Published Oct 24, 2026, 12:00 AM EDT

The perfect marriage of Godzilla and the Blair Witch

Cloverfield turns a monster attack into an intimate New York story

Image: Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

In early 2006, J.J. Abrams was in the midst of a generational run. Alias was about to end, Lost had become a cultural phenomenon, and Abrams was traveling the world promoting his directorial debut with Mission: Impossible 3 . Somehow, Abrams was just getting started.

At Paramount’s 2007 San Diego Comic-Con panel , Abrams said that while promoting MI3 in Japan, he had visited a toy store with his son. He wanted Godzilla toys. Abrams wanted “our own monster,” something “insane and intense,” rather than King Kong, who he called “adorable.” So he decided to make a movie about one.

That’s how Cloverfield was born. Abrams tapped Lost writer Drew Goddard to write the script and longtime collaborator Matt Reeves to direct. The first teaser appeared before Transformers in July 2007.…