MonsterVerse Movies....
Godzilla (2014)
The film retells Godzilla's origins in contemporary times and is set 15 years after a nuclear meltdown in Japan which subsequently awakens two giant parasitic creatures, known as "
MUTOs", who ravage the countryside in order to reproduce but in doing so, awaken a much larger, more destructive, ancient alpha predator, known as "
Godzilla", whose existence has been kept secret by the U.S. government since 1954. The film introduces Godzilla, the MUTOs, and the Monarch organization to the MonsterVerse.
In 2004, director Yoshimitsu Banno acquired permission from Toho to produce a short IMAX Godzilla film which was in development for several years until the project was eventually turned over to Legendary Pictures.
In March 2010, Legendary announced to have acquired to rights to Godzilla for a feature film reboot.
In January 2011,
Gareth Edwards was announced as the director for the film.
The film was co-produced with
Warner Bros. Pictures with filming completed in 2013 in Canada and the United States for release in 2014.
Godzilla was released on May 16, 2014 to positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $200 million domestically and $529 million worldwide against its $160 million budget.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
The film is set in 1973 and follows a team of scientists and Vietnam War soldiers who travel to an uncharted island in the Pacific and encounter terrifying creatures and the mighty Kong. The film introduces King Kong, Mother Longlegs, Sker Buffalos, Mire Squid, Leafwing, Psychovulture, Spore Mantis, Ramarak, and the Skull Crawlers to the MonsterVerse and a
post-credits scene introduces Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah to the MonsterVerse.
In July 2014 at the San Diego Comic-Con, Legendary announced a King Kong origin story, initially titled
Skull Island, with a release date of November 4, 2016, and
Universal Pictures distributing. In September 2014,
Jordan Vogt-Roberts was announced as the film's director. In September 2015, Legendary moved development of the film from Universal Pictures to Warner Bros. to create an expanded cinematic universe.
Principal photography began on October 19, 2015, in
Hawaii and various locations around
Vietnam.
Kong: Skull Island was released on March 10, 2017 to positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $167 million domestically and $565 million worldwide against its $185 million budget.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Director Gareth Edwards stated that he wanted 2014's
Godzilla to work as a standalone film with a definitive ending, and he opposed suggestions that the ending should leave the film
open for a sequel. He said that he had no problem coming back to do a sequel if the film did well, but his main concern was delivering a satisfying experience with the current film: "I want a story that begins and ends, and you leave on a high note. That's all we cared about when we were making this; just this film. If this film is good, the others can come, but let's just pay attention to this and not get sidetracked by other things."
After a successful opening of over $196 million worldwide, Legendary greenlit the
Godzilla sequel with plans to produce a trilogy with Edwards attached to direct. At the 2014
San Diego Comic-Con, Legendary confirmed that they had acquired the rights to Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah from
Toho. A short teaser clip showing concept art of all three with the ending tagline "Let them fight" was shown.
In the fall of 2014, Legendary announced that the sequel will be released on June 8, 2018 and that writer Max Borenstein would return to write the screenplay. Borenstein said, "The response to the first film was really exciting, but now that that world is established, we can do bigger and even better things." While promoting
Kong: Skull Island, Borenstein mentioned that one thing he aimed to do in the
Godzilla sequel is make Godzilla more empathetic for the audience, referencing the end of the first film, "When [Godzilla] blows his blue flame down the throat of the other creature – a creature we never empathized with in any way – we’re empathizing with Godzilla. That’s the thing about the movie that I’m most proud of, and I think Gareth did an amazing job pulling that off. I think that’s what sets up our Godzilla franchise in a way that the second Godzilla movie can pick up on to begin to make Godzilla a more relatable, emphatic figure. But it needed that groundwork because you don’t immediately invest emotionally in something that looks like a giant dragon or lizard." On April 13, 2015, Taylor-Johnson stated he was unsure if he would reprise his role for the sequel and that his return depended on Edwards's decision.
In May 2016, Warner Bros. announced that
Godzilla 2 would be pushed back from its original June 2018 release date to March 22, 2019.
[8] That same month, Warner Bros. revealed that Edwards left the sequel to work on smaller scale projects.
[50] Edwards also felt that Legendary "needed to get on with things" instead of waiting for him to finish his then-latest film,
Rogue One.
In October 2016, it was confirmed that
Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields (both who worked on
Krampus) would write the script for
Godzilla 2. A day later, it was reported that Dougherty was also in negotiations to direct
Godzilla 2.
[52] The same month, Legendary announced that the film would be shot at its parent company Wanda's
Qingdao Movie Metropolis facility in China, along with
Pacific Rim: Uprising. The film is scheduled to begin filming in
Atlanta on June 19, 2017. In December 2016, Legendary announced that the official title for
Godzilla 2 would be
Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
In early January 2017, Michael Dougherty was officially confirmed as the director for
Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In late January 2017,
Millie Bobby Brown was the first to be cast for the film. In February 2017,
Kyle Chandler and
Vera Farmiga were cast as the parents to Brown's character. In March 2017, it was reported that
O'Shea Jackson Jr. was in talks for a role in the film. In April 2017,
Aisha Hinds was confirmed to join the cast for the film.
In May 2017,
Anthony Ramos, Randy Havens,
Thomas Middleditch, and
Charles Dance were added to the cast and
Sally Hawkins was confirmed to return with
Ken Watanabe named but not yet confirmed to return. In June 2017,
Bradley Whitford[64] and
Zhang Ziyi were added to the cast with the latter playing a "major role" in the MonsterVerse.
Dougherty confirmed that the film would feature practical effects and creature designs by Tom Woodruff, Jr and a casting call confirmed that the film will feature
Rodan,
Mothra, and
King Ghidorah.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2020)
Legendary first announced the film in October 2015 when it also announced its plans for a shared cinematic franchise featuring Godzilla and King Kong. In May 2016, Warner Bros. announced that the film would be released on May 29, 2020. In March 2017, Legendary assembled a writers room to develop the story for
Godzilla vs. Kong. In May 2017, Warner Bros. bumped the film's original release date to a week early, from May 29 to May 22, for a Memorial Day weekend release. That same month,
Adam Wingard was announced as the director for
Godzilla vs. Kong.