The Future Of The MonsterVerse?

[miguelnuva]

I am guessing if they were to make two more Kong films, they will be called Kong : Hollow Earth and Kong : The Eighth Wonder respectively.

The Eight Wonder wouldn't really make sense in this context. Godzilla should be the Eighth Wonder

Nothing wrong with a callback to the past.

Callbacks at fine but unless it was just used as a title Eighth wonder in this Universe would be wired. Had Kong been spotted in 33 in this Universe as a baby I could see the name working but Godzilla as the first Titan should be the 8th wonder of the world.

[vastatosaurus]

Some people may already know, but some of the predictions on that Facebook page have been right. So I'm holding my breath.

[LegendZilla]

Some people may already know, but some of the predictions on that Facebook page have been right. So I'm holding my breath.

Examples?

[darthzilla99]

The Eight Wonder wouldn't really make sense in this context. Godzilla should be the Eighth Wonder

Nothing wrong with a callback to the past.

Callbacks at fine but unless it was just used as a title Eighth wonder in this Universe would be wired. Had Kong been spotted in 33 in this Universe as a baby I could see the name working but Godzilla as the first Titan should be the 8th wonder of the world.

I mean 8th wonder is just referring to something being magnificent more or less. And it could be referring to the fact that the Kong race built a titan civilization.

[Monke]

This showed up in my Facebook update feed this afternoon.

I don't know if it's trustworthy.

That page has been pretty spot on. Russian insider. He knew about the HEAVS back in 2018 and has given a lot of info regarding the Monsterverse since then. I think his name on here is TR and see his history here

[miguelnuva]

I asked my friend that gets scoops about movies in passing. I was told while my friend doesn't know what Legendary are doing they are making several plans that involve Godzilla and Kong.

I was told that Facebook post sounds about right considering Legendary's excitement after GvsK. Expect Kong first before Godzilla however.

[king_ghidorah]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

[_JNavs_]

Issue is every fandom has a terrible case of Telephone. He said/she saids that stem from nothing more than a fake user, or a bored one.

Toho has said nothing but great things about their partnership with Legendary. How many times have we seen official praise straight from Legendary/WB and Toho regarding the Monsterverse?

The possibility of an End only stems from a small amount of users.

[miguelnuva]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

Dune 2 was being worked on from the start with the second one. All sources that have any reliability have either implied or out right said the Monsterverse is continuing with Godzilla. Dune 2 is also one film, the MV has to decide for example

Do we do Kong 3, Godzilla 4 or do we press our luck and try to get something like Gamera, Cloverfield or Ultraman.

And yes WB are closer to Cloverfield now than they were Kong in 2014.

[vastatosaurus]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

May I ask what your source is? Is it a person? Very briefly if you're afraid it will be exposed.

[Legion1979]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

May I ask what your source is? Is it a person? Very briefly if you're afraid it will be exposed.

....well, I dont believe Legendary has the license to even use Godzilla anymore. Wasn't it just a three picture deal?

Regardless, I dont even see how they could continue using Godzilla in a way that would guarantee box office success. There were very specific reasons why Godzilla vs Kong did well, circumstances that aren't really repeatable. Meanwhile, KOTM - which featured Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah - didn't do well at all.

I personally predict that IF Legendary can do another Godzilla film, it's got a very difficult uphill battle to climb in order to be successful.

[vastatosaurus]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

May I ask what your source is? Is it a person? Very briefly if you're afraid it will be exposed.

....well, I dont believe Legendary has the license to even use Godzilla anymore. Wasn't it just a three picture deal?

Regardless, I dont even see how they could continue using Godzilla in a way that would guarantee box office success. There were very specific reasons why Godzilla vs Kong did well, circumstances that aren't really repeatable. Meanwhile, KOTM - which featured Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah - didn't do well at all.

I personally predict that IF Legendary can do another Godzilla film, it's got a very difficult uphill battle to climb in order to be successful.

Yes, the contract probably was supposed to be end after GvK. But a contract can always be renewed you know. If the both parties are satisfied with their business and want to make more money.

Your statements are all reasonable. In my POV, Monsterverse already consumed most valued materials like Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan(He is alive though), Mechagodzilla, and the ultimate fight between Godzilla and Kong. So it was perfect time for Legendary to leave this franchise after GvK.(Or do some more with Kong, that doesn't require complex contracts) I really can't imagine how they will handle Toho monsters in the future if they continue more Godzilla movies. Perhaps using their original monsters? You guys may know but it is revealed that the license fee for each Toho monsters are extremely high. I don't think they will be willing to rent Biollante or Hedorah or somethings that has much less name value than Big 5.

I am well aware that there are practical problems and questions with whether Monsterverse can be extended. But those are the problems that Warner and Legendary will solve anyway. Look at Bayformers and Pirates of the Caribbean. Hollywood productions continue to produce franchise movies without thinking if they continue to make enough money.(Yes, I know well that MV has not succeeded to this level but.)

And the most reason why my mind opened to the possibility that Godzilla and Toho monsters could appear more on MV is that some reliable(I think) sources continue to make positive remarks.(I trust your source quite a bit too, miguelnuva).

Of course, I don't think this is almost definitive. So I won't be disappointed even if there's news that Godzilla and Toho monsters left MV.

[_JNavs_]

Who exactly revealed that the monsters are pricey? This is what i mean when I say we're all locked in a game of telephone.

[Terasawa]

TriStar paid $1 million in 1993, per the Feb. 26, 1993 agreement on Wikileaks. That was nearly 30 years ago. AFAIK (and I admit I don't know a whole lot here because I don't follow the news on the MV movies), no one here is privy to what Legendary's option cost. The TriStar document might not necessarily be relevant to the Legendary situation, but I think it establishes a precedent that, historically, the rights to the Godzilla character were in the million+ range.

[vastatosaurus]

Who exactly revealed that the monsters are pricey? This is what i mean when I say we're all locked in a game of telephone.

OK, I take my word back that "It is revealed that the license fee for each Toho monsters are extremely high." It is not exactly revealed, but there are many circumstances.

https://nerdreactor.com/2019/05/24/mich ... -monsters/

Godzilla: King of the Monsters features all types of kaiju/Titans including Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and of course, Godzilla. Even with all these monsters, that doesn’t mean that director Michael Dougherty was able to use all his favorites. There is one particular monster that he would like to use in the film but due to budgetary reasons, he wasn’t able to.

While promoting Godzilla: King of the Monsters during the world premiere weekend, Dougherty talked about wanting to use Biollante, a Toho monster that’s a mix of Godzilla, a plant and a human.

“Yeah. I mean, each monster comes with a price tag, so they all got their fees,” Dougherty tells Nerd Reactor.

https://bloody-disgusting.com/interview ... -spoilers/

The question that Godzilla fans might be asking is, why create so many new monsters when the Godzilla franchise has so many to choose from? Well, it turns out it’s not as simple as all that.

“I wish I could have brought in a few more of the classic Toho creatures but they all come at a price. They’ve all got their fees, and so it was a choice. Do I want to shell out money to use a Toho creature by name or do I want to actually put that money on-screen in a visual effects shot?” Dougherty explained.

https://www.tohokingdom.com/blog/interv ... gard-2021/

Mirjahangir: Alright. So the previous film, in the end credits, felt like it was setting up like for a sequel. Rodan’s in Fiji, there’s another Mothra egg… everything, but they’re not in the movie at all and so were they part of the story originally?

Wingard: No they never came up. I mean I was the one who really pushed for the Ghidorah skull element of the movie. Like obviously that’s teed up in the the post scene in [Godzilla] King of Monsters but that actually was already in our script and they created that post credits scene as a reaction to what we are already going to be doing in this movie. But yeah unfortunately the monsters weren’t in and I don’t have a really interesting answer for you other than the fact that you put these monsters in the film and it costs a lot of money. At a certain point we had to be very choosy about where we were putting our money and so we really couldn’t bring back Rodan and a lot of the other monsters we had to be selective and it just didn’t fit the story, like weren’t a part of the story that we’re telling. I would have loved to have been able to put them in it but it just didn’t fit in terms of where we’re going. I know that people don’t want to hear that,it’s not a particularly interesting answer but it’s just the way it is.

Mirjahangir: Well, no because if you show them that they have to be a part of it.

Wingard: Exactly, you don’t just… like a cheap cameo. I mean, I guess nobody would argued with a with a nice little cameo of Rodan, I would have loved it but it’s just the way some of these things kind of roll out. I mean we got like so much great stuff in this movie in different characters and so no regrets there but yeah.

Mirjahangir: In the hollow earth did you think of maybe putting a Toho monster kind of in the background or something?

Wingard: Yeah, no… I mean I considered it but it was also just like it felt like because of the stuff that we are on the ground we’re already covering in this movie and the way that the last did it was like I thought people got really excited as well that the last film introduced new Titans and so our approach in hollow earth was always to go in that direction. Also I have to be honest with you, if I was going to do any of them I probably would have done… I would have liked to have seen a living Anguirus but the problem is if you just have him in a little cameo you’ve kind of wasted him a little bit. I’d rather see him come back as a full character potentially in the future and so I kind of avoided that kind of thing mainly for that reason you know if anything but again all the original monsters have price tags attached to them because you’re licensing the character and so you just have to choose your battles.

Hollywood Godzilla 1995 film history https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Gryphon

While screenwriters Ted Eliott and Terry Rossio originally planned for King Ghidorah to be Godzilla's enemy in their film, they created the Gryphon after learning that King Ghidorah would have to be licensed separately from Toho.[1] Sony's executives could not agree on the proposed budget for the film, eventually causing would-be director Jan De Bont to drop out of the project. After several rewrites to the script and unsuccessful attempts to renegotiate the budget and find a new director

These are all cases that productions couldn't use a Toho monster they wanted because of the price tag. It is reasonable to think that the monsters are expensive enough for filmmakers to give up their ideas.

[miguelnuva]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

May I ask what your source is? Is it a person? Very briefly if you're afraid it will be exposed.

....well, I dont believe Legendary has the license to even use Godzilla anymore. Wasn't it just a three picture deal?

Regardless, I dont even see how they could continue using Godzilla in a way that would guarantee box office success. There were very specific reasons why Godzilla vs Kong did well, circumstances that aren't really repeatable. Meanwhile, KOTM - which featured Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah - didn't do well at all.

I personally predict that IF Legendary can do another Godzilla film, it's got a very difficult uphill battle to climb in order to be successful.

Kotm landed in the middle of Disney's version of DAM with all the hits they released in a short time and was coming off of G14 and 5 years. A Godzilla film following GvsK should do much better than KOTM assuming they put it in a good place. Godzilla films should try March IMO.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Not sure if anyone has discussed this, but WB released this really nice sizzle real of all four Monsterverse films on their YouTube channel:


While this doesn’t connect or correlate to the future of the monsterverse, I can’t help but watch this and be impressed by the monsterverse as a whole, and realize how proud everyone that was involved must be. I feel like the Monster verse could end and it would be satisfying. That being said, this also feels like “Hey, buy Monsterverse stuff so we can make more!”.

[G1985]

I keep hearing that Godzilla is out of the MV moving forward unless whatever Toho has planned fails. We MIGHT get a new Kong film...maybe.....but look how fast Dune 2 was officially announced and here we still are waiting on any official announcement for a post GvK film.

May I ask what your source is? Is it a person? Very briefly if you're afraid it will be exposed.

....well, I dont believe Legendary has the license to even use Godzilla anymore. Wasn't it just a three picture deal?

FWIW, you and I agree that the Godzilla license with Legendary ended with the release of GvK. I also believe the Monsterverse itself to be on hiatus, based on an interview with screenwriter Max Borenstein back in August of this year, where he says he has not been asked to return to the Monsterverse (yet)...

...we asked Borenstein, who has penned the screenplays for Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), if he’s involved in any potential follow-ups.

“Well, I can’t really speak to it,” he told Observer. “I don’t have any involvement at the moment. I certainly … They make amazing decisions over at Legendary, so I will be excited to see what the next installment is. If that phone rings, I’ll be eager to answer.”

In the age of fervent franchise fandom and stringent studio secrecy, we can understand a creative playing coy about future plans. Hell hath no fury like a multi-billion dollar conglomerate scorned. So hypothetically, if Borenstein were to return to the franchise, is there any new ground he’d like to cover in a future film?

“I think everything they’ve been digging into recently, with characterizing the creatures as characters in their own right, has been really gratifying to see,” he said. “And so, I don’t know where exactly they’ll be going with it in the future, but I’ll be excited to see more of that.”

[LSD Jellyfish]

Remember, money is money, and Toho is interested in making Godzilla a brand. The three film deal might be over (all speculation), but they just could have easily made a new deal.

[dillonking55]

Remember, money is money, and Toho is interested in making Godzilla a brand. The three film deal might be over (all speculation), but they just could have easily made a new deal.

Exactly. It's all speculation at the moment. The only source we have about the three film deal was an off comment from Hideaki Anno at a convention in 2016. Not much to go on.

Also, we have a separate article from Variety that says Legendary retains the license as long as they keep making films.

https://variety.com/2019/film/asia/japa ... 92294/amp/