Contrary to rumors, Paramount’s upcoming World War II horror movie Overlord is not a Cloverfield sequel. Speaking at CinemaCon, producer J.J. Abrams told the crowd that Overlord which is about soldiers who find out the Nazis are using supernatural forces and engaging in gruesome experiments, will be Bad Robot’s first R-rated picture. Per Variety, the footage shown included “eerie shots of dead soldiers hanging from trees, genetically modified Nazis, and disembodied and fanged heads.” So that looks like fun for the whole family.

However, for fans of Cloverfield, Abrams told the crowd that “we’re actually developing a true, dedicated Cloverfield sequel” and that unlike the most recent entry in the series, The Cloverfield Paradox, which sold to Netflix and premiered following the Super Bowl, this one would get a theatrical release.

Of course, the confusion between Overlord and Cloverfield is forgivable considering that The Cloverfield Paradox wasn’t always a Cloverfield movie. It was a troubled sci-fi project called The God Particle that was retro-fitted into being a Cloverfield movie through reshoots and re-editing, and since you can do that with other genres, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were conversations about doing the same with Overlord, but they ultimately settled on letting it be its own picture.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind more anthology Cloverfield movies, and it will be interesting to see if this “true sequel” stays in the anthology format, or if they try to tie it directly to the events of Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane, or The Cloverfield Paradox.

But in the meantime, Overlord sounds plenty enticing on its own merits (it’s probably the closest we’ll get to a Wolfenstein movie for the foreseeable future). The film, directed by Julius Avery, opens October 26th and stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Jacob Anderson, and Pilou Asbaek. No release date has been announced yet for the upcoming Cloverfield movie.

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Image via Paramount Pictures
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Image via Paramount Pictures