After 2014’s critical and box-office success, Godzilla, rumors started to circulate that Legendary Pictures, the group that distributed the film, would be trying to make a deal between Universal Studios and Warner Brothers’ Pictures to bring together the two greatest movie monsters of all time for the first time since 1962—King Kong and Godzilla.
Two years later, we’re finally starting to get some real information about this movie-mashup series that we all want to happen. Let’s break down what we know so far.
King Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla 2
This April, we finally got a look into the filming of King Kong: Skull Island, a reboot of the classic franchise that centers the original great ape, King Kong.
Starring A-list actors like Brie Larson (The Room, 21 Jump Street), Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers, Crimson Peak), and an amazing supporting cast that includes the likes of Jason Mitchell and Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton), Samuel L. Jackson, and John Goodman, King Kong will be roaring into theaters on March 10th, 2017.
Set in the 1970’s during the height of the Vietnam War, a former SAS operative (Hiddleston) will lead a group of soldiers and a photojournalist (Larson) into the wilderness of Skull Island, the home of King Kong.
Check out the sneak peak of the film in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUrbtE2y1p4
After the release of King Kong: Skull Island, the sequel to Gareth Edward’s 2014 Godzilla will begin production. With some audiences unhappy with the small amount of screen-time that Bryan Cranston received in the original and the lack of charisma from the other characters, Legendary might do well to hire bigger and more fan-friendly names to star in the sequel. If this shared universe will have the likes of Hiddleston, Jackson, and Goodman on the Kong side, it’s a pretty sure bet that Godzilla’s team will have to bring its own share of star power.
As Godzilla‘s director is currently busy finishing production on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, some were worried that he would not be able to return to film its sequel. But at 2015’s Comic-Con, Edwards squashed those rumors and also confirmed that the original film’s screenwriter would be returning as well.
Godzilla 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on March 22nd, 2019.
What about Godzilla vs. King Kong?
While not much is known about the film so far, Godzilla vs. King Kong will surely be a huge movie. With an estimated budget of $200,000,000 and the two greatest movie monsters of all time to play with, it would be pretty hard to produce anything that audiences wouldn’t want to see. With its newly official release date of May 29, 2020, they’ve got some time to get this thing done the right way.
Sadly, with the way that the timelines are set up, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing the return of any of the characters that will appear in King Kong: Skull Island. Sorry, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson.
As these two monsters have faced off before in the similarly titled 1962 film Godzilla vs. King Kong, this movie will have to do exactly what Godzilla did so well, just on a bigger scale. By giving us a terrifyingly real view of the King of Monsters, the series was rebooted in a fun and energetic way. As long as Legendary Pictures keeps to this formula, I think they’ll have fans beating down the doors to all three of these huge films.
