Decades before Alien fought Predator, Freddy took on Jason, and (at least as far as live-action films go) Batman traded blows with Superman, the Japanese kaiju movies would regularly see the universe’s most formidable beasts – from Mechagodzilla to Mothra – have violent smackdowns while the fate of us mere humans lay helplessly in the balance. There was even a King Kong vs. Godzilla movie released in 1962, though the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong will at least have the advantage of a far bigger budget to convey the full scale of this colossal clash.
One other thing that the Monsterverse’s fourth instalment will have going for it is the casting of 15-year-old New Zealander Julian Dennison, who’s currently fresh off his successful turn as the unstable mutant Russell Collins, aka Firefist, in Deadpool 2.
The young actor, whose breakout performance was in Taika Waititi’s acclaimed 2016 comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, will take a supporting role alongside Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things fame and Bloodline’s Kyle Chandler. Legendary Pictures has also reportedly offered a part to Frances McDormand, who recently won her second Oscar for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Dennison’s profile will no doubt get a further boost from this attachment to another major film franchise, though he’ll likely have plenty of time to find other projects prior to the movie’s release, which is in just under two years from now. After all, before The Guest director Adam Wingard can show us what he can do with his first blockbuster budget, we still have one other Monsterverse production to sit through in the form of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Slated for release on May 31st, 2019, the sequel is set to reintroduce some of the most beloved behemoths of Godzilla lore, including King Ghidorah and the aforementioned Mothra. Still, it could be argued that this recent wave of monster movies will only truly bloom into a fully-fledged cinematic universe when Godzilla vs. Kong brings us the iconic crossover its title promises on May 29th, 2020.