Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

[levcore]

Starring: MILLIE. BOBBIE. BROWN!!!

[Himmel]

Originally Posted by Zillamon51

[Show spoiler]Possibly a containment device, something Monarch comes up with to supress his power.

Or MG is disguised as Godzilla at some point, and this is an intermediary look.

Or getting really out there, maybe Mechagodzilla is based on nanotech, and the big G is infected / being assimilated.

Someone in Reddit said (can't remember if he seen test screening, or just made it up) that....

[Show spoiler]Kong uses his bone hammer to smash godzilla's dorsal fins preventing him from using his atomic ray, but when Mecha rampages they create that red thing that attaches to his back allowing him to use his red atomic ray to fight Mecha.

[JayTL]

Originally Posted by Himmel

Someone in Reddit said (can't remember if he seen test screening, or just made it up) that....

[Show spoiler]Kong uses his bone hammer to smash godzilla's dorsal fins preventing him from using his atomic ray, but when Mecha rampages they create that red thing that attaches to his back allowing him to use his red atomic ray to fight Mecha.

kinda disappointed I read that. Gonna stay clear from spoilers now.

[Show spoiler]Also...kinda sounds lame

[kemcha]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Not true. Toho's plans for a new series in 2021 do not preclude Legendary from continuing their US series. They may not license again once Legendary's rights expire, but it's standard for most deals, from Bond to Bourne to Fantastic Four, to include a proviso that the studio involved can renew the rights whether the owner wants or not as long as they keep on making sequels within a certain timeframe (hence Universal making their Jeremy Renner Bourne film to keep their rights).

In other words, as long as Legendary deems it profitable, they can keep on making Godzilla films as long as they want as long as they don't leave it too long. All that changes is their window of exclusivity.

Hate to argue the point but you used the comparison of Godzilla vs other franchises in the wrong analogy. Japanese studios, whether it's a studio who produces a franchise like Godzilla, Ultraman or Gamera or whether it's anime production, factor in licensing possibilities when they produce something. It's a major factor when they consider producing something. It started with anime. It's not the same as with a Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm or even James Bond film. Franchise films produced by western movie studios in North America and Europe don't factor licensing possibilities into the intellectual properties they own, which is why you don't see original MCU films, Star Wars films or James Bond films being produced by Japanese movie studios. Rarely will a western movie studio property be produced in another region. While this has happened with some Marvel Comics properties, it has been limited to Asia and mostly in animated form, but distributed by Disney studios.

The reason I bring this up is because it's doubtful that any Japanese studio would allow a North American distributor to dictate in a contract what they can do with their own property. The long-running legal battle over the Ultraman rights and even Hayao Miyazaki's fight with anime distributors in North America taught the Japanese a thing or two about protecting their intellectual property rights and what licensees can do with them. The thing is, I don't believe for one minute that Toho was prevented from producing more Godzilla films since we did see Shin Godzilla and three animated Godzilla films produced after Legendary's 2014 Godzilla films. It was Toho testing out the market to see if fans were ready to embrace new original Godzilla films. The fact that Godzilla: King of the Monsters had a soft box-office reception should indicate that it was much too soon for ramped up productions on new Godzilla films. The market is simply soft, especially after the Pacific Rim sequel bombed at the box office.

That may also be why Legendary pushed the release date for Godzilla vs Kong back from a Spring release to a November release.

[Zillamon51]

^ It's a known fact that Toho can't release Godzilla films in the same year as Legendary. That's why Shin and the anime trilogy were released between G'14 and KotM.

What's not known is whether or not Legendary's license has a hard cut-off after a certain number of years or films, or if they can keep the license as long as they produce a new film every set number of years (like Marvel's licenses with Fox and Sony).

[Zillamon51]

Originally Posted by JayTL

kinda disappointed I read that. Gonna stay clear from spoilers now.

[Show spoiler]Also...kinda sounds lame

Eh, it's all still speculation.

Originally Posted by Himmel

Someone in Reddit said (can't remember if he seen test screening, or just made it up) that....

[Show spoiler]Kong uses his bone hammer to smash godzilla's dorsal fins preventing him from using his atomic ray, but when Mecha rampages they create that red thing that attaches to his back allowing him to use his red atomic ray to fight Mecha.

I would prefer

[Show spoiler]it being a containment device. Then, when suppressed Godzilla and Kong are outmatched by MG, Kong smashes it to unleash Godzilla's full power. This allows both Kong to be more evenly matched with a suppressed Godzilla, and they work together to defeat MG and end up as allies / respected rivals.

[Aclea]

It is known, and has been reported in the US trades (as per my link to Variety) that Legendary's deal is ongoing: as long as they produce them in a specified timeframe (the reason they had to start GvK before GKotM came out) they have the option to make more. The question is whether the numbers work for them
after GKoM flopped(ad no way did Georgia and Mexican taxbreaks and merch make up the shortfall)..

[SteelbookCat]

Originally Posted by Aclea

It is known, and has been reported in the US trades (as per my link to Variety) that Legendary's deal is ongoing: as long as they produce them in a specified timeframe (the reason they had to start GvK before GKotM came out) they have the option to make more. The question is whether the numbers work for them
after GKoM flopped(ad no way did Georgia and Mexican taxbreaks and merch make up the shortfall)..

well with the latest baby trend going on (baby yoda, baby groot etc.) they can always take a chance on this route

[RalphoR]

Maybe they should reboot the MonsterVerse with Godzilla being evil. They kind of hinted that possibility in KotM.

[Underworld54]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Maybe they should reboot the MonsterVerse with Godzilla being evil. They kind of hinted that possibility in KotM.

I'd love that, a horror take on Godzilla. Too bad the Monsterverse ruined many people's urge to see Godzilla, he's kinda toxic right now.

[kemcha]

Originally Posted by Aclea

It is known, and has been reported in the US trades (as per my link to Variety) that Legendary's deal is ongoing

... and the US trades never get their facts wrong. I don't trust the media when they report on things that have not been verified. Aclea, the link you posted doesn't say anything of the kind that they have an ongoing deal to produce new Godzilla films. The only thing that it says is "Legendary retains the rights as long as it continues to make Godzilla films" and that statement is ambiguous, at best. Legendary can make as many Godzilla films as it wants until their rights to the character expire and they expire with Godzilla vs Kong.

I'm not turning this into a debate but until Toho decides whether or not to renew the license, and if they did, it would ne news that would be picked up by many media websites, including such industry sites as scifijan.com and tohokingdom.com, which do regularly report on all things Godzilla, Ultraman, kaiju-centric and anime related.

I'm not going to take the word of a news site like Variety who posts speculation instead of verified sources. If there had been a renewal, everyone and their uncle who is a Godzilla fan would be reporting on it and posting about it. To date, there hasn't been any verification on whether their agreement with Toho has been renewed and until that happens, it's just speculation.

Matter of fact, if Legendary had renewed their agreement with Toho, Anime News Network, the premiere news media source for Japanese culture, would definitely have reported on it. I send an email to the guys at ANN and find out if they have renewed their agreement with Toho. While I find ANN to be heavily biased toward certain anime genres, they do get their information regarding Japanese anime and Asian cinema spot on.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by kemcha

the link you posted doesn't say anything of the kind that they have an ongoing deal to produce new Godzilla films.

That's exactly what it says, even specifically saying the Japanese reports of it ending after GvK are wrong.

The only thing that it says is "Legendary retains the rights as long as it continues to make Godzilla films" and that statement is ambiguous, at best.

Nothing ambiguous there at all: the Plain English Campaign would give it their seal of approval for its clarity. The word continues is about as unambiguous as you can get. As is 'retains the rights.' They haven't activated their option for a fourth film for the obvious reason the third has yet to be released. Any decision will depend on the financial performance of the third and whether Legendary wish to proceed. Which is unlikely unless GvK can massively improve on GKotM's box-office.

[RalphoR]

Overall the MonsterVerse has been financially successful but I doubt it can survive a GvK box office tank. I'd love to see it ongoing so there's a lot of pressure on this movie.

[kemcha]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Overall the MonsterVerse has been financially successful but I doubt it can survive a GvK box office tank. I'd love to see it ongoing so there's a lot of pressure on this movie.

Most films are successful. There is no "overly successful". It's how successful a movie is that determines whether a sequel is greenlit. When it comes to licensed properties that have a specific deadline before their license runs out, they have to produce a final film before that happens (which is what happened with Godzilla vs Kong). Far as Japanese websites and the media are concerned, they write about the same inaccuracies that the American websites and media do.

Generally, as a rule of thumb, movie studios, book publishers, game developers, anime studios do not, and have not, ever announced any projects or licenses or licensing extensions until after such agreements have been finalized/greenlit/approved. This is done to prevent such projects or licensing agreements from being "tanked" or sidelined which is why nobody has heard anything on Legendary's license for Godzilla. My guess? We likely won't hear anything about Legendary's status with the Godzilla film rights until either the end of this year (2020) or mid-2021. Japanese licensing companies often take time to process licensing agreements because studios who own these rights use licensing agents or licensing companies to handle such matters for each studio.

The closest information that has been revealed, in relation to Godzilla licensing, is that both Toho and Legendary will be attending the Licensing Expo set to happen in Las Vegas this year (this was reported just three days ago):

https://www.godzilla-movies.com/news...sing-expo-2020

If there is going to be any announcements regarding Godzilla licensing, it could happen at this year's expo. Las Vegas Licensing Expo runs from May 19th-21st. But, the expo is said to be focused mainly on Godzilla vs Kong licensing. To date, neither Toho nor Legendary have announced anything relating to the studio's rights to produce more Godzilla films. Until that happens, the best place that information will be posted would be:

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/
https://www.tohokingdom.com/

But, this year's Licensing Expo would be the event to watch for any licensing announcements.

[Himmel]

New NECA Godzilla Figures Revealed slated to release sometime during the second quarter of 2020.

-Source-

[RalphoR]

At least they aren't spilling the beans on the new Godzilla (I didn't peek at the spoilers).

[Himmel]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

At least they aren't spilling the beans on the new Godzilla (I didn't peek at the spoilers).

Spoilers?

[RalphoR]

Didn't somebody post a leak of a new Godzilla pic from GvK? I didn't look at it or any upcoming Godzilla toys that might be associated with the new movie.

[KManX89]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Didn't somebody post a leak of a new Godzilla pic from GvK? I didn't look at it or any upcoming Godzilla toys that might be associated with the new movie.

It might've just been pre-production concept art or

[Show spoiler]MechaGodzilla in disguise

, it's hardly set in stone.

[RalphoR]

Ok....since I haven't looked it's all good whatever it may be.