Godzilla vs. Kong

Godzilla vs. Kong, also known by the working title of "Apex" is an upcoming American science fiction monster film produced by, and the fourth entry in the MonsterVerse, following 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It acts as a sequel to both King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, and it will be released to American theaters on March 13, 2020.

Godzilla vs. Kong is being directed by Adam Wingard, produced by Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, and Brian Rogers, and written by Terry Rossio. The film is slated to continue where King of the Monsters leaves off, and will see King Kong and Godzilla meeting and battling each other.

​Synopsis
''In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity’s fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages. As Monarch embarks on a perilous mission into uncharted terrain and unearths clues to the Titans’ origins, a human conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.''

Monsters

 * Godzilla
 * Kong

2015
On October 14, it was officially announced that Legendary Pictures will be remaking King Kong vs. Godzilla. The project had been rumored ever since Legendary acquired the rights to King Kong and announced Kong: Skull Island in 2014, and the rumors have become even more prominent after the project was moved from Universal Pictures to Warner Bros.

On September 10, Legendary announced its plans to create a shared cinematic universe featuring both Godzilla and King Kong, as well as other giant monsters including Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. Legendary's Godzilla was the first entry in this universe, followed by Kong: Skull Island in 2017 and the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019, culminating in Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020.

2016
On May 10, it was revealed that Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong had gotten new release dates of March 22, 2019 and May 29, 2020.

2017
On March 10, it was revealed that the film's writer's room had been established, consisting of Patrick McKay, J.D. Payne, Lindsey Beer, Cat Vasko, T.S. Nowlin, Jack Paglen, and J. Michael Straczynski, under the direction of screenwriter Terry Rossio. The writers have been tasked with creating and thinking of the best basic ideas and beats for the script until a writer is actually hired to properly write it out.

In May, Warner Bros. moved the film's original release to a week early from May 29 to May 22 for a Memorial Day weekend release. That same month, Adam Wingard was announced to direct the film.

During San Diego Comic-Con, an interview with IGN and Adam Wingard took place. The director spoke on how he felt Kong: Skull Island gave him an "easy way out" in relation to explaining Kong's size change in the upcoming film, but acknowledged how they were aware of the issues involving the plot point. In addition, upon being asked about how monster films tend to deal with figurative and tonal shades of gray, Adam brought up the idea of how easy it is to demonize Godzilla, while going on to express how he has emotional attachments to both monsters. Godzilla vs. Kong was once again confirmed to still be on track for a 2020 release during the interview.

In August, another interview took place with Adam. Much of the subject matter remained the same as his SDCC interview, with Wingard reiterating that he wants there to be an emotional drive to the film, while expressing how he wants "people to really be teary-eyed at the end of the movie". Adam also revealed that Godzilla and Kong won't be the only monsters in the film, calling it "a massive monster brawl movie".

Shortly following the prior interview in August, director Adam Wingard was then interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, and went on to speak about how the film will have a definitive winner, in light of the decades-long debates over King Kong vs. Godzilla's ending. Shortly afterwards, during an interview with Slashfilm, Adam Wingard revealed that Godzilla vs. Kong will take place in the present-day and feature some characters from Godzilla: King of the Monsters. He also teased a "more rugged, a bit more aged" Kong in the film.

On September 12, Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts revealed how Adam Wingard would be handling Kong to make sure he remained consistent with Kong's depiction in Skull Island.

"Talking to Adam made me so happy because he, in particular, really understands the kind of anime, manga, mech sensibility that I was trying to bring to Kong. He gets that and that was something that I fought so hard for and was so difficult to sort of realize to life through concept to execution with ILM [Industrial Light and Magic.] That’s one of the things I’m most proud of with him. I think he truly gets that and he truly wants to lean into this version of Kong that kind of was born from my crazy and stupid video game brain. Yeah. He’s got plenty of freedom to sort of play around with how he wants and to play around with … I always joke that my Kong was kind of like a character in a Shane Black movie in the sense that he just gets beat the fuck up by the end of the movie. He’s just battered and scarred, and so he’s got that kind of reluctant protagonist vibe to him. I think Adam’s willing to take that anime thing and do what he needs to do as he squares off with Godzilla."

- Jordan Vogt-Roberts

2018
In June, actors Van Marten and Julian Dennison were cast for the film, and it was revealed that Zhang Ziyi would reprise her role from Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

In July, it was revealed that The Walking Dead and Black Panther actress Danai Gurari was in talks for a role.

On August 9, it's reported that VFX supervisor Zack Fox had been brought onto the film.

On September 12, October 1st was set as the date marking the beginning of principal photography, and the filming locations revealed were Atlanta, Hawaii, and Australia. Five days later, on the 17th, it was confirmed that production would begin in Hawaii.

On September 19 and 27, location setup for shoots was observed in the form of signs with the term "Apex" on them. Shooting for the film is slated to begin in October.

2019
On January 15, it was reported by The Courier-Mail that filming in Australia would begin at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland with photos of some of the cast appearing on social media, notably Eiza González and Alexander Skarsgård. It was also reported that principal photography was set to wrap the following month. The following day, a casting call from December 9 reportedly asking for 600 extras of Chinese and Pacific Islander descent in Australia was revealed. Additionally, it was revealed that, including pre-production that began last year and principal photography resuming there, the cast and crew would spend 26 weeks at the Gold Coast.

On February 22, it was announced that the release date had been moved up two months to March 13, 2020, after its former release date was taken by Fast and Furious 9.

On February 27, Eiza González announced via Instagram that she had completed filming.

On March 2, it was reported Millie Bobby Brown arrived in Brisbane.

On March 4, it was reported by 7 News Gold Coast that filming would take place at Miami State High School, which was transformed into Tallahassee Magnet High.

Alternate titles

 * Apex (Working title)

Theatrical releases

 * United States - March 13, 2020
 * Netherlands - May 28, 2020
 * Russia - May 28, 2020
 * Brazil - May 29, 2020

Trivia

 * This will mark the first time in 58 years that Godzilla and King Kong will appear in a film together after 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla.
 * This film's title reverses the order of Godzilla and King Kong's names as they appear in King Kong vs. Godzilla.
 * This film will be Terry Rossio's first Godzilla film after his unproduced screenplay for the unmade 1994 film.