will work through many of the kinks in Blu-ray. Costs for this sort of thing just go down, and they fall faster with volume. Menus are software and can be fixed. Again, everybody benefits from a standard.
The other interesting discussion is whether we really need a high-definition disc at all. Some people suggested that the latest round of “upconverting” DVD players can turn the 480 lines of resolution on DVDs into a very nice picture on a 720 or 1080 line HD set.
I don’t have a personal view on this. The Hansell household is currently served by a 20-year-old, 13-inch Hitachi set that is particularly well suited to foggy dream sequences. But I do know that in electronics shops, big numbers sell. Look at the people who raced to buy cameras with far more megapixels than they ever would need for 4-by-6 prints. (I know those are fighting words to some.) If a high-definition player and disc was just a tiny bit more money than a standard one, lots of people would say, why not go for it?
But do we need discs at all? With Comcast promising high-definition downloads in 4 minutes and prices of flash memory falling like a rock, maybe we will jump right to a world where video simply lives as a file on a hard drive or flash disk.
There’s logic to that, of course, at least in an engineering sort of way. Why spend all the money and time to stamp out discs and distribute them through stores, when the information on them can be simply zapped over a network to someone’s television?
I wouldn’t bet against this vision in the long run at all. But I also suspect there will be enough demand for physical discs over the next decade to justify the industry’s moves. Consumers have a practical rationality and they understand that discs give them simplicity and control that is elusive for now in an all-digital environment. Instead of relying on some sort of software system to find a movie, you simply pull one off your shelf, out of your pile or from under the bed — however you like to keep your movies.
And it is still not clear what you get when you buy a movie download. Consider Wal-Mart’s shuttered movie download service. People who bought movies from the service cannot move them onto new computers to play because of the digital-rights management scheme used.
As with the disc technology, all these problems with downloads will get worked through over the coming years.
But for now, if you actually want a copy of a movie that you can count on playing in the future, it’s rational to buy one in a format supported by all the players in the industry, and one that exists in three dimensions. The seeming triumph of Blu-ray only makes that easier and safer.
Blu-ray could win high-def battle — HD DVD backers could switch sides soon
Neither studio is ready to throw in the towel immediately, however. Universal is committed to a series of promotions for the high-def format in coming months, and Par has said its current plans are to keep supporting HD DVD, which it backed exclusively in August.
Should Toshiba concede defeat on the format, the decision to drop HD DVD would be made for both studios. But Toshiba doesn’t appear ready to do that. At the Consumer Electronics Show, the manufacturer reaffirmed its commitment to the format, noting strong sales during the fourth quarter and indicating it would continue marketing its hardware through 2008.
But retailers may force the HD DVD camp’s hand: They’re unlikely to keep devoting premium shelf space to a dying format, and at this point, the odds are not in HD DVD’s favor. With Warners’ defection, only Par and U remain in the HD DVD camp; Sony, Disney, Fox, Lionsgate remain ardent Blu-ray backers. Warner sister companies New Line and HBO are also shifting allegiance to Blu-ray.
Last summer, Blockbuster also threw its weight behind Blu-ray, though some HD DVD discs remain in stores.
And Warner will continue to release HD DVD discs for the next few months to honor its previous commitment to Toshiba, which extends through May 31. Paramount’s HD DVD deal, which covers DreamWorks releases, was to run through this year.
Samsung Debuts Slimmed-Down Combo HD Player
Samsung has just announced its second-generation Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player, and it definitely has an edge on its predecessor in the style department. But here’s a bigger question: How much will it cost?
The glossy, piano-black, and just 2.3 inch-high BD-UP5500 comes with most of the older UP-BD5000’s features, including full support for Blu-ray and HD DVD interactive features, playback of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD soundtracks, as well as the ability to upconvert standard DVDs to full-on 1080p. Also included is out-of-the-box support for Blu-ray profile 1.1 (which allows for picture-in-picture commentaries on newer Blu-ray discs), an Ethernet port for downloading new firmware and accessing online content, and HQV processing for enhancing HD and SD video.
Overall, not bad, but here’s the spec we really want to know: how much? Unfortunately, Samsung isn’t releasing pricing info just yet, but hopefully it’ll be lower than the $799 sticker price for the BD-UP5000—especially given that the demand for combo HD decks may dwindle now that HD DVD appears to be on the ropes.
Look for the BD-UP5500 to arrive in stores in the second half of the year.
Update: Reports are coming in that the deck will retail for $599—still pricey, but a veritable bargain compared to the $799 BD-UP5000.