Overview
Godzilla is dominating the screen, as the giant creature always should be, with TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters currently streaming, Japanese movie Godzilla Minus One in cinemas and monster mash Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire just dropping its first trailer. Both the small-screen show and the American film form part of the Monsterverse, the US franchise that links together a heap of kaiju and critters — so if you've seen 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Kong: Skull Island, 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters and 2021's Godzilla vs Kong, you'll be primed for the next flick to come.
If you're also thinking "didn't Godzilla take on King Kong before", you're right, but that isn't what Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is about. Both Godzilla and King Kong movies are better when neither is a villain, so that's exactly what the Monsterverse is delivering. In the new film that's due in cinemas in April 2024, the two titular towering critters need to team up to tackle a new threat to life as they — and humanity — know it.
The brand-new debut sneak peek at Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire teases the reason that Godzilla and King Kong join forces with some carnage in a very familiar spot, proving that Napoleon isn't the only one messing with the pyramids on-screen at the moment. From there, it also gives a glimpse at Zilly lit up with pink, not blue — and, as Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta) puts it, a mini Kong.
Taking care of the human side of the story alongside Henry: Rebecca Hall (Resurrection), Dan Stevens (Welcome to Chippendales), Kaylee Hottle (Magnum PI), Alex Ferns (Andor) and Fala Chen (Irma Vep). Henry, Hall and Hottle all return from Godzilla vs Kong.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's narrative also promises a deeper dive into Skull Island's mysteries, why the franchise's huge creatures exist and what links them to people.
Arriving 70 years since the first-ever Godzilla feature, the new Monsterverse entry boasts Adam Wingard in the director's chair, just like Godzilla vs Kong. On screenplay duties: the also-returning Terry Rossio (The Amazing Maurice), Wingard's regular collaborator Simon Barrett (You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch) and Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight), with the underlying story hailing from Rossio, Wingard and Barrett.
Check out the first Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer below:
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 11, 2024.
Image: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.