King Kong Vs. Godzilla? Kong: Skull Island Might Move To Warner Bros.
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- September 12, 2015
- Danny F. Santos
Ever since the announcement of Kong: Skull Island (which was originally just Skull Island) at Legendary Pictures, I couldn’t help but instantly wonder if it was the first step in a Godzilla Vs. King Kong film. This wouldn’t be the first time since Toho did produce King Kong vs. Godzilla back in 1962 (spoiler: Kong wins), so a rematch has been a long time coming.
Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla went into production in 2013 with Warner Bros., before owner Thoman Tull's Legendary signed a five-year deal with Universal last year. King Kong is a Universal property, which shares enough similarities with Godzilla that I could see Legendary wanting to make a new film.
The only barrier in the way of a death match between the two monsters is the distribution deals, but now Deadline is reporting that all three studios are in negotiations to move Kong: Skull Island to Warner Bros. It’s unclear what position Universal will be in if and when a deal is struck; it should be noted that King Kong's rights are all over the place, and Universal was only set to distribute Kong: Skull Island, not finance it.
You can bet there’s some red tape to leverage, since Legendary is technically tied to Universal with the exception of the Godzilla films. There’s also some issues that require negotiations with Toho, the Japanese company that holds the rights to the Godzilla franchise, which it licensed to Legendary.
So far, the plan looks to proceed with Kong: Skull Island for a 2017 release, followed by the scheduled Godzilla 2 film for 2018. After that, however, is when they’re hoping to release a crossover film that pits both monsters against each other, so we could see a crossover film as early as 2019 or 2020.
Possible spoilers to follow!
There’s still a bunch of questions that need answering, though. We still don’t know which actors may be returning for Godzilla 2 (although I suspect Ken Watanabe is almost guaranteed), and which characters will survive Skull Island.
There’s also the fact that the Kong film is reportedly taking place in the early 70s, which means either King Kong will be almost 50 years older when he fights Godzilla, or the timeframe will be adjusted accordingly. If they do change the time period, and the negotiations are successful, how much of the screenplay will be changed to accommodate Godzilla’s fight with the MUTOs?
In any case, I really hope that everyone can come to an agreement so we can see the crossover between what are arguably the two most popular giant monsters of all time. I just pray they don’t name it Kong V Godzilla: Dawn of MUTO.
Kong: Skull Island will premiere in theaters on March 10, 2017, while Godzilla 2 is set to premiere on June 4, 2018.
Image: Toho
