Don't think this has any of the dizzy-making found-footage malarkey of the very different (and very successful) CLOVERFIELD . . . fingers crossed that that's true . . . and from what I've read the resemblance between the two films is more "blood-brothers" or "sisters" than a sequel - after all, it's not entitled CLOVERFIELD 2 and one of the two working titles was THE CELLAR.
Furthermore, the whole thing was reportedly shot and edited before anyone had the idea to change the title - although maybe that report can be taken with a pinch of salt . . .
As Mr. Abrams himself says, "I was surprised every time that people asked me about a sequel . . . I've always thought it's so cool that people cared enough about that movie to want more of it . . . I knew there was something out there that could justify a continuation, just maybe not in the way people expect . . . It's a wholly original story with different characters different monsters, different everything . . .but, and this is such a strange thing to say, every time we'd talk about the script it would feel like the same colour as CLOVERFIELD - it was this vibe I had . . . it felt to me like if we're able to authentically connect this movie to the other which has been a curious source of interest to a lot of people it might give this movie the kind of attention it deserves and do so by making public this thing that we are feeling privately which was that this literally feels like the sister movie to "Cloverfield" . . . not a sequel, something of a younger sibling . . . the DNA is from the same place but these are absolutely individual people."
Make of that what you will but the gist of it seems pretty clear to me.
