The franchise as a whole deals with creatures from other dimensions attacking Earth throughout various decades, all as a repercussion of an experiment by an astronaut team aboard the outer-space Cloverfield Station in the near-future.

Each film depicts the reality-altering effects of their study, which was meant to find a new energy source replacing the planet's depleted resources, only to open portals for assault from various beasts from deep space.

The film, which is presented as found footage shot with a home camcorder, follows six people fleeing from a gigantic monster that attacks New York City while they are having a farewell party.

Cloverfield was first publicized with a two-minute teaser trailer that did not advertise the film's title, only its release date: 01-18-08 (referring to January 18, 2008).

The film follows a young woman in rural Louisiana, who is held in an underground bunker with two men who insist that a hostile event has left the surface of the Earth uninhabitable.

Set in 2028, the film follows a team of astronauts who are left stranded in space after they perform a particle accelerator test that causes their vessel, the Cloverfield Station, to travel into an alternate universe, from which they must find their way back.

[9] By December 2016, Paramount Pictures removed God Particle from its schedule, and in its place a Cloverfield IMAX Film was added, to be released on February 2, 2018.

The producer confirmed plans for an eventual team-up with Michelle and Ava, the two characters respectively played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

[19] In September 2022, Babak Anvari signed onto the project as director, who will direct the script written by Barton, while Jon Cohen will act as an additional producer.

[20] In January 2023, Matt Reeves stated that the ongoing developments won't be talked about prior to future project releases, with intent for it to "always [be] surprising" similar to the previous installments.

In the manga, the monster has some kind of biological connection to Kishin Aiba, the main character, due to a result of tampering or experimentation.

In spite of not being initially told the premise of the film, Lizzy Caplan stated that she accepted a role in Cloverfield solely because she was a fan of the Abrams-produced television series Lost (in which her former Related co-star Kiele Sanchez was a recurring character), and her experience of discovering its true nature eventually caused her to state that she would not sign on for a film in the future "without knowing full well what it is."

"[24] Hud himself was also originally to have survived, but producer J. J. Abrams suggested having him getting eaten by the monster, allowing the audience to vicariously experience this.

In the third chapter, it is seen that his system has been mixed with the monster's in a tiny organ called the Splinter of Amnion, which allows him to control it without falling victim to its wrath.

While some observers noted a similarity between the alien featured in Super 8 (2011) and the monster in Cloverfield, J. J. Abrams stated during an interview with MTV that the only connection between them is that they were both designed by Neville Page.