Watch the surprise first trailer for the mysterious Cloverfield sequel

Cloverfield 2 trailer.
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures/Youtube)

You have to hand it to J.J. Abrams and his mystery box. Late last night, Twitter lit up with reports of a strange new trailer for a movie titled 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was playing before screenings of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Today, Paramount put the trailer online for your obsessive analysis:

In a statement at Collider, J.J. Abrams offered a vague explanation for 10 Cloverfield Lane's connection to the original. "The idea came up a long time ago during production," he said. "We wanted to make it a blood relative of Cloverfield. The idea was developed over time. We wanted to hold back the title for as long as possible."

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Of course, the original Cloverfield debuted with a similar splash in 2007, when a mysterious untitled trailer played before screenings of Transformers. We'll see if 10 Cloverfield Lane can equal the size of that smash hit — and we won't have to wait long, because it hits theaters on March 11.

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.