(SeaPRwire) – It is not unusual for films—particularly genre pieces—to be adapted to fit into an established franchise. Saw 2 was originally a script titled The Desperate. Numerous Die Hard films were simply retooled spec scripts, while others were based on unrelated novels. Even the Dirty Dancing sequel, Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, started as a political drama script that had dancing elements inserted later.
But no franchise serves as better proof of this than Cloverfield. This sci-fi invasion series began with 2008’s Cloverfield, yet both of its sequels, 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox, were adapted from original scripts to integrate into the “Cloververse.” Now, a new film is fueling speculation that it might also belong to this universe, despite not being marketed as such: The End of Oak Street, the latest movie from It Follows and Under the Silver Lake director David Robert Mitchell. View the movie’s chilling trailer below:
Little can be definitively gathered from the trailer, but it portrays a serene suburban street where a mother (Anne Hathaway) and father (Ewan McGregor) raise their two children, only for their lives to be disrupted when the entire street appears to be transported back to the prehistoric era, leaving dinosaurs wandering the roads.
It looks like the ideal original sci-fi film, tinged with the surrealism Mitchell exhibited in Under the Silver Lake. So, where is the proof that it is secretly a Cloverfield movie? The most obvious clue lies in the title. While it is currently being marketed as The End of Oak Street, it originally bore a different title: Flowervale Street. Why the alteration? Perhaps “Flowervale” was revealing too much. A clover is a flower, and “vale” means valley, which sounds suspiciously like “field.”
Furthermore, consider the production credits. J.J. Abrams, the architect of the Cloverfield franchise, is credited as a producer on this film, and his name appears first in the teaser trailer. Why would J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions attach themselves to an artsy, high-concept sci-fi thriller unless there was a hidden connection?
If that wasn’t convincing enough, there is even a canonical hint that a narrative like this exists within the Cloververse. The Cloverfield Paradox centered on a scientific experiment that caused bizarre anomalies across space and time—the perfect setup for a town to be sent back to prehistoric time.
Keeping a major franchise link out of the marketing seems like a significant missed opportunity, but the shock value upon release could make it worthwhile. In fact, something similar has occurred before, or at least, almost occurred. In 2020, 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg disclosed on social media that his hit film Prey was initially intended to be marketed as a standalone feature, with its status as a Predator prequel meant to be revealed in theaters.
Perhaps that stunt, which was ruined by Prey’s Hulu release, could be employed by the Cloverfield franchise. If this theory holds water, it may have just spoiled the surprise. However, there is no way to know for sure until the release.
The End of Oak Street hits theaters on August 14.
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