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.
