On February 4, 2018, Bad Robot Productions did something that could potentially change the way the film industry works. During the superbowl (which had an audience of 103.4 MILLION people), the first trailer for the third film in the Cloverfield universe was released, just hours - yes, HOURS - before the film’s release. If you haven’t seen this trailer yet, check it out.

Now, this was a shock for Cloverfield fans. The Cloverfield Paradox (which was originally titled The God Particle) had a bit of a shaky production/release timeline. Originally, it was set to be released in 2017, but it was pushed back to February 2018. Then, Paramount began negotiating a deal with Netflix, and the release date was pushed back again, this time to April 2018. So, with an expected April release, the surprise February drop was, well, a surprise.

If you have not watched The Cloverfield Paradox, Cloverfield, or 10 Cloverfield Lane yet, proceed at your own risk. There will be a ton of spoilers.

In this film, the earth is running low on energy resources. In an attempt to create an alternative energy source, a crew of astronauts are sent into space on the Cloverfield station with the Shepard particle accelerator, which, if successful, could provide the earth with unlimited energy. However, the Shepard explodes, sending the Cloverfield station into another dimension and ripping a hole in the fabric of time and space.

The biggest question this raises is, of course, how? How does it connect to Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane? How are Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane even connected? One is a monster movie, and the other features aliens. Does The Cloverfield Paradox explain any of this?

Yes, actually. I believe it does.

In Paradox, we are exposed to at least two different dimensions that are experiencing catastrophes as a result of the Shepard explosion - the one the Cloverfield crew is from, and the one they are catapulted into. With this information, it is safe to assume that there is an infinite number of dimensions that could potentially be affected by the Shepard explosion.

How does that connect it to Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane? It’s simple: they are two of the dimensions affected by this explosion.

In Paradox, Mark Stambler (portrayed by Donald Logue) is an author who writes a book about what could happen if the particle accelerator explodes. In an interview clip that is shown in the movie, he says, "This experiment could unleash chaos. Monsters, demons, beasts from the sea… And not just here and now. In the past, in the future, in other dimensions….”

Cloverfield takes place twenty years before Paradox, but the monsters are very similar. 10 Cloverfield Lane takes place about twelve years before Paradox and eight years after Cloverfield, but there is no mention of the Cloverfield attack in New York. Each film seems to be seperate from the last.

Each film is set in a separate dimension that is facing different consequences of the Shepard explosion.

The Cloverfield dimension got an attack on New York from a baby sea monster. 10 Cloverfield Lane's dimension got aliens. And The Cloverfield Paradox dimension got full-grown sea monsters.

There are other things that connect the films, of course. The fictional Japanese company Tagruato is ultimately behind every monster - their submarines awakened the monster in Cloverfield, their company Bold Futura was involved in some shady space stuff in 10 Cloverfield Lane, and the Tagruato logo can be spotted on a control box onboard the Cloverfield station in Paradox. The ARG marketing surrounding each film also connects the series (you can read about that here). But the true connector is the fact that each film takes place in a universe parallel to the others, all as a result of the events of The Cloverfield Paradox.

By setting up the franchise in this way, producer J.J. Abrams can do pretty much anything with it in the future. The fourth film is rumored to be a WWII supernatural horror film. Any movie Abrams produces could easily become a Cloverfield film. They just have to throw in some sort of monster and a Tagruato reference. It shouldn't work, but it does!