So, "Godzilla v. King Kong" is a Go

The deal was struck. The monsters are owned by different companies but they made a deal once before (for a film that made Toho more money than any other), and they've made that deal again.

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.

The announcement that the reinvention of monsters continues was made today by Legendary CEO, Thomas Tull and Kevin Tsujihara, Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. The initial trio of films are 2017’s KONG: SKULL ISLAND, GODZILLA 2 in 2018 and then GODZILLA VS. KONG, arriving in theaters in 2020. While Legendary maintains its new home at Universal Pictures, the GODZILLA films remain in partnership with Warner Bros., who will now also distribute KONG as a part of this franchise. Production on KONG: SKULL ISLAND begins October 19th.

Warner Bros. and Legendary released Godzilla in May 2014 with an agreement to release Godzilla 2 on June 8, 2018. Both films feature the human Monarch organization. Shortly following Legendary’s pact with NBC Universal, Legendary acquired rights to additional classic characters from Toho's Godzilla universe, including Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. This paved the way for developing a franchise centered around Monarch and anchored by Godzilla, King Kong, and other famous creatures.

The battle of the titans has already caused on casualty: The sequel to the other giant-kaiju fighting movie, Pacific Rim, seems to be no longer in the works.

Oddly enough, in the same report it was revealed that the long-awaited Pacific Rim 2 would be on put on hold for the foreseeable future. The film was slated to be released in 2017 and reports came out earlier this year that production was suspected to begin in November, so why the sudden change of heart? According to the official release they didn’t want to put up the cash in order to make the 2nd film....

While the report says one thing, many believe that the main reason that the studio decided to hold off on the sequel to Pacific Rim, is the recent development with Godzilla vs King Kong. Earlier reports claimed that if all the pieces fell into place, the studio would move very quickly on their plans to get the two film icons to face-off, with King Kong releasing in 2017 and the sequel to Godzilla hitting theaters the following year. While Pacific Rim does have a fan base, it is not a sure-fire hit in the same capacity that a Godzilla vs King Kong film would do.

Guillermo Del Toro says the Pacifc Rim sequel is not dead, but directors always say that.

You know, I guess maybe I'll see Godzilla v. King Kong (I might even see Skull Island -- which always interested me more than Kong himself), but I've had the opportunity to watch Godzilla free for a while and I keep letting it slip through my fingers.

I watched the first fifteen minutes and realized something was missing from the movie -- namely, me being twelve years old.

Thanks to @johnriverstoo.

Cool Video, Brah: This guy's video is great. It's about the 5 Most Pointless Uses of CGI in movies.

Watch it -- at the end he shows you some practical effects people made for movies, which looked very good, which were replaced with awful looking CGI.

posted by Ace at 08:43 PM

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