At Comic-Con this summer, Legendary Pictures revealed their next mega-project blockbuster. And no, it isn’t a movie based on the Marvel Comic book character Namor like some had weirdly suggested. Instead, the project will revisit the greatest cinematic ape of all time: King Kong. And now the movie, tentatively titled "Skull Island," has a director and star.
"The Kings Of Summer" helmer Jordan Vogt-Roberts and "Thor" trickster Tom Hiddleston will respectively direct and star in the upcoming movie. The big news here is the announcement of Vogt-Roberts, who like "Safety Not Guaranteed" helmer Colin Trevorrow ("Jurassic World") and Gareth Edwards ("Monsters") makes the leap from indie to tentpole projects. But as we usually say, folks shouldn’t be concerned. These kinds of movies have ace special effects teams and support in place so that these guys will hit the ground running. And it will be a good testing ground before Vogt-Roberts transitions to helming "Metal Gear Solid" for Sony.
There are no plot details yet except that the film will be about the "cinematic origins" of King Kong. Max Borenstein of "Godzilla" fame wrote the script, and let’s hope we get more monsters this time around, and less staring at horizons. As for that title, "Skull Island?" It’s curiously not mentioned at all in the press release (read it over at Slashfilm), so perhaps it’s not final just yet…