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Perhaps scared off by the litany of physical side effects rattled off at triple-speed towards the end of its TV spots, audiences abandoned Cloverfield in droves in its second weekend at the box office. Still, before moving on to their next Ken Davitian-in-nipple-jewelry obsession, fickle entertainment consumers managed to cement its status as the biggest January opening, like, ever. Which means, of course, that a sequel is already in development:

Matt Reeves is in early talks with Paramount to direct a "Cloverfield" sequel...Timing of the projects will depend on how quickly Paramount can complete discussions with Reeves, producer J.J. Abrams and scribe Drew Goddard to scare up another monster tale for the "Cloverfield" sequel.

Right out of the gate, C2: Rise of Those Things in the Subway Tunnel is facing both advantages and disadvantages relative to its predecessor: On the one hand, it won't be able to capitalize on the months of teasing marketing-foreplay that helped turn its opening weekend into such a climactically satisfying experience for Paramount. That said, it can still capitalize on steel-stomached franchise devotees to show up, to say nothing of the quickly-growing fanbase of sole returning cast member T.J. "Hudd" Platt, who'd pay to hear him read the phonebook, just so long as he did it really shakily and injected bonehead commentary along the way for comic relief.