Godzilla 2 - Coming June 2018

[OJsDad]

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni57597100/?ref_=hm_nw_tp_t3

Warner Bros. and Legendary have scheduled the next installment in their "Godzilla" franchise for a June 8, 2018 release.

Gareth Edwards, who is also developing one of the "Star Wars" stand-alone pics, returns as director.

The last film grossed nearly $500 million dollars, making a sequel something of an inevitability.

Legendary recently announced a "King Kong" prequel, "Skull Island," which will bow November 2016.

[JasonPratt]

So, some updates:

(0) omigosh this thread goes back to 2014...

1.) I think I recall the release date has been pushed back to 2019, not sure. If it was still going to be early June 2018 we'd be seeing a lot more finished promos.

2.) G vs Kong should be 2020, last I heard.

3.) Production finished some time ago, but there's lotttsssss of post-production going on.

4.) This is due to the increased number of monsters and increased monster-time in the film.

5.) Aside from Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidora (as in the first Ghidora film long ago, 1964 iirc), there will apparently be other kaiju. Currently unknown if these are more from Toho's stable, or newly designed for the film. Rodan's inclusion might suggest an original form of the Megaguirus (giant dragonflies, introduced in his solo film which was Toho's first color kaiju production -- later returning as the main antagonist vs. Godzilla during the 3rd film series).

6.) Enough of the post-production has finished for an early rough cut to have been recently screened albeit without most of the fx. This isn't totally unusual, but tends to suggest the producers (maybe the director) are worried about pacing or comprehension or that the audience will complain about too much topical focus somewhere and not enough elsewhere.

7.) Very general word of mouth from the screening (no real details due to non-disclosure agreements) is that the movie should be awesome, don't expect much human characterization but don't worry about it.

8.) Shortly afterward someone leaked video of a pterano-winged three-headed two-tailed dragon CG model on a computer screen, which quickly got blocked in various ways. The film company denies this is any version of King Ghidora, but a copyright strike was issued against the original video and people in the video are trying to obscure it. Hoax? Trolling? The official story is that this is a character design from an abandoned movie called "Lucifer", but then again early promotional material from Legendary Pictures has described Ghidora as the three-headed devil. What we haven't seemed to hear from yet are anyone who saw the rough cut -- but the NDA might be encouraging them not to talk about details.

If this is Ghidora, I approve of the general design. Elegant, deadly, realistic in a style of Legendary's kaiju designs.

[JasonPratt]

Godzilla 2 will be promo'd at San Diego ComicCon this week. This is likely a major trailer (or major teaser trailer at least), instead of a minor tease. There has been another secret screening since March, with good buzz from the results. Legendary has just finished acquiring a loan for one billion dollars, some of which must be slated for their new Gundam license, but some of it must be for their Toho Monsterverse projects going forward after GvKong in 2020.

Note to self, I should see if I can tweak the thread title to update the release schedule....

[GDS_Starfury]

fwiw filming for Godzilla vs Kong is going to start later this year.
I know ppl.   

[JasonPratt]

And that's for a 2020 release! -- taking time to get things right on the fx side of things is a good sign.

[JasonPratt]

For this movie thought, Monarch has released a ton of new viral marketing material, including a Monarch Sciences website, and a Youtube page.

The sites effectively confirm that the recently leaked "Rodan Statue" (macquette or however it's spelled) was real, and at least the odd drawing of Mothra with crazy-long legs which surfaced recently along with napkin-concept sketches of Rodan and Ghidora.

[JasonPratt]

The first full trailer released. Seems very legit!

I assume the narrator-character talking about humanity being merely an "infection" is one of the villains, at least in effect. (She's called a monster by her daughter later.)

Opening trailer shots seem to be followed by footage from the "Reach Monarch" teaser.

As someone else has noted, the promotional photo released of Godzilla showing off his upgraded breath weapon did have a submarine in it! Combined with various released plot hints, the sub (which looks like the Seaview from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea!! Talk about a thematic homage!) is using sonic communication to help bring Godzilla into the fight on humanity's side.

Classic Rodan shows what is meant by a "flying A-Bomb"! (i.e. the shockwave following behind him.)

I like the Mothra variant design. Ghidora seems very classical, what's shown so far.

The whole thing looks high quality. Granted, trailers can imply more oomph than actually there (for example less than 14 minutes of total monster action in a 2-1/2 hour movie, and only a little more than 8 minutes of that being Godzilla, THE INTERNET WILL NOT FORGET YOUR LIES, G14!! ;) ) But both of the pre-screening reports suggest action more in line with Kong: Skull Island.

Supposedly this film has more kaiju than the Big Four, but I'm not sure we've seen indications yet.

STILL ONE YEAR TO GO, AAAGGGHHH!!!

[JasonPratt]

Official San Diego ComicCon poster? Apparently? (Brightened up a bit to show better detail, by the guy from the site linked.)

http://luminousnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/G-2019-SDCC-Poster-Brighter-1.png




According to an interview done by IGN, each of the three heads has a different roar (but the classic cackle will be used), and each even has a different personality (no idea how that'll be portrayed). The director insisted that the apparent "lightning" in the trailer was "gravity beams", too, although I don't know why he's doing that since the Legendary promotional sites are explaining the lightning as lightning.

[JasonPratt]

Bear McCreary will be the composer for G19! -- and has been confirmed to be using Ifukube themes!