While it’s certainly not as bad off as Universal‘s Monsterverse (basically dead), Warner Bros.’ attempt at an interconnected monsters universe isn’t facing the greatest narrative either. Today, as rumored for a few weeks now, Legendary Pictures announced it was delaying the fourth film in their Monsterverse, “Godzilla vs. Kong” until November 2020. This move is the third release date shift for the movie, initially set for May 29, 2020, then moved up to March 13, 2020, and now back eight months to November 20, 2020, on Thanksgiving weekend.
Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Studio chairman Toby Emmerich teased this delay, saying of the film, “It might come out later in the year, so we can deliver an A+ movie.”
READ MORE: ‘Godzilla 2’ Tramples Box Office Competition But Isn’t Nearly As King-Sized As Expected
“Godzilla Vs. Kong is directed by Adam Wingard, best known for indie horror like “You’re Next,” and “The Guest.” The film is set to star Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Jessica Henwick, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir.
While “Kong: Skull Island,” the second film in the franchise was a critical and box office hit ($566.7 million worldwide), 2019’s ” Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” was primarily panned and underwhelmed at the box office, earning $385.9 million worldwide, substantially less than the 2014 “Godzilla” grossed in 2014 ($524.9 million worldwide). These films are incredibly costly to produce as well, with ‘King of The Monsters’ said to be costing somewhere in the range of nearly $200 million, not including promotion and advertising (read: ‘King of the Monsters’ probably lost money).
Here’s the premise Legendary released a while back:
In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity’s fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages. As Monarch embarks on a perilous mission into uncharted terrain and unearths clues to the Titans’ origins, a human conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.
Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, and Zhang Ziyi—all from ‘King of the Monsters’— are the only returning cast members from the franchise. Fine-tuning or something more? You’ll have to wait a year for what hopes to be an epic showdown when “Godzilla vs. Kong” finally smashes into theaters.