It is any wonder that Warner Bros. is changing the dates of its “Godzilla” movies? “Godzilla 2,” which will see director Gareth Edwards return to the helm, was announced shortly after the inaugural film became a box-office hit in 2014 and grossed nearly $530-million worldwide. Scheduled for a 2018 release, production should have been plenty feasible — if it weren’t for the fact that Edwards, a few months earlier, had signed on for “Star Wars: Rogue One.”
Sure, the ‘Star Wars’ movie comes out December 2016, which leaves plenty of time for Edwards to produce a summer 2018 movie, right? Well, not if you want a life and proper pre-production, which can last nearly a year for some bigger projects. So “Godzilla 2” has been moved back.
“Godzilla 2” has moved from its previous June 8, 2018 release, where it would have battled against “Transformers 6,” to March 22, 2019. Is WB afraid of Paramount’s flagship tentpole? Maybe, but probably the more important element is that if WB wants to keep Edwards, which the studio does, the director probably needs a little break before making what would be two giant films back-to-back.
READ MORE: Watch: First Behind The Scenes Look At ‘Kong: Skull Island’
The “Godzilla” sequel’s new summer competition will be Marvel‘s “Captain Marvel” which will arrive two weeks prior and will presumably dominate theaters during that window and possibly beyond.
One would think such a shift would cause some kind of domino effect that would push back the studio’s monster face-off picture “Godzilla vs. Kong.” But nope. Previously set for a TBD 2020 date, WB has now set the film for a confirmed May 29, 2020 date, and currently it has no competition.
Both films will follow the set-up film “Kong: Skull Island,” which is currently set for a March 10, 2017 release date.
Finally, WB has shifted one more date: an Untitled Event movie set for June 19, 2020. Believed to be the “Green Lantern Corps” movie, the unnamed tentpole has moved to July 24, 2020. Perhaps the previous date was just too close to an untitled Pixar film in the works, though the new date is two weeks after yet another Untitled Marvel film.