Considering Hollywood’s current obsession with sequels and big time franchises, it seemed that Legendary Pictures would want to hit the ground running onGodzilla 2after the success of their 2014 Godzilla reboot. The development process on a follow-up has been slow, though. The sequel, which is officially titledGodzilla: King of Monsters, is still happening. And it will definitely be out in 2019. Now, we have word that the movie is scheduled to start shooting in just a few shorts months in Atlanta, Georgia.
The news comes courtesy of Omega Underground who are reporting thatGodzilla 2will begin filming on June 19 with directorMichael Doughertyat the helm.Gareth Edwards, who most recently directedRogue One: A Star Wars Storyfor Disney, walked away from directing the sequel last year, so Legendary turned toMichael Dougherty. He recently headed up the writer’s room for Legendary’s “MonsterVerse” and that apparently went well enough to score him the gig directingGodzilla: King of Monsters. Prior to being hired to direct the sequel, he andZack Shieldswere hired to write the script forGodzilla 2.
Legendary has a long history withMichael Dougherty, since he wrote and directed the cult hitTrick ‘r Treat, which was one of the first movies they ever released. The movie didn’t do much at the box office but has found a very big audience in the years since. In 2015, he wrote and directedKrampus, which made $61 million on a relatively small $15 million budget, which made some money for the studio. That, coupled with the work he did in the MonsterVerse writer’s room, he seems like a very logical choice forGodzilla 2. He has never done anything on the level of 2014’sGodzilla, which had a reported budget of $160 million, but neither hadGareth Edwardsprior to the firstGodzilla.
Details have been somewhat scarce forGodzilla 2, but we know there will be other monsters in the movie forGodzillato go toe-to-toe with this time around. There were some new monsters created for 2014’sGodzilla, but the sequel is going to feature some of the classic Toho monsters such as Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah. As for the cast, it hasn’t been confirmed ifAaron Taylor-Johnson,Ken WatanabeorElizabeth Olsenwill be back this time around, but the movie has already started casting. Recently, it was announced thatStranger ThingsstarMillie Bobby Brownhas been cast inGodzilla: King of Monsters, which is a very promising place to start.
Godzillamade a pretty impressive $529 million worldwide and was a dramatic improvement over the last American attempt to bringGodzillato the big screen in 1998. That encouraged Legendary to assemble a cinematic universe around the monster that will continue this year withKong: Skull Island, which is set for release on March 10.Godzilla: King of Monsterswill then follow on July 24, 2025, which will be followed by an epic rematch in the form ofGodzilla Vs. Kong, which is set to debut onMay 29, 2020. Hopefully now with production starting in a few months we will be getting some more solid details and maybe even our first look atGodzilla 2pretty soon.
