Cloverfield 4 "Release date on October 26, 2018" l

Cloverfield 4 has already been shot, early details

It looks as if Cloverfield 4 is already in the can - even as we await more details of Cloverfield 3...

The third Cloverfield film, which I'm expecting wholeheartedly to be called Cloverfield Station, is due for release (in the US at least) in April. What we don't know yet, not for sure, is if it will be released into cinemas or directly onto Netflix, as rumours are suggesting.

Meanwhile, the fourth film, which was shot under the title Overlord and which I'm half-heartedly expecting to be called Operation Cloverfield on release, has already been completed. Not many details of this fourth film are well known, but we've got some details to share.

So, Cloverfield 4 is set during World War II. It's a war movie, which is a change for this sci-fi series. But only so much of a change, because it's a sci-fi war movie.

What follows is likely to be spoiled in the marketing for the film, but in case it isn't, you may wish to tread lightly. Here's the spoiler squirrel just to be on the safe side: don't scroll below if you want to be 100% spoiler-free...

The plot of Operation Cloverfield (if that's indeed the final title) centres on the survivors of a slaughtered US platoon in war-torn France. These soldiers are looking for a church where they believe the Germans have a radar jammer. In truth, the church is being used by a... well, by a mad Nazi scientist. A proper, full-on movie baddie with a twitching neck and taste for torture. He'd be very much at home in an 18-certificate Indiana Jones movie.

This villain's evil plan involves using the bodies of the dead and a 'black blood' solution to create super-soldiers. It's all very Universal Soldier, if we're being honest. But that's just the device. The story itself, and the characters, are very different indeed.

The two leads are a pair of US servicemen, but there's also the crazy Nazi doctor and a French woman who has been protecting her family from the Nazis and who plays a major part in saving the day.

It's easy to imagine how the 'black blood' technology might be tied-into the series' slowly simmering 'Tagruato' mythology, or maybe Bad Robot won't bother with tying all of these films together too closely. I'm not sure how much it matters if they do or don't. I certainly wouldn't care if the films remained resolutely unlinked as long as they're good movies.

At this stage it doesn't seem impossible that Cloverfield 3 will pop up on Netflix as a kind of appetiser for the roll-out of Cloverfield 4 in cinemas. Or maybe they'll both go straight to streaming.

We're also looking into the plans for Cloverfield 5 too so keep your eyes peeled for that - we should have a follow-up story in the coming hours or days.