Rounding out the Warner Bros. trio of sneak peeks during the MTV Movie Awards tonight was a behind-the-scenes featurette from the set of Kong: Skull Island, which Warner plans to release next spring, and it”s by far the most we”ve learned yet about the film.
Jordan Vogt-Roberts is directing the film, which is a key part of yet another Warner ongoing tentpole franchise, although a little sneakier than either Suicide Squad or Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. By now, it”s clear that Legendary Entertainment would like to eventually figure out how to get King Kong and Godzilla into the same film. Thomas Tull said as much to me years ago, when he was still developing Godzilla in the first place. He”s a huge fan of giant monster movies, and those two are the undisputed icons of the genre. It is the same impulse that led to pairing Batman and Superman, when you get down to it. But they”re not really making these films as a series. Godzilla is off doing its own thing over in that franchise, and it”ll be interesting to see which other Toho creatures actually make it to the screen in the Godzilla sequel. In the meantime, Vogt-Roberts is making his stand-alone film, and now we know for sure that it”s set during the Vietnam era.
That”s such an unexpected choice, and it makes it clear right away that this is not just another remake of the 1933 original. There are glimpses of many of the major cast members here, with an emphasis on Tom Hiddleston, who plays a former British SAS officer. Brie Larson is a photojournalist and a peace activist, and she”s evidently pro-giant monster. Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell are onboard as soldiers, and Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman are both onboard in what I”m sure will be significant supporting roles. It looks like an ensemble adventure movie, and the locations they”re shooting on are gorgeous.
What we haven”t seen at all yet, obviously, is Kong. It sounds like we”re going to see a Skull Island that is populated with all sorts of different creatures, and I”m curious to see if they go with dinosaurs or if they go even more fanciful. I”m doubly curious to see how this movie”s designs suggest a world where Godzilla or Mothra could also exist. I”m not looking at this as simply a stepping stone to another movie, and I guarantee that”s not the way Vogt-Roberts looks at it, either, but still… I'm intrigued. There have been a number of writers on the film during development, and it should be interesting to see if they”ve found a compelling story to tell that is more than a surface-level excuse to watch giant monsters rampage.
Kong: Skull Island is in theaters March 10, 2017.