Say what you will about the 1998 Godzilla, but that movie had a pretty ingenious method of advertising the size of the titular beast without giving away its appearance, launching a series of posters emblazoned with such ominous boasts as “His foot is bigger than this bus.” Obviously, Godzilla: King of the Monsters can’t pull the same less-is-more trick with the legendary lizard, seeing how the film is a sequel to the 2014 Godzilla, so instead, Warner Bros. is giving us an early look at the creature’s return, and it doesn’t seem like he’s coming back to make friends.
Two new images have been released via Entertainment Weekly today and as you can see below, one of them shows the famed Kaiju shrouded in darkness and wading through water while breathing a jet of fire into the sky. We just hope there weren’t any unsuspecting seagulls flying overhead. The second photo, meanwhile, gives us our first look at Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown as Dr. Emma Russell and her daughter Madison, respectively.
Earlier this week, Farmiga explained that her character has found a way to communicate with the creatures, in which case, Godzilla may not be her only conversation partner. Joining the fray will also be old franchise favorites Mothra, Roda, and Ghidorah, none of whom have shown their ugly faces in any photos yet, though there’s always the chance that Warner will give us some images at the San Diego Comic-Con next week.
In the meantime, the Entertainment Weekly piece has also offered the following insights from director Michael Dougherty on what to expect from next year’s release.
“The world is reacting to Godzilla in the same way we would react to any other terrifying incident, in that we are overreacting,” says director Michael Dougherty, whose previous credits include the horror movie Krampus. Godzilla hasn’t been seen since that destructive finale, “but there’s paranoia and endless speculation about whether he is the only one out there or whether we’re threatened by others like his kind.”
Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be putting an end to our speculation when the movie stomps into cinemas on May 31st, 2019.