With Godzilla getting a sequel, a given based on what Legendary is wanting to do and that it made $500 million on its $160 million budget before taking into account home video, VOD and broadcast deals, some details have landed via SDCC this weekend. Gareth Edwards will be back to direct it – after he works on the standalone Star Wars film that he’s attached to – and they’re going to do some fun stuff with it as they expand on the mythology and bring in more of the creatures. We’ve known about the sequel since opening weekend when Legendary saw their franchise potential and this weekend they revealed that the villains for the sequel will include Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah.
With it going to be a bit of time before the film can get underway, Legendary is working with partner Universal with another of their properties that goes back a long way with King Kong. We got a Peter Jackson directed King Kong in 2005, but what Legendary is doing is producing Skull Island for a November4th, 2016 release. The location is the island where King Kong is from but has a lot of other material to work with. The teaser at their panel did show King Kong at the end, but Legendary looks to be working it in a similar vein to Godzilla in that there’s more to get involved with so that it’s not just “another King Kong” film that won’t generate a lot of interest.
“Previous works have touched on the island, but staying and exploring this mysterious and dangerous place offers Legendary the opportunity to take audiences deeper inside this rich world with a style and scope that parallels other Legendary productions,” Legendary said in a statement.
Universal has talked about their classic monster movies a lot and building some sort of interconnected universe and Skull Island could be an intriguing launch point for that.
