After battling it out in Legendary Pictures’ 2021 feature Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla and King Kong are joining forces to save the world in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Over the weekend, first-look images of the upcoming film, directed by Adam Wingard, were released, showing the two legendary Titans facing a new “a devilish, Kong-type” threat.
According to the film’s official synopsis, “This latest entry follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. The epic new film will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.”
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Speaking with IGN, Wingard said the beloved monsters will be facing a new threat, “a devilish, Kong-type character.” Wingard teased that they “wanted to come up with an antagonist that would both be a match for Kong and Godzilla, and that’s really hard to do. There’s a lot more to this character and how he’s a threat, and that’s going to be something that’s going to be fun to kind of dole out.”
“So much of the film is entirely animated CG shots; so much of it is just pure imagination,” he added of the movie. “We have some sequences going up to about eight minutes long, where it’s just the monsters doing their thing, and so the movie really allows the monsters to tell their own narrative in a visual, nonverbal way.”
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire sees Brian Tyree Henry, Rebecca Hall, and Kaylee Hottle reprise their 2021 roles as Dr. Illene Andrews, Bernie Hayes and Jia, respectively. Joining the returning cast is Dan Stevens, Fala Chen, and Rachel House. The film is written by Terry Rossio, Jeremy Slater and Simon Barrett, with Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, Brian Rogers, Thomas Tull and John Jashni serving as producers.
The upcoming film marks the 38th film in the Godzilla franchise, per Variety. The franchise got its start in 954 with Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla. The movie also marks the 13th film in the King Kong franchise, which began in the U.S. with the RKO Picture’s 1933 original. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is set to hit theaters on April 12, 2024. You can watch the trailer for the movie here.
