godzilla x kong

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire^[a] is a 2024 American monster film directed by Adam Wingard. Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and the fifth film in the Monsterverse franchise, also serving as the 38th film of the Godzilla franchise and 14th in the King Kong franchise. The film stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen. Hall, Henry, and Hottle reprise their roles from the previous film. In the film, Kong encounters more of his species in the Hollow Earth and must unite again with Godzilla to stop the tyrannical Skar King and the powerful, frost-breathing Shimo from invading the Earth's surface.

Following the box office and streaming success of Godzilla vs. Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic, Legendary announced a sequel in March 2022 and that filming would commence later that year. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and Stevens had been cast as a lead. Filming began in July 2022 in Gold Coast, Australia, and finished in November 2022.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on March 25, 2024, and was released in the United States on March 29. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many comparing it unfavorably to Godzilla Minus One, which had been released four months prior. It became a box office success grossing over $571.8 million worldwide against a production budget of $135–150 million, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2024, the highest-grossing film of the Monsterverse, as well as in the Godzilla and King Kong franchises. A sequel is set to be released on March 26, 2027.

Plot

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Three years after defeating Mechagodzilla,^[b] 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 Titanus 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.

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 follows 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 the temple, they realize 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: a tyrannical giant ape known as the Skar King once attempted to conquer the surface world and waged war against Godzilla's species, triggering an ice age in the process, but Godzilla defeated him by trapping him and his tribe deep within Hollow Earth. The prophecy also indicates that Jia is the key to reawakening Mothra.

Kong encounters the ape tribe and confronts the Skar King, who battles Kong with the latter overpowering him, forcing him to resort to summoning his enslaved ice-breathing Titan Shimo, using a crystal that causes her pain which forces her to submit to him. Shimo's ice breath injures Kong's right arm, causing frostbite. With Suko's help, Kong manages to escape, though he loses his axe in the process.

Sensing Jia, Kong locates the temple and is fitted by Trapper with a prototype exoskeletal glove to strengthen and heal his frostbitten limb. Unknown to them, another ape follows them, then informs the Skar King that the protective barrier leading to the surface portals has been opened. Jia successfully awakens the reborn Mothra.

Meanwhile, 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 him. Despite Kong's attempts to communicate, an enraged Godzilla attacks him, and a brief fight ensues until Mothra intervenes and soothes Godzilla. The three Titans return to the Hollow Earth and engage Skar King's forces in battle. Skar King and Shimo manage to use one of the portals to escape to the surface, forcing Godzilla and Kong, who again loses his axe, to chase them to Rio de Janeiro, where 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 that controls Shimo. Shimo changes sides and freezes Skar King, letting Kong shatter him to pieces.

After undoing Shimo's ice age with his atomic breath, Godzilla returns to rest in the Colosseum. Jia decides to stay with Andrews. 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.

Cast

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• Rebecca Hall as Dr. Ilene Andrews, a scientist and anthropological linguist at Monarch
• Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes, a conspiracy theorist and former Apex employee
• Dan Stevens as Trapper, a veterinarian at Monarch
• Kaylee Hottle as Jia, last known survivor of the Iwi tribe and Ilene's adopted daughter
• Alex Ferns as Mikael, a pilot at Monarch
• 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
• Allan Henry as the performance capture of:^[8]
  • Kong
  • Skar King

Production

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Development

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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."^[9] 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.^[10] 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."^[11]

Godzilla vs. Kong was released on March 24, 2021, and became a box office and streaming hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12] The film grossed $470 million worldwide against a break-even point of $330 million,^[12][13] and became the most pirated film of 2021.^[14] On April 4, 2021, Legendary's CEO Josh Grode commented on potential sequels, "we have a number of ideas for more movies."^[15] 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).^[16][17] 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.^[18] 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.^[19]

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.^[20] 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).^[21] In May 2022, Production Weekly reported that the film's working title was Origins.^[22] 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.^[23][24] On July 1, 2022, Toho confirmed that the film would feature Godzilla.^[25]

Pre-production

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Wingard recalled that preproduction on the film began in January 2022.^[26] In August 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary announced a new synopsis and that Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle would reprise their roles from Godzilla vs Kong while Fala Chen, Alex Ferns and Rachel House would join the cast as well. It was also revealed that Wingard would collaborate once more with production designer Tom Hammock, editor Josh Schaeffer, composer Tom Holkenborg, and that Terry Rossio had returned to write the script with Jeremy Slater and Wingard's frequent collaborator Simon Barrett.^[27][24] Ultimately, Rossio, Barrett, and Slater received "screenplay by" credit, while Rossio, Wingard, and Barrett received "story by" credit; Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields, both of whom co-wrote Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, shared off-screen "additional literary material" credit with James Ashcroft, Eli Kent, and Nicole Perlman.^[28][29] Extensive previsualization was done by The Third Floor, that included checking on Google Earth the locations in Rio de Janeiro that production wanted to use in the climactic battle.^[30]

Filming

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Principal photography commenced in the Gold Coast, Queensland, on July 29, 2022.^[31] At the start of production, Ben Seresin was confirmed to have returned as director of photography.^[32] In November 2022, it was reported that filming had finished in Australia and that crew gear revealed the film's potential title, at the time, as Godzilla and Kong.^[33] A unit composed mostly of visual effects people went to Rio de Janeiro both to film the plates onto which the effects would be composited and to gather extensive data for a digital recreation of the city, that included aerial photography and Lidar.^[34] Surfers Paradise was turned into the Rio beach where the climactic battle starts.^[35]

Post-production

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The film's visual effects were supervised by Alessandro Ongaro.^[36] Wingard confirmed that Mothra's inclusion was always part of the plan. However, Legendary did not have the rights to Mothra by the time that post-production began and used a placeholder character named "Phosphera" until the rights were secured. Wingard also refuted rumors that Phosphera was replaced with Mothra due to poor testing, iterating that Mothra was included as far back as the first draft.^[37]

Scanline VFX did the opening scene with Kong being chased by "Wart-Dogs" - which were likened to wolves and African wild dogs, with "the twitchy, unpredictable energy of a hyena - and the climactic fights in both Egypt and Rio, along with the mechanical glove worn by Kong.^[34] DNEG handled many scenes with Godzilla and Kong in the surface, along with the Hollow World's jungles and the Iwi's crystal pyramid.^[38]

Wētā FX did the Hollow Earth, its giant apes - that added up to 130 in the scenes on Skar King's lair - and Shimo. Skar King was designed as a long and skinny orangutan to enhance its contrast to Kong, with supervisor Kevin Smith summing up with "Kong is Mike Tyson, but Skar King is a little shifty and more graceful". Its long arms required motion capture to be performed adding extensions and prosthetics to the performers. Its weapon built out of spines was described as particularly complex, featuring "108 or 110 vertebrae, plus the jaw handle and the thing at the end". Shimo was noted as an attempt at "a fine balance between creating something beautiful but also menacing at the same time" that would move in a cat-like manner, "not super brutal like Godzilla would be". Its ice breath had up to 30 layers of effects, including frozen vapor and ice shards.^[39]

Wingard told the crew to not worry too much about scale and relative speed so the giant animals could still move quickly, with one of the adaptations being changing the gravity and speed of the water simulations. The rendering was done in 5K resolution given the film was shot with wide anamorphic lenses.^[38][40]

Influences

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After watching the trailer for Godzilla Minus One (2023), Wingard and Ongaro decided to pay tribute to that film by recreating a shot of the ground bursting beneath Godzilla's footfall for the film's Rome sequence.^[36] The Egyptian battle between Godzilla and Kong was inspired by the fight scene