Following Legendary’s and Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2014 success with the global reinvention of the Godzilla franchise, the companies have come together to create an epic, new shared cinematic franchise. All-powerful monsters become towering heroes for a new generation, revealing a mythology that brings together Godzilla and Legendary’s King Kong in an ecosystem of other giant super-species, both classic and new. Monarch, the human organization that uncovered Godzilla in the 2014 film, will expand their mission across multiple releases. Continue reading
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?? Kong: Skull Island Script Contains References to 2014’s Godzilla
Last week, it was revealed that Legendary’s upcoming reboot of King Kong, titled Kong: Skull Island, had moved hands from Universal Studios to Warner Bros. Pictures and with it would set up a confrontation between the great ape and the king of the monsters, Godzilla.
In a new report on the transition, The Hollywood Reporter revealed an interesting nugget about the Kong: Skull Island script. The outlet reports that the script makes reference to the monster-hunting organization Monarch from 2014’s Godzilla, for which Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins were employees, already planting the seeds for the big-screen fight that likely won’t debut until 2019 at the earliest.
Ever since the reveal that another King Kong vs. Godzilla was in the cards, the idea has drawn criticism because of the colossal size of Godzilla compared to what will clearly be a dwarfed King Kong. An insider tells THR that: “Legendary is confident it can come up with a rationale to explain how Kong and Godzilla can do battle — and possibly become allies.”
Kong: Skull Island, which is being directed by The Kings of Summer‘s Jordan Vogt-Roberts from a script by John Gatins and Max Borenstein, aims to fully immerse audiences in the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island. Legendary’s story honors the foundations of existing King Kong lore, but places it in an entirely new, distinct timeline. Set for release March 10, 2017, the film will star Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Toby Kebbell, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tom Wilkinson.
Before Kong and Godzilla come to blows, a Godzilla sequel will be released, featuring a script by Max Borenstein and the return of Gareth Edwards as director. It has been hinted that we will see some other famous Kaiju, such as Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah, although none have been fully confirmed at this time. It’s set for release on June 8, 2018.
King Kong and Godzilla to Throw Down for Legendary and Warner Bros.
This is some “holy shit” news. Legendary Pictures is making a major move that foretells a massive monster showdown. Deadline reports that the studio is moving its in-development King Kong picture, Kong: Skull Island, from Universal to Warner Bros. — the studio that is home to the new Godzilla franchise — in order to get all their monstrous ducks in a row for a shared monster universe leading to a new King Kong vs Godzilla battle movie.
Legendary and Warner Bros. parted ways last year, when Legendary partnered up with Universal. Legendary developed the King Kong prequel picture Kong: Skull Island was over at Universal, but is teaming up with their former co-production studio with an eye toward getting all their mega monster players under one roof. The report states that Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla 2 will be followed by an epic show down picture between the giant ape and the radioactive lizard.
Kong: Skull Island is currently still casting. Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Corey Hawkins are set to star, and last we heard Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Wilkinson and John C. Reilly were all in talks to fill major roles. Little is known about Godzilla 2 a this time, but the film is set for a June 8, 2018 release date. It’s also worth noting that Legendary and Warner Bros. are the studios that brought us Pacific Rim, and while Legendary frontman Thomas Tull has gone on record saying the Godzilla would never wander into the PacRim universe (and honestly doesn’t belong there given the drastically different tones), it’s fun to speculate now that they’re moving into realm of epic monster battles.
Godzilla 2 will supposedly feature some monster battles of its own, introducing Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah, but Kong and ‘Zilla are the kings of monster cinema, so you just can’t match the excitement of seeing those two go head-to-head. This also raises the interesting question of how King Kong will be depicted in the new films. If he’s going to square off against the Godzilla introduced in Gareth Edwards‘ 2014 movie, he’s going to have to be significantly sized up from previous incarnations, and he’ll need some serious strength too. The new Godzilla is an absolutely giant, nuclear-powered, fire-breathing fuckton of fury, and traditionally Kong is just a really big ape. Regardless of semantics, I’m genuinely excited by this prospect. While there are plenty of shared universes floating around in todays cinematic landscape, there’s a huge (and delightful) precedent for monster throw down movies, and it’s thrilling to think what a Kong vs Godzilla fight will look like with today’s technology.
What say you? Excited by the prospect of an shared monster universe? Ready to see these two battle it out? Curious how the hell Kong would stand a chance? Sound off in the comments below.
Surprise Setting for KONG: SKULL ISLAND Revealed
Some new intel on Legendary Pictures’ Kong: Skull Island thanks to actor J.K. Simmons, who was recently cast in the film. During an interview with MTV, the actor reveals some interesting and surprising details on where part of the film will take place, and the era that the story is set in.
“When it first came to my attention, ‘There’s interest in you for a new ‘King Kong,’ I thought, ‘Okay… Why?’ But then I met with Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who’s going to be directing it and John Gatins, who’s writing and Tom [Hiddleston]. Jordan was just so passionate and so smart. It’s such an interesting, new take on it. It’s set in Detroit in 1971, which is where I grew up. We’re going to shoot it in Detroit during baseball season, so I’ll be able to go to Tigers games! There’s a lot to like about this movie!”
Of course, a major part of the film will also be set on Skull Island, which is located off the coast of Sumatra. But isn’t that cool? Detroit 1971…that will make for such a great setting! We’ve got a hell of a long way to go before we see anything for this movie, but so far things are coming together nicely. Especially with the possibility of Michael Keaton joining the production.
KONG: SKULL ISLAND will fully immerse audiences in the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island. Legendary’s story honors the foundations of existing King Kong lore, but places it in an entirely new, distinct timeline.
The film is set for release on March 10th, 2017. As a huge fan of Kong, lets see how this all comes together! Are you excited for this ?