Three years after defeating Mechagodzilla, Kong has established his new territory in the Hollow Earth and searches for more of his kind. On Earth’s surface, Godzilla continues to maintain order between humanity and giant monsters, known as “Titans” — killing Scylla in Rome and resting in the Colosseum afterwards.
A Monarch observation outpost stationed in Hollow Earth picks up an unidentified signal. On the surface, the signal causes Jia, the last known survivor of the Iwi tribe from Skull Island, to experience hallucinations and visions, causing her adoptive mother and Kong expert, Dr. Ilene Andrews, to worry. Also sensing the signal, Godzilla leaves Rome and attacks a nuclear plant in France to absorb radiation. He then heads to the lair of the Titan Tiamat in the Arctic. Monarch believes Godzilla is strengthening himself for an oncoming threat.
When a sinkhole opens near his home, Kong discovers an uncharted realm where a tribe of his species has survived, including a juvenile named Suko. After a brief initial confrontation, Kong convinces Suko to lead him to the tribe’s lair, and the two slowly bond on their journey. The tribe’s tyrannical leader, Skar King, battles Kong with the aid of an ancient ice-powered Titan, Shimo, whom he controls with pain using a crystal. Shimo’s ice breath damages Kong’s right arm, causing frostbite, but with Suko’s help, Kong manages to escape after losing his axe.
Andrews and Jia, alongside Titan veterinarian Trapper and conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes, travel to Hollow Earth to locate the source of the signal. They find the Monarch outpost destroyed. As the group follow the signal, they discover a temple that leads them to a subterranean section that houses a surviving Iwi tribe, who communicate telepathically with each other, living beneath portals to the surface. Inspecting some ruins, they surmise that the signal was a telepathic distress call sent by the Iwi.
While observing Jia socializing with the Iwi, Andrews voices her fears to Trapper that Jia may choose to stay with her people and that Andrews would have to accept it. Inside a temple, Andrews uncovers hieroglyphics displaying the past and future: Skar King once attempted to conquer the surface world, forced Shimo to trigger an ice age, and waged war against Godzilla’s species, but Godzilla defeated him by trapping him and his tribe deep within Hollow Earth. The prophecy also indicates that Jia would be the key to reawakening Mothra. Sensing Jia, Kong locates the temple and is fitted by Trapper with a prototype exoskeletal glove to strengthen and heal his frostbitten limb. Unbeknownst to them, one of Skar King’s loyalists follows them and informs him that the protective barrier leading to the surface portals has been opened. Jia successfully awakens the reborn Mothra.
Godzilla kills Tiamat and absorbs cosmic radiation from her lair, which turns his dorsal plates magenta. Hoping to lure Godzilla to Hollow Earth to assist him, Kong surfaces in Cairo and calls out to Godzilla. Despite Kong’s attempts to communicate, Godzilla attacks him, and a brief fight ensues until Mothra intervenes. Godzilla, Kong and Mothra return to the Hollow Earth and engage Skar King, along with his army and Shimo, in battle. Skar King and Shimo manage to use one of the portals to escape to the surface, forcing Godzilla and Kong to chase them to Rio de Janeiro, and Shimo induces a second ice age at Skar King’s command. The factions are evenly matched until Suko arrives with Kong’s axe and destroys the crystal controlling Shimo. Shimo and Kong then freeze and shatter Skar King.
After undoing Shimo’s ice age with his atomic breath, Godzilla returns to rest in the Colosseum. Jia reunites with Andrews and alleviates her fears by choosing to stay with her adopted mother. Mothra restores the protective barrier of the Iwi’s home and the portals. Kong returns with Shimo and Suko to Hollow Earth, where he becomes the ape tribe’s new leader.
- Rebecca Hall as Dr. Ilene Andrews
- Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes
- Dan Stevens as John Trapper
- Kaylee Hottle as Jia
- Alex Ferns as Mikael
- Fala Chen as Iwi Queen
- Rachel House as Hampton
- Ron Smyck as Harris
- Chantelle Jamieson as Jayne
- Greg Hatton as Lewis
- Kevin Copeland as Submarine Commander
- Tess Dobré as Submarine Officer
- Tim Carroll as Wilcox
- Anthony Brandon Wong as Talk Show Announcer
Development
In March 2019, producer Alex Garcia stated that Legendary Pictures hoped to produce more MonsterVerse films if they became successful, stating, “It’s one brick at a time, each piece has to be as good as it can be, so right now it’s all focused on this [Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong]. But could there be? Yeah, that’s the hope if the movies turn out really well.” In February 2021, Wingard commented on the future of the Monsterverse, “I know where we could go potentially with future films.” However, he noted that the Monsterverse was created “to a certain degree” to lead towards Godzilla vs. Kong. He added that the Monsterverse is at a “crossroads”, stating, “It’s really at the point where audiences have to kind of step forward and vote for more of these things. If this movie is a success obviously they will continue forward.”
Godzilla vs. Kong was released on March 24, 2021, and became a box office and streaming hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film grossed $470 million worldwide against a break-even point of $330 million, and became the most pirated film of 2021. On April 4, 2021, Legendary’s CEO Josh Grode commented on potential sequels, “we have a number of ideas for more movies.” That same day, the hashtag #ContinueTheMonsterverse began trending on Twitter, which was acknowledged by Legendary and garnered support from Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Kong: Skull Island (2017). On April 27, 2021, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Legendary was “quietly taking steps to stretch the series into one or more installments” while negotiating with Wingard to potentially return to direct. Various ideas were considered, with Son of Kong being one potential title. In August 2021, Monsterverse writer Max Borenstein stated that “there will be some new, interesting installments coming” due to the success of Godzilla vs. Kong.
On March 20, 2022, it was announced that a sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong was scheduled to commence filming later in the year in the Gold Coast, Queensland, and other locations in South East Queensland. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and that Dan Stevens had been cast as a lead. Wingard and Stevens had previously worked together on The Guest (2014). In May 2022, Production Weekly reported that the film’s working title was Origins. On June 30, 2022, it was revealed that Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, Brian Rogers, Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni would return to produce.[24][25] On July 1, 2022, Toho confirmed that the film would feature Godzilla.
March 28, 2024
