Kong: Skull Island & Godzilla Franchise Connection Explained
Legendary Pictures surprised those at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con when, during the studio’s panel, it revealed plans to make
Kong: Skull Island (then just
titled Skull Island), a fresh take on the King Kong mythos. This immediately prompted speculation that a King Kong/Godzilla crossover might lie in the cards – seeing as Legendary is also behind the rebooted
Godzilla movie franchise – and since then, it has been reported that such a clash of the (monster) titans is currently in development.
Kong: Skull Island was recently moved from Universal Pictures to Warner Bros. Pictures, in order to place the
Kong and
Godzilla properties under the same roof – and thus, better clear the path towards
an eventual crossover between them. It has now been revealed that the
Skull Island screenplay does, in fact, contain direct references to elements from the 2014
Godzilla reboot, as a tool to start building a shared cinematic universe around both film series.
THR has published an article detailing the currently-strained working relationship between Legendary and Universal; such tensions partly stem from the critical/commercial failures of the studios’ early 2015 releases,
Blackhat and
Seventh Son. That
THR article also reveals that the
Skull Island script – which is reported to have recently gotten
a polish from Jurassic World co-writer Derek Connolly – references the Monarch organization featured in
Godzilla (2014). WB was understandably wary of a Universal-backed tentpole with direct connections to one of its own lucrative IPs, but that issue has been settled – seeing as that
Skull Island is now moving forward at WB, instead.
One of
THR‘s insiders also noted that Universal studio executives expressed doubt about the logistics of King Kong battling the traditionally much-larger Godzilla, having said
“There were funny comments about him having to be the size of the Empire State Building instead of hanging off of it.” Nonetheless, the character have fought before (see the 1962
King Kong vs. Godzilla movie), and Legendary heads are described by
THR‘s sources as being confident that they can
“explain how Kong and Godzilla can do battle — and possibly become allies.”
Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ishiro Serizawa from Godzilla (2014)
Monarch, as is established in the official
Godzilla (2014) prequel comic book “Godzilla: Awakening”, is an organization that’s formed shortly after the conclusion of WWII (specifically, in 1946), when several governments around the globe decide to join their forces in order to monitor, study, and (as necessary) hunt Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms or MUTOs. Perhaps the most infamous known MUTO is, of course, Gojira/Godzilla, as is also explained by Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (the son of one of Monarch’s earliest operatives) in director Gareth Edwards’ 2014
Godzilla film.
Former
Skull Island cast member J.K. Simmons said that the film takes place (at the least, partially)
during the 1970s; assuming that hasn’t changed, it makes sense for
Skull Island to reference Monarch at some point. After all, the organization would no doubt be interested in keeping an eye on Kong and his fellow giant island inhabitants – as Monarch would, in fact, exist during the events of
Skull Island in this shared universe. This indicates Monarch could be to
Skull Island and
Godzilla what S.H.I.E.L.D. is to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – a common thread and connective tissue between the different film installments, in turn.
Tom Hiddleston (here, as Loki) is headed to Skull Island
Skull Island star Tom Hiddleston, who has confirmed that he is playing an “adventurer” in the film, refrained from revealing the movie’s time period when interviewed by
MTV – no doubt to avoid spoiling too much about what director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (
The Kings of Summer) has in mind. Nevertheless, he claimed that the
Skull Island timeline does make sense, for this particular version of the King Kong mythology.
“There’s something about the location and the time period and the cultural context of it which says something completely different about the myth. Jordan and I bonded over the power of myth and that King Kong is an emblem of something very profound about the power of nature, the sort of magic of the natural world, its mystery and our need to let it be in a way and I think that’s why the power of the mythology of Kong has endured. We’re drawn to things we don’t understand.”
Edwards’
Godzilla reboot encompassed themes about the power of nature that have long been part of the franchise, while also updating its subtext about the atomic era and fears of the nuclear apocalypse. It’s possible that
Kong: Skull Island (like Hiddleston teased) will differentiate itself from that series by instead highlighting the awe and wonder of the unknown; that is, as dangerous as King Kong and the creatures of Skull Island are, they would be inspiring in a way to people who are living in a time period of disillusionment, like the 1970s. It’s worth considering, anyway.
Either way you cut it, though,
Kong: Skull Island continues to sound intriguing; all the more so, given its ties to the
Godzilla franchise (which is rumored to
introduce even more famous Kaiju with the sequel arriving in 2018). It also helps that, in addition to Hiddleston, Vogt-Roberts’ film boasts a strong cast that includes
Brie Larson (
Trainwreck), the former
Straight Outta Compton costars
Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, and
Toby Kebbell (
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,
Fantastic Four (2015)), with other big names reportedly in talks, ahead of production getting started on the film in the next few months.
NEXT: Godzilla 2 Writer Teases ‘Bigger’ Sequel
Kong: Skull Island opens in U.S. theaters on March 10th, 2017, followed by
Godzilla 2 on June 8th, 2018. The King Kong/Godzilla movie doesn’t have a release date yet.
Source:
THR,
MTV