Kong: Skull Island is the latest in a proud Hollywood tradition of making movies about giant monsters. Ever since the first King Kong movie came out in 1933, moviegoers have been fascinated about the world of oversized monsters, possibly because it’s refreshing to see mankind not on top of the food chain.
Kong: Skull Island currently has an 83.65 ComicBook Composite Score and a 4.18 out of 5 ComicBook User Rating. Logan boasts a an 88.68 ComicBook Composite Score, making it the second-highest ranked comic book movie, and a 4.74 out of 5 user ranking, putting it at the top of that chart. See how these film’s box office totals compare to others with ComicBook.com’s box offices chart and give Kong: Skull Island your own rating below.
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Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Kong: Skull Island reimagines the origin of the mythic Kong in a compelling, original adventure from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) In the film, a diverse team of explorers is brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific – as beautiful as it is treacherous – unaware that they’re crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong.
To help celebrate the release of Kong: Skull Island, here are five of the best monster movies ever made:
Cloverfield
Most monster movies follow the devastation a monster brings on a major population center from the perspective of the military or group trying to fight back against the monster. The 2008 movieย Cloverfieldย (produced by JJ Abramsย and directed by Matt Reeves)ย looked at giant monster attacks from a different perspective: from the people just trying to survive and get out of the series.ย
Over the course of the move, we watched an average guy named Rob and his friends venture into New York City to rescue his friend/lover Beth while a giant monster attacks the city. For most of the movie, we don’t even see the giant creature, instead focusing on the devastationย it leaves in its wake.ย
The movie was also notable for using the “shaky cam” style to enhance the first person ground level perspective. While no direct sequel toย Cloverfieldย was ever made, Abramsย later produced a “sister” film calledย 10 Cloverfieldย Laneย and plans to release a third Cloverfieldย movie later this year.ย
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Gojira
The 1933ย King Kongย movie is widely considered to be the first giant monster movie, but it was the 1954 movieย Gojiraย that truly launchedย the age of the monster on the big screen. Directed by Ishiroย Honda,ย Gojiraย depicted an ancient creature’s attack on Tokyo. Honda wroteย Gojiraย as a horror film, using the giant beast as a stand in for the terror of the nuclear bomb. After all, it had been less than a decade since World War II and the attacks on Hiroshima and Tagasakiย were still fresh in the minds of many Japanese.
Gojiraย launched an entire genre dedicated to watching giant monsters attack various cities. These kaijuย films featured a variety of monsters, many of whom were both destroyers and protectors of Earth. Although many early kaiju movies haven’t dated well (the monsters were usually played by actors in rubber suits), Gojiraย is still a must-watch as it represents an important moment in cinema history.
Tremors
Usually, it’s the military who winds up fighting giant monsters in movies, but sometimes you just need to leave things to the real professional: Kevin Bacon. The 1990 filmย Tremorsย pit Kevin Bacon and a plucky group of desert residents against a pack of giant carnivorous underground worms. With no military bases nearby, Bacon and his friends rely on their wits and a small arsenal of personal weaponry to defeat these giant worms.ย
Althoughย Tremorsย didn’t shake things up at the box office, it eventually became a cult classic and spawned multiple sequels featuring one of the movie’s trigger happy side characters.ย
Pacific Rim
The culmination of the kaiju movie genre,ย Pacific Rimย was a 2013 movie about the eternal war between giant robots and monsters. After giant armored kaijuย began to ascend from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, mankind built a small fleet of giant machines called Jaegers to fight and kill the creatures. Sadly, a series of defeat caused society to lose faith in the Jaegerย program even as the kaijuย attacks grew more frequent. ย Pacific Rimย followed the final days of the underfundedย Jaegerย program, as two unlikely pilots formed a bond as they tried to stop the monsters once and for all.ย
Pacific Rimย was a box office success and quickly gained a fanbase, but it took several years for director and franchise creatorย Guillermo del Toroย to convince Legendary Pictures to make a sequel. The nextย Pacific Rimย is due to come out next year.ย
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The Host
One of the biggest South Korean movies ever made,ย The Hostย is a giant monster movie that combines satire, horror, and political commentary into one film. When the US military dumps chemicals into a Korean river, it accidentally creates a giant man-eating monster. When the monster steals a young girl, her father and his family go after the creature despite the warnings of the Korean government.ย
Whenย The Hostย was first released, it broke every South Korean box office record imaginable and even earned praise from North Korea (as it portrayed the United States in a critical light.) Although a sequelย
