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The third Cloverfield film will be put on Netflix tonight in a nightmare publicity stunt that joyfully proclaims the death of cinema

Formerly the God Particle, the third Cloverfield movie is indeed streaming now. And to think a few years ago people thought two months was a short time for the second one to be coming out!

The reactions I've been reading suggest this might have been endlessly delayed and now dumped for a good reason.

I'm not sure I really agree with the assertions that this was so bad that it had to be dumped onto a streaming platform. It was way more engaging than another recent space movie Geostorm and at least on par with the quality and production value of Life. Only thing it doesn't have is star power, but the Cloverfield franchise name probably could have filled in that gap.

This was absolutely horrible and nonsensical on every level

Paramount had an absolutely terrible last quarter last year so it's really not shocking they've taken their Q1 2018 films and basically stripped them for raw cash resources as a safety net

There's some theorizing that this whole thing has only sprung up as a result of Abrams having to bow out of helping in the post-production process once they signed him back at Star Wars, and that's when they decided to just give up and sell it off.

Why? Why did they have to do this? Must Netflix get their hands on everything, denying any theater showings and Blu-ray releases?

What does this say for future films? Any chance other, better movies will get this "treatment?" I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, the new Macon Blair film, was released by them, as well as (and I just learned this) Jeremy Saulnier's Hold the Dark, which just destroyed my hope for a home video release.

That being said, the reactions for The Cloverfield Paradox are pretty bad. Guess it was shoved onto a streaming platform for good reason.

It really likes like Netflix is slowly replacing these very small releases for when studios get in trouble in a movie they don't know what to do anymore but still want it to be out.
15 years ago, Cloverfield Paradox would have ended up in a 30-screens combination or straight on DTV. Now, Netflix is there to handle these situations when the studios don't want to or don't know how.
It's made all the more practical that's it's probably better both for the studio financially (it's cheaper and probably more profitable as a whole) and for the movie itself which probably ends up being more easily accessed by the viewership.
However, I'm afraid it might make some decision-makers in the studios even lazier than they can already be today when trying to properly market and release their movies.

Boosmahn wrote:Why? Why did they have to do this? Must Netflix get their hands on everything, denying any theater showings and Blu-ray releases?

What does this say for future films? Any chance other, better movies will get this "treatment?" I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, the new Macon Blair film, was released by them, as well as (and I just learned this) Jeremy Saulnier's Hold the Dark, which just destroyed my hope for a home video release.

NOoooo!

Say what you will about the film’s quality, but I don’t think anything will ever top my experience watching Saulnier’s previous film (Green Room) on the big screen. It was SOOOO scary and tense I could barely move—after it was over I went into the bright lobby and just sat there for half an hour catching my breath to prepare myself for the long drive home.

And now I’ll get to see his follow-up streaming on WiFi as I fold the laundry. What a world.

davoarid wrote: And now I’ll get to see his follow-up streaming on WiFi as I fold the laundry. What a world.

Not to devolve into a circlejerk, but there's something really special about watching films like Blue Ruin and Green Room on the big screen/popping in a Blu-ray, unlike the streaming quality on Netflix. Maybe it'll get a release in the UK or something?

I liked The Cloverfield Paradox a lot more 10 years ago when it was called Sunshine.

I'm a huge fan of the first half of SUNSHINE. It kind-of falls apart once it becomes a different movie, but at least it attempted to do something other than the norm. I sort of felt that way about LIFE, too. The first half, when it's still this enigmatic amorphous little blob, is much more interesting than the second, and it devolves into a big monster-hunting-its-prey movie.

But honestly, I enjoyed the all-too-brief brief pleasures of LIFE, SUNSHINE and THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX way more than either of Ridley Scott's recent ALIEN films. I hated pretty much everything about those things, from the nonsensical logic and obtuse assholery of almost every single character, to the oddly slap-dash and amateurish (at least in my opinion) nature of the filmmaking.

I'm not exactly a Cloverfield fan so I've been skipping over this thread, but just now I caught the name of the director and it's a bit of a trip because I was introduced to him back in 2009 through peers/friends in journalism. (A mutual acquaintance invited the two of us to take part in a journalistic endeavor that never really took off - I think the hope was that it would become an eventual successor to Current TV.) I lost track of him since then, but he was a nice, decent fellow so I'm disappointed that this isn't turning into the breakthrough that he probably hoped for, even if I'm not a fan of the franchise itself.

[edited for grammar]

jazzo wrote:But honestly, I enjoyed the all-too-brief brief pleasures of LIFE, SUNSHINE and THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX way more than either of Ridley Scott's recent ALIEN films.

This is exactly the sort of thing that can make me go from an eye roll to heightened interest in a film. Will definitely be watching this now. Thanks!

Oh, there’s a bunch of generic bullshit and inexplicable storytelling choices in there, and it still comes off as unsatisfying and a slightly wasted opportunity, so it probably deserves a half (single) eye roll, but I found the characters refreshingly positive folks instead of reprehensible shitheads, which, for me, puts it well above two out of the three Ridley Scott Alien films. Long sentence.

I'll echo the sentiment of enjoying this more than either of Scott's recent Alien entries, if only because it doesn't try to be anything more than a dumb sci-fi movie (complete with the reliable motivation of searching for "infinite energy!"). I can see why this was dumped on Netflix, as it has more in common with Event Horizon than either of the earlier Cloverfields. The ending is pure schlock and kind of hilarious.

This is as bad as they say, though watchable enough thanks to a capable cast. The film it reminded me the most of was Walter Hill’s Supernova, which also got lost in post production. Anybody who wants to watch a monster movie which actually is a good film could do worse than watching The Ritual, which also just landed on Netflix.

Lost Highway wrote:This is as bad as they say, though watchable enough thanks to a capable cast. The film it reminded me the most of was Walter Hill’s Supernova, which also get lost in post production. Anybody who wants to watch a monster movie which actually is a good film could do worse than watching The Ritual, which also just landed on Netflix.

Thanks for the suggestion. The Ritual was a much better waste of my time.

Well, this is interesting: the film will receive a Blu-ray release in February, which is I believe a first for a Netflix distroed feature film (though multiple TV shows have been released)

I'll bet it's because some part of the rights will have expired by then, given that the blu-ray comes out exactly a year after the film's initial release - the blu-ray is definitely not from Netflix.

Doesn't Paramount still own the rights even though it was released to Netflix?

Yes. But while Netflix has bought many movies from many studios, to my knowledge this is the first one to receive a physical release. Shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black have, but not movies

I think Nocturama may be another exception

Nocturama had a small theatrical release by Grasshopper, who also handled the Blu-ray & DVD.