The Origins Of Cloverfield's Title Are Mundane Compared To Its Plot

One cannot understate the pop culture stir caused by Matt Reeves' 2008 film "Cloverfield." Co-produced by TV impresario J.J. Abrams, "Cloverfield" employed an effective marketing campaign wherein information was widely withheld from audiences, to the point where many couldn't tell you exactly what the film was about. There were rumors at the time that "Cloverfield" might be a stealth Godzilla movie, a Voltron film, or some other major franchise picture marketed in disguise. Others began to form elaborate plots in their minds, positing that the unseen monster in the "Cloverfield" previews might actually denote a larger, interdimensional conspiracy story. 

As it turns out, the monster was merely a giant monster. The only striking and novel thing about "Cloverfield" was that it was a found-footage kaiju film, ostensibly shot in a shaky, handheld style by one of the characters within the movie. The shakiness of the film's camerawork reportedly made some audiences seasick, and warnings were posted outside certain theaters. 

And then there was the matter of the title. What on Earth did "Cloverfield" mean? Was that the name of the monster? A military code name for something? Perhaps for the interdimensional conspiracy? 

It turns out the title has a lot less meaning than a conspiracy theorist would find satisfying. In 2008, Abrams' studio, Bad Robot Productions, was located at 1221 Olympic Blvd. in Santa Monica, California. Locals will note that the address is very close to Olympic's intersection ... with Cloverfield Blvd. When thinking of a code for his movie's screenplay, he merely looked at a street sign. The code name stuck. 

Cloverfield Blvd. is located right next to Santa Monica Airport, once the location of Clover Field, an airfield where early flights took off and landed. The street was named after the airfield. 

Abrams, it seems, likes to make his films and TV shows in secret, ensuring that audiences will not have plot details leaked and spoiled. While Abrams has famously used the mystery as part of his shows' marketing campaigns, it's actually common for high-profile studio releases to use code names to keep prying eyes away. 

"Doctor Who," for instance, famously used the name "Torchwood" (an anagram of the title) as a code during production. The codename, however, became well-known to fans quickly, and was eventually incorporated into the series (the in-show spy organization was called Torchwood, and was eventually given a spinoff series of its own). More recently, "The Batman," was called "Vengeance" in studio memos and correspondence. The films "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" really threw off prying eyes by calling themselves "Mary Lou" and "Mary Lou 2" in the production communiques. "Wonder Woman" was known as "Nightingale," "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" was amusingly called "Space Bear," and "The Dark Knight" was — perhaps bafflingly — coded as "Rory's First Kiss," a reference to Christopher Nolan's son. Meanwhile, "Jurassic World" had the code name "Ebb Tide," after a piece by composer John Williams. 

"Cloverfield" was meant to be a stand-in code name for Reeves' monster movie. Other codes were used — "Slusho!," "Cheese," and "Chocolate Ourage!" among them — and "Cloverfield" was merely another. Unable to come up with a more compelling title, however, "Cloverfield" eventually stuck. Abrams, it seemed, was merely fond of the word ... and of the mystery it created. 

Mystery solved: it was a street sign.