The recently delayed Cloverfield sequel, The God Particle, has finally found a home. Not a new release date, but with a new distributor.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures is in the process of selling the film to streaming platform and distributor Netflix. While an official agreement has not yet been reached, the potential deal follows a similar sale between the two where Netflix picked up all non-domestic distribution for Alex Garland’s anticipated science-fiction film Annihilation.
Paramount did have The God Particle slated for an April 20 release, a date that found the film pushed back from its previous February 2 release date.
The Reporter states that this is part of a larger initiative with the studio to divest itself of films that it might not be as bullish on as it would like to be. Recently installed studio chairman Jim Gianopulos is “watching the movies he had inherited and making some hard choices.”
The fact that Paramount has decided to sell off The God Particle is troubling for the Cloverfield franchise, whose first two installments handily turned profits. The original movie released in 2008 only cost $25 million and pulled $80 million at the domestic box office. The sequel, 2015’s 10 Cloverfield Land, reportedly had a budget slimmer than that and it made $72 million domestically.
But the new film, which may undergo a name change to Cloverfield Station, has a reported budget closer to the $40 million range and the studio may not feel like a threequel could outpace the business done by its two predecessors.
The Reporter’s sources are telling them that the film does still need some work, and with franchise producer JJ Abrams now off working on Star Wars: Episode IX, his magic touch might not be available to be had for God Particle. It is understandable that the studio would become skittish about the film’s prospects if that were the case.
The God Particle stars David Oyelowo, Ziyi Zhang, Daniel Bruhl and Elizabeth Debicki.
