The end game: to be able to combine classic screen monsters King Kong and Godzilla into one cinematic universe.
A Monster Universe is coming together.
Talks are underway between Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros. and Universal to move Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island from Universal to Warner Bros., sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.
Godzilla was made by Legendary with Warner Bros. and grossed around $200 million. A sequel is in active development with an eye for a 2018 release.
At the same time, Legendary is making Skull Island, a King Kong movie that is just weeks away from shooting and will star Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson, among others.
When it became clear that all roads led to an eventual crossover with a series of movies on these so-called super species, talks began to move Skull Island. The dealmaking isn’t as complicated as one would think: Universal has no financial stake and was only to distribute the movie.
The move is good for Warner Bros. as it feeds the studio’s insatiable appetite for event movies and gives the studio another universe other than just the one based on the DC characters, which is just in the early stages of being made.
The eventual Kong-Godzilla pairing won’t be cinema’s first, however. The two titans squared off in 1962’s King Kong vs Godzilla.