Following Legendary’s and Warner Bros. Pictures’ success with the reinvention of the Godzilla franchise in 2014, it has been announced today that the companies have come together to create an epic, new shared cinematic franchise. The plan apparently is to build a new mythology that brings together Godzilla and Legendary’s King Kong in an ecosystem of other giant super-species, both classic and new, while Monarch, the human organization that uncovered Godzilla in the 2014 film, will expand their mission across multiple releases (it definitely sounds like other monsters will factor into this movie then). Godzilla 2 is currently set for June 8th, 2018, while Kong: Skull Island remains scheduled for release in 2017. Both films feature the human Monarch organization.
"Audiences really responded to Godzilla," Legendary CEO, Thomas Tull said in a press release. "Today, I’m excited to reveal that film was only the beginning of an epic new entertainment universe. As a lifelong fan of these characters, I’ve always wanted to see the ultimate showdown, and today we’re pleased to be announcing that and more." Kevin Tsujihara, Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros adds: "Working with our partners at Legendary, we enjoyed tremendous creative and commercial success with `Godzilla.' It’s great to be able to revisit these characters and help create a franchise with so many creative possibilities for filmmakers. Fans love these big, globally iconic films and it doesn’t get any bigger than this." So, how are they gonna explain the size difference?! We'll have to wait and see, but this all sounds pretty awesome, right?