Slusho Unrelated to Cloverfield?!

Peter Sciretta from Slashfilm has reported he's talked to four people who have seen early cuts of Cloverfield. According to his sources, Slusho! has very little to do with the actual plot of the movie. In fact, JJ never realized just how popular Slusho! would be.

All this Cloverfield viral marketing has got me wondering. I have now talked to four people who have seen an early cut of Cloverfield. I haven't heard one negative so far, although everyone is very reluctant to share any details about the film. But I have been able to confirm something that I have believed all along -

Slusho! has almost nothing to do with Cloverfield!

Yes, Paramount and Bad Robot are using Slusho! to promote Cloverfield. I'm not suggesting otherwise. Slusho! branded T-shirts were even handed out at the Paramount panel during Comic Con 2007 (where Cloverfield made a brief appearance).

What I'm here to tell you today is that Slusho! has very little to do with the plot of the movie, and only makes a brief appearance on the t-shirt of one of the characters. I’m being told that is pretty much the extent of it. So the question now becomes: How did a JJ Abrams inside joke become the focal point of the entire viral marketing campaign for a movie that has nothing to do with everyone’s favorite Japanese frozen beverage?

I’ve been told by numerous sources that Paramount, Bad Robot, and even JJ Abrams didn’t expect this much interest in their small January monster movie. Possibly afraid of a repeat of Snakes on a Plane, it appears that the studio doesn’t plan to up the marketing budget for the movie. So maybe Slusho! was JJ Abrams’ and Bad Robot’s way of advertising the movie on a low budget? Or...

Here is were the speculation begins...

Or maybe Slusho! is actually part of another JJ Abrams project entirely. Bad Robot has at least seven projects set up at Paramount, spanning the comedy, romantic comedy, horror and supernatural genres. Could Slusho! be connected to one of these projects? Could a teaser trailer be shown in front of Cloverfield?

One of my credible non studio sources has heard that “Slusho! is a project that JJ Abrams has been working on for years now...” But everyone else I’ve talked to seems to know nothing at all. So for now it is all just speculation. JJ Abrams is very good at keeping secrets, because he keeps them within the arms of his small production company. He’s big enough not to have to go through studio channels where the noise usually gets out.

Devin at CHUD.com seems to think everyone scrambling for clues in the Cloverfield viral marketing campaign is a big nerd. Well, duh. Proudly. This is news? My wife even makes fun of me. So what? Everyone needs a hobby.