Tag: Godzilla vs. Kong

Posted on in Film News

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Cinematographer Ben Seresin Joins Jennifer Lopez Assassin Pic ‘The Mother’ Directed By ‘Mulan’s Niki Caro

Back in February, Deadline reported that Jennifer Lopez was attached to star/produce a new action film for Netflix. The Mother has a script penned by Misha Green (Tomb Raider 2, Lovecraft Country) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton) it was described as being in the vein of Luc Besson’s The Professional and would see Lopez playing an assassin. 

Lopez will play a deadly female assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that Kiwi cinematographer Ben Seresin has joined The Mother’s production team and should bring a striking visual flair after being behind Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong. Seresin’s other credits include World War Z, Pirates of The Caribbean At World’s End, Pain & Gain, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, Unstoppable, Tom Cruise’s The Mummy, and Chaos Walking. 

Fellow Kiwi, director Niki Caro (Mulan), has closed her deal to direct, and we can confirm that Canadian production designer Jean-Francois Campeau (Annie With An E, Bon Cop Bad Cop II) has also joined the production team. 

We’ve learned that filming will take place from early October to late January in Vancouver, British, Columbia, Canada.

Misha Green is currently attached to write and direct MGM’s Tomb Raider sequel starring Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander, she also signed an overall deal with Apple after HBO cancelled Season 2 of Lovecraft Country.

Lopez is coming off the heat from her stripper movie Hustlers and has wrapped on the action-comedy Shogun Wedding. You might remember her kicking serious ass in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight opposite George Clooney, so it’ll be interesting to see her tackling a similar badass role.

HUSTLERS – Working as a stripper to make ends meet, Destiny’s life changes forever when she becomes friends with Ramona — the club’s top money earner. Ramona soon shows Destiny how to finagle her way around the wealthy Wall Street clientele who frequent the club. But when the 2008 economic collapse cuts into their profits, the gals and two other dancers devise a daring scheme to take their lives back.

Posted on in Film News

‘Knives Out 2’: Rian Johnson Adds ‘Matrix 4’ Actress Jessica Henwick

Director Rian Johnson has reportedly added a Star Wars actor to his Knives Out sequel.

The impressive cast of Knives Out 2 already consists of Daniel Craig (No Time To Die), Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Spectre, Guardians of The Galaxy, Army of The Dead), Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Rounders, Moonrise Kingdom), Janelle Monae (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), Madelyn Cline, and Leslie Odom Jr. (Murder On The Orient Express, One Night In Miami).

Deadline is reporting that actress Jessica Henwick has landed a role ahead of the sequel starting production. Her credits include The Matrix 4, Game of Thrones, Iron Fist, and had her scenes from Godzilla vs. Kong removed from the final cut. Both Daniel Craig and Henwick appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Filming begins this month in Greece, suggesting the murder mystery could involve a hotel or cruise ship given the overwhelming amount of American actors on the call-sheet and the European setting. Daniel Craig returns to play detective Benoit Blanc, and will return for a third film that will shoot at a later date.

The Knives Out sequels made headlines when Netflix closed a massive deal with Johnson and Craig worth a massive $400 million to secure the next two installments.

The Ronin previous confirmed that Johnson will reunite with his longtime cinematographer Steve Yedlin.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s ‘She-Hulk’ Adds ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Stunt Coordinator & ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Costume Designer

The Ronin can confirm that Canadian stunt coordinator Monique Ganderton is indeed currently working on Marvel’s She-Hulk series that is actively shooting in Atlanta with Emmy-winner Tatiana Malsany (Orphan Black) starring as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. Monique isn’t new to the world of Marvel Studios with credits such as Loki, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War, and Thor: Ragnarok.

In the comics, Jennifer Walters is a defense lawyer, who is given Hulk powers after she needs a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner. It’ll be interesting to see how she’ll get her powers in the MCU incarnation and how closely they’ll be sticking to comic book lore as this will be the first time we’re getting a live-action She-Hulk.

UPDATE: Monique Ganderton has now confirmed her involvement on She-Hulk on her Instagram bio backing up our confirmation from May.

It’s assumed that Ganderton will be doing the motion-capture/stunt work for She-Hulk given that she already filled a similar role for the Avengers villain Proxima Midnight (voiced by Carrie Coons) and seemingly played a motion-capture character for the Loki series as well.

We can also confirm that Godzilla Vs. Kong costume designer Ann Foley is officially working on the Marvel show as well. Ann’s credits include Netflix’s Altered Carbon, ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Sony’s Masters of The Universe remake (seemingly stuck in limbo).

The 10-episode series will be directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia.

Joining Tatiana in the Disney+ show will be Mark Ruffalo officially returning to play Jennifer’s cousin Bruce Banner aka Hulk, Tim Roth is finally back as Incredible Hulk villain Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, Renee Elise Goldsberry as Amelia, and Ginger Gonzaga.

Recently, we were able to confirm that Lovecraft Country production designer is Elena Albanese hard at work on the Disney+ series too.

Considering that Jennifer has a strong comic book connection to the Fantastic Four, I’m curious if the series will plant the seeds to her involvement with Marvel’s reboot directed by Jon Watts as She-Hulk at one time had become a member of the team. Watts is currently busy finishing-up Spider-Man: No Way Home due in theaters on December 17.

Given the extensive visual effects involved with bringing She-Hulk, Hulk, and Abomination to life it’s expected that She-Hulk won’t debut until later in 2022.

Posted on in Film News

Legendary Reportedly In Talks With ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Director Adam Wingard For Another MonsterVerse Film – Could End Up ‘Son of Kong’

Legendary might not be winding-down plans for their MonsterVerse after all. After Godzilla Vs. Kong crossed $400 million globally at the box office over the weekend, there is talk that the studio might be already looking to secure Adam Wingard for another future MonsterVerse movie.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that Wingard is currently in talks with Legendary to direct another film in the MonsterVerse for them, potentially with the title of Son of Kong. This could make sense as the ending of Godzilla Vs. Kong seemed to hint there were further adventures for Kong in his new home in the Hollow Earth.

I have to believe that audiences would be a little more inclined to support a second solo Kong film given how well both Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla Vs. Kong have done in comparison to Godzilla: King of The Monsters. Also, that Kong seems to have a little bit more of a personality than Godzilla which goes a long way for a CGI performance from a towering monster and now that he can communicate with humans makes another film even more appealing.

Son of Kong would likely mean that there is female of Kong’s species somewhere in the Hollow Earth, but we still don’t know if that is the project they’ll end up making since they don’t even have a screenwriter attached at this point and the Son of Kong is only a rumbling of a title.

Adam is a little busy at the moment working on a sequel to John Woo’s Face/Off for Paramount Pictures and is going to make a big screen adaptation of the cult cartoon ThunderCats mixing animation with CGI for Warner Bros. as well. It’s unclear when this new MonsterVerse is expected to shoot or even be released. Normally, Legendary announces their plans on these projects way in advance and seemed like they could attempt to pause the release of them entirely.

If Adam Wingard closes a deal with Legendary it would make him the first MonsterVerse director to make two films.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Crosses $400M At Global Box Office – Will Legendary Announce More MonsterVerse Films?

While the massive MonsterVerse flick Godzilla Vs. Kong hasn’t crossed $100 million domestically, this weekend saw the Legendary event pic hit $406.5 million at the global box office, according to numbers via Box Office Mojo.

Some outlets have stated that $160-200 million budgeted project needed to reach $400+ million to turn a profit. That creative math that still puzzles me as similar budgeted movies in the past had to earn a lot more money to cover costs. Ultimately, Godzilla Vs. Kong will unlikely surpass the box office of other films in the MonsterVerse such as Kong: Skull Island ($566.6 million) or the first Godzilla ($524.9 million).

Normally, Legendary has upcoming MonsterVerse installments in the works when the movies are released and tease those projects, but at this time we don’t know if we’ll be getting more movies. There was a cryptic video thanking fans posted by Legendary that felt more like a goodbye message than “we have more movies coming.”

At one time, there had been chatter of a Mothra movie and the end of Godzilla Vs. Kong leaves the door open for a Kong sequel taking place in Hollow Earth. We’ll have to wait for Legendary to announce plans for future MonsterVerse movies or that they’re winding things down.

SOURCE: BOX OFFICE MOJO

Posted on in Film News

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Has Worst Domestic Opening In The Monsterverse – Still Heading Towards $285M+ Globally

Godzilla vs. Kong might end up being one of the first films to make a major splash at the box office since the pandemic begin last year. However, despite some impressive numbers overseas in it’s international debut last weekend it still managed to have the lowest 3-day and 5-day domestic opening in the Monsterverse franchise at $32.2 million and $48.5 million. Of course, this is directly connected to the pandemic but it’s still worth mentioning where the numbers stack up against the other three films.

Here’s a rundown of the domestic openings of all four movies.

  • GODZILLA (2014): 3-Day $93.1M & 5-Day $107.8M 
  • KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017): 3-Day $61M & 5-Day $72.7M 
  • GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019): 3-Day $47.7M & 5-Day $57.1M 
  • GODZILLA VS KONG (2021): 3-Day $32.2M & 5-Day $48.5M

As you can see with the numbers listed above, Godzilla vs. Kong made less than half what Godzilla made over 5-days back in 2014. COVID aside, the box office numbers had already been decreasing which each Monsterverse installment. Putting the latest pic dead last in the domestic box office rankings.

The event film is still doing well overall heading towards $285.5 million globally it’s first two weekends and most likely will turn a profit when the dust settles.

GODZILLA VS. KONG – Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & BOX OFFICE MOJO

Posted on in Film News

Guillermo del Toro Hopeful For ‘Pacific Rim’ & ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Crossover – “Perhaps, One Day They Can Rumble”

While Legendary is about release their big Monsterverse crossover Godzilla vs. Kong, director Guillermo del Toro is on Twitter responding to fans with the hope that at some point his Pacific Rim universe could “rumble” with the Monsterverse in a crossover of it’s own.

DEL TORO: “I personally love seeing the Neon, Sea battles, building demolition, etc because secretly -maybe- the PAC RIM Universe co-exists in the LEGENDARY Kaijuverse and, perhaps, one day they can rumble!”

Pacific Rim: Uprising didn’t do the kind of business that had been expected and given the two films have their other mythology with kaiju (titans in the Monsterverse) being sent to Earth by aliens. Adding aliens to the Monsterverse could one way to continue the franchise beyond the next installment. However, they might have to do a soft-reboot to make it fit for a crossover. Similar to how Kong: Skull Island was Legendary’s soft-reboot of King Kong to become a direct entry point into the established universe of Godzilla.

You can’t watch the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer without noticing the visual cues from del Toro’s neon-filled Pacific Rim. They’re also seemingly teasing robots with the possible inclusion of Mechagodzilla in the new film.

GODZILLA VS. KONG – Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth. 

SOURCE: GUILLERMO DEL TORO

Posted on in Film News

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Trailer Teases Mechagodzilla – Pulls In 21M+ Views

It seems like people have been starving for a new blockbuster trailer, Legendary’s latest entry in the Monsterverse, Godzilla vs. Kong, has feed that need becoming quite the online hit because of the lack of big trailer releases over the last couple of months. 

How big of a hit?

Within the first 20 hours, the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer saw an impressive 13 million views from the Warner Bros. YouTube channel and then another 8 million from various official Twitter accounts connected to the film (HBO Max, Legendary, and Godzilla vs. Kong) that posted the trailer. 

I have to say the visual effects on display here are a huge improvement from the previous two Godzilla movies where the filmmakers and effects department made the shots so dark you couldn’t even figure out what was going on, which sort of makes these expensive VFX (kind of the point of the whole film) useless if they’re obscured too much by poor lighting or muddy textures on the creatures. So, a big thumbs up from me for that.

There is also a huge tease towards the inclusion of Mechagodzilla, a giant robotic version of the King of Monsters seen in the screenshot below. 

The film will be released in theaters and HBO Max (for a month) on March 26th. 

GODZILLA VS. KONG – Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth. 

The film stars Alexander Skarsgård (“Big Little Lies,” “The Little Drummer Girl”), Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”), Rebecca Hall (“Christine,” “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Joker,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), Shun Oguri (“Weathering with You”), Eiza González (“Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Julian Dennison (“Deadpool 2”), with Kyle Chandler (“Godzilla: King of the Monsters”) and Demián Bichir (“The Nun,” “The Hateful Eight”).