We’ve talked about it in the review of “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and it remains true — the Monsterverse franchise is a tough sell. No, not because people are anti-monsters and anti-action. In fact, the reasons that ‘Godzilla 2’ works at all are based solely on the titular lizard and his epic battles. Instead, it’s just difficult to balance the Earth-shattering action with a quality human drama, with one or the other normally suffering. And in light of ‘Godzilla 2’ failing to gain critical acclaim, and seemingly falling flat at the box office, Warner Bros. is willing to slow things down before releasing the next installment “Godzilla vs. Kong.”
It’s hard to believe that we’re only a couple of weeks removed from ‘King of the Monsters’ arriving in theaters and we’re anticipating a new ‘Godzilla’ sequel in less than a year. With the delays on ‘Godzilla 2’ that pushed it to this year, the already-in-development ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ is expected to drop in theaters next March. That means we’re looking at yet another giant monster battle film only 10 months after the latest. And judging by the box office performance for ‘King of the Monsters,’ combined with the poor reviews, WB might be better served with delaying the forthcoming sequel.
READ MORE: ‘Godzilla 2’ Tramples Box Office Competition But Isn’t Nearly As King-Sized As Expected
According to WB executive Toby Emmerich (via Deadline), that’s exactly what will likely happen.
Speaking about the upcoming “Godzilla vs. Kong,” Emmerich assured folks that the new film “will deliver for fans in the way they were looking for” in the latest ‘Godzilla.’ But that confidence doesn’t mean that WB is in a rush to bring the film to theaters. And as he added, it appears the studio is willing to pump the brakes on post-production a bit, and make sure that “Godzilla vs. Kong” doesn’t arrive in sparsely populated theaters in 2020.
“It might come out later in the year, so we can deliver an A+ movie,” said Emmerich.
Though not an official delay announcement, there’s no denying the intention of that comment. WB has heard the complaints and is willing to re-evaluate the work already done on “Godzilla vs. Kong” to ensure that the sequel is the best of the Monsterverse, so far, even if that means pushing the release date.
The 2020 film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Eiza Gonzalez, and Brian Tyree Henry, and is expected to not only continue the story of ‘King of the Monsters’ but also incorporate King Kong, who was rebooted in the popular “Kong: Skull Island.” Returning to the cast are folks like Millie Bobby Brown, Zhang Ziyi, and Kyle Chandler from this year’s film. “Godzilla vs. Kong” also sees the universe’s fourth director (in four films), Adam Wingard, take over from Michael Dougherty at the helm.
The interesting thing about Emmerich’s comment, other than the fact that he’s basically in so many words admitting a partial defeat with ‘King of the Monsters,’ is the implication about what would cause a delay with “Godzilla vs. Kong.” You see, filming of the latest film is already wrapped, and production was seemingly on pace to easily be ready by March. But what is likely is that additional photography will be ordered and some significant changes will be made, which would necessitate the delay.
However, the other option would be that WB wants to delay the release to avoid the short gap between films and to make sure it doesn’t have the competition that spring 2020 brings. But it’s also likely that we’re looking at a combination of both reasons.
Either way, while diehard fans might be bummed by a delay, it appears that WB is deadset on making sure “Godzilla vs. Kong” is the best of the bunch and is willing to do what it takes to ensure that. You can’t fault the studio for that, at all.