Who cares if Cloverfield nose-dived 68% in its second weekend at the box office?  It cost a reported $25 million, and opened to $40 million; even with its exorbitant marketing budget, the international gross will bump Cloverfield well into profit before it hits DVD.  And while we’ve all doubts as to how it’ll hold up on repeat viewings, isn’t it possible that the hand-held aesthetic will work better on a smaller screen?  If so, Paramount’s got a healthy library title, and every reason to seriously consider a sequel.

Variety‘s Michael Fleming is reporting that this is precisely what Paramount is doing, though he cautions that a greenlight may be contingent on the studio closing deals quickly with director Matt Reeves, writer Drew Goddard and producer J.J. Abrams.  Obviously, nothing’s going into production until the WGA strike is settled, but with an agreement possibly on the horizon, Cloverfield 2 seems a pretty safe bet (provided the budget stays under $30 million).

At least it’s a known quantity, whereas Reeves’s other project, The Invisible Woman, sounds like less of a sure thing.  Variety calls it “a Hitchcock-style thriller that probes the mind of a former beauty queen who turns to a life of crime to protect her family.”  Sounds interesting.  But what in Reeves’s oeuvre suggests that he’s ready to work variations on Hitchcock?  I should probably back off.  The man’s worked with Martin Kove.

It’s early days for both projects, but if you thought Cloverfield was a one-and-done deal, you underestimated a studio’s love for a quick, easy buck.