Yes, we should hate on shared universe movie making. The absolute best-case scenario is something like Marvel, which has guaranteed a steady stream of good-not-great action adventure movies year after year, slowly blotting out the sky with their giant beams of light and huge box office wads. But that’s the best case. Most of the time “shared universe” means meandering spin-offs with no purpose of their own beyond maintaining an endless franchise placeholder in the market. The shared universe mindset brought us Prometheus, Suicide Squad, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, all three made more of sequel hooks than storytelling. But if any purpose justifies making an exception to the skepticism due a shared universe, then it’s monsters bashing each other with skyscrapers. Godzilla vs. Kong, you can stay.
But first there will be two more movies joining 2014’s Godzilla in the potential monster megaverse. First up is Kong: Skull Island, out March 10, 2017. And on Friday we finally learned the title of Godzilla’s sequel, expected March 22, 2019: Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
The title comes from 1956’s Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the original Americanization of Gojira (that went so far as to add lots of new footage of an American reporter explaining everything).
Then, barring box office disaster, Godzilla vs. Kong will follow in 2020.
