'Skull Island' Begins Legendary's Plan For Three-Film Godzilla And King Kong Cycle

‘Skull Island’ Begins Legendary’s Plan For Three-Film Godzilla And King Kong Cycle

We’ve wondered what other details lay behindLegendary’s move ofKong: Skull IslandfromUniversaltoWarner Bros., as the idea that WB was just a better fit for the movie seemed to be only part of the story. I wouldn’t say we know all the details yet, but a few revelations were dropped today about the state of the relationship between Universal and Legendary, and what is in store for Kong and Godzilla at Warner Bros.

The short version is that we’ll likely see a three-picture series at WB, withSkull Islandbeing the first,Godzilla 2being the second, and a third “King Kong vs Godzilla” film in which the two creatures will fight… or possibly even team up.

The Hollywood Reporterhas the report, which is the same report that delivered the news thatPacific Rim 2is delayed indefinitely. The site says the third film in this series that begins withSkull Island(or, if you want, the fourth movie in a series that began withGodzilla) would be “a mashup that pits the ape against Godzilla.”

There are already plans to refer back to the 2014GodzillainSkull Island, or perhaps to refer forward to the movie, since the new Kong film is set in the 1970s, years beforeGodzilla. THR says,

Now that Legendary has movedKong, that settles a brewing argument over the script’s references to Monarch, the secret government entity inGodzillathat employed the characters played by Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins. Obviously, the inclusion of Monarch inKongis a move to tie the ape into a hoped-forGodzilla"universe." Warners, which held onto the right to participate in anyGodzillasequel, did not relish the idea of aGodzillaelement in a Universal-backedKongmovie.

One question I and many other people raised when the Kong/Godzilla matchup was proposed related to the very different sizes of the two characters. But that’s something Legendary reportedly has sorted out. Or, at least, there’s confidence that it won’t be a problem.

A threshold problem is that Kong supposedly is much smaller than Godzilla. That fact was not lost on Universal. “There were funny comments about him having to be the size of the Empire State Building instead of hanging off of it,” says a studio insider. But a source close to Tull says Legendary is confident it can come up with a rationale to explain how Kong and Godzilla can do battle — and possibly become allies.

There’s a lot more inTHR’s piece, including some ideas about how Universal feels aboutCrimson Peak(hint: maybe not great) and how that plays into thePacific Rimtroubles, not to mention intimations of how Universal’s powerful 2015 has perhaps shifted thinking at the studio away from Legendary’s offerings.