Casual moviegoers may not recognize the name Gareth Edwards, but it’s more than likely that this will change in the next couple of years. Not only is he at the helm of one of the upcoming "Star Wars" films, but he’s the director of Legendary Pictures’ “Godzilla,” a movie that grossed nearly $500 million worldwide and will likely crack that number when all is said and done (the movie is teetering just on the edge of hitting $200 million at home as well).
This is an astonishing feat if you consider the only feature Edwards had made before this was the low-budget “Monsters,” which made a relatively paltry $237,301 in 2010. But Edwards was no neophyte when he directed his first film –he had cut his teeth in the world of special effects for such shows as “Heroes and Villains.”
At today’s Legendary Comic-Con panel, it was confirmed that Edwards would direct “Godzilla 2” after his untitled “Star Wars” spin-off film, which is set to arrive December 2016. New monsters were announced for the sequel as well, including the classic Kaiju adversaries Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah. A quick video teaser was shown that revealed the creature, ending with a new hashtag and marketing line: “Let them fight!”
Given his “Star Wars” film has a release date of 2016, the earliest we’ll see the Godzilla sequel is in 2018.