GODZILLA vs. KONG (November 20, 2020)

[Benjamin Haines]

[Gwangi]

[mr.negativity]

[O.Supreme]

[Gentleman]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

I was hoping they canceled it and gave the money to Daiei to make a new Gamera movie. I guess this works too...

[Dai]

[Outkaster]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

I'm being a smart ass.

I'd rather have a new Japanese Gamera movie then a new Monsterverse movie. low quality sh*t posting

[Benjamin Haines]

[Gwangi]

Actually, I did not even realize that "Eternals" was a Marvel thing until recently, and it is a good bet that general movie going audience probably thinks the same. Heck, I am willing to bet, that they know more about Godzilla and Kong than "Eternals". Of course, when the movie is about to come out, they will shower it with the Marvel label, just to remind everyone.

Frankly, I am not worried. If it was competing against an "Avengers" movie, then hell yes. "Eternals" will no doubt do well. But since we are now past these major phases in the Marvel Universe, how much of an interest will this movie have to the general filmgoing public? I know, I am probably underestimating the impact of this Marvel film, but we shall see.

[GFan]

Bummer news, but not surprising considering we hadn't even gotten a teaser trailer or any promo pictures yet.

Hopefully there hasn't been any JUSTICE LEAGUE-level retooling efforts (or something similar to the RISE OF SKYWALKER rumors) and WB is just trying to give the movie a more opportunistic release spot.

[klen7]

[mr.negativity]

[Russzilla]

[Gwangi]

[O.Supreme]

For me personally it may just be a matter of time passing and me becoming forgetful, or just having other priorities. But those Marvel Trading cards in the early 90s were a treasure trove of knowledge. I knew about the Guardians of the Galaxy, but I can safe say I've never heard of the Eternals. If they've been around since before the 90s, then it truly did slip my notice.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Jinzo Ningen]

Depends on just who authorizes the 're-tooling' and what & how much of it that they feel needs work. Hell, trimming a couple of minutes out of G:KotM to excise all of the insultingly stupid jokes (and a few blue words) would've made that film worlds better, IMHO. And something like that just takes a few folks in an editing suite for a day or two. Now if they intend to start adding things (re-shoots, VFX, etc), THEN the budget starts inflating rapidly. However if they're able to tweak existing footage or re-cut with alternate takes or whatnot (for whatever reason) then it wouldn't be anywhere near as costly. It all depends on exactly what it is they were trying to achieve... and this is obviously IF they plan on doing anything to the film at all - other than sitting on it for an additional 6 months prior to release.

[Benjamin Haines]

Even if Godzilla vs. Kong was still set to open in March, it would still be in post-production at this time so editing out certain scenes or lines of dialogue wouldn't be something that would require an eight-month delay. That's why I fear this delay might indicate more significant retooling, like completely reshooting existing scenes just to give the actors different dialogue. What good did it do Justice League to give the characters more quips and one-liners than there were in Batman v Superman? It didn't make a difference.

The most common complaints about Godzilla: King of the Monsters from people who saw the film can be boiled down to 1) "I thought the action scenes were too dark & rainy," 2) "I didn't care about the human story," and 3) "I didn't laugh at the humor."

I can see complaint #1 being a major change that WB might be trying to make with GvsK. If a lot of the monster fight scenes are set at night and/or in heavy weather, that's something they might be actively trying to change in response to G:KotM's backlash. Regardless of whether that might make for better onscreen spectacle, it definitely wouldn't be a cheap or easy alteration. They would need to reshoot the live-action plates for those sequences, possibly reshoot scenes with some of the cast, and redo much of the digital effects work they've already done.

But the biggest complaint regarding G:KotM didn't come from people who saw it. It came from people who decided not to go see it because they didn't care about seeing a new Godzilla movie. As unpleasant as it is to admit it, Godzilla really is the root of the problem with this upcoming crossover in terms of WB's ability to sell it to the public.

Most people are not Godzilla fans, not in the dedicated "I post on Godzilla message boards" sense and not even in the casual "I'll watch a big Godzilla blockbuster if Hollywood offers it" sense. The 2014 film was able to draw a lot of curious lookie-loos on opening weekend because it was the first Hollywood Godzilla film in a generation and thus the first Godzilla film that many people ever actually watched. It did not get audiences jazzed about the prospect of a sequel and it was just as frontloaded as GINO was in 1998. WB's hope was that the web-based nerd criticisms of G'14 reflected the general audience sentiment, that audiences really wanted to see more of Godzilla and the sequel just needed to be action-heavy, but that was not the case. G:KotM was as frontloaded as G'14 and GINO'98. In the real world, most people just aren't interested in Godzilla as a character.

That's why, even more than changing the action sequences to clear daylight, I wonder if this eight-month delay is about WB trying to retool Godzilla's role in the story. G:KotM was meant to get audiences cheering for Godzilla and GvsK was probably made with that in mind. The version of GvsK that wrapped shooting back in April probably portrays Godzilla in a heroic light and the story probably ends with the door left wide open for further Godzilla adventures. WB is in a very tricky situation trying to sell Godzilla vs. Kong to a public that has shown rapidly declining interest in Godzilla, so I wonder if they might be hedging their bets on audience interest in Kong and retooling the movie accordingly.

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

^^^ I would like to comment on the dark/rainy action sequences.

G'14 has dark action sequences.
Pacific Rim has rainy and dark action sequences.

Both of those movies I like a lot despite those attributes.

KoTM's action sequences are in both of those conditions. The difference is the shots have a lot of tight shots with shaky cam and TONS of things that take up the entire screen like Ghidorahs beams or debris flying at the camera. So when you throw the low light and snow/rain on top of these shots it makes it unbearable. Now I will admit, I have not watched since my IMax showing and probably will someday watch at home. Maybe that will change my mind but I can't sit through that movie at the moment.

That being said, I think them changing the effects to be easier to watch is not going to bring the money in. No matter what they do there isn't enough public interest in the genre to justify spending 170-200 million dollars on a Godzilla movie. Unless the novelty of Kong vs. Godzilla draws them in, this is the end of American produced Godzilla movies.

[Gentleman]

It's a small tweak, but I hope they slow the Titan action down in GvK. One of the things I love about Pacific Rim is the giant things move ponderously, with the impression of real weight. Even in Skull Island, Kong felt like he had real mass. In KOTM, Ghidorah's heads struck with snake-speed. Mothra and Rodan wheeled about like kites. The quick actions made the monsters feel, I don't know... artificial (yes, I realize how that sounds).

[Gwangi]

[Henry88]

do we know what WB is doing to this movie or is everybody just getting there crystal balls out?

[GFan]