Just as Kong: Skull Island crashes into theaters, The Hollywood Reporter brings word today that Legendary is beginning to make serious headway on its main event, Godzilla Vs. Kong. A writers room has officially been established, with Lindsey Beer (The Kingkiller Chronicles) and Pirates of the Caribbean scribe Terry Rossio among those on board to canvas ideas.
Rossio will oversee the creative process, before a single writer will be elected to hash out a screenplay. THR notes that Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne (Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek 4), Cat Vasko (Queen of the Air), T.S. Nowlin (Pacific Rim: Uprising) and comic book scribe J. Michael Straczynski (World War Z, Sense8) have also signed on to pitch their story ideas into the proverbial hat.
Legendary’s decision to hatch a writers room shouldn’t be all that surprising – in fact, the idea was originally proposed back when Godzilla: King of the Monsters appointed screenwriter Michael Dougherty, who later closed a deal to direct. Besides, assembling a team of top-tier writers to flesh out a shared universe is a tactic that’s been employed by Marvel for the MCU and, more recently, Paramount (Transformers).
When it comes to Legendary and Warner’s MonsterVerse, though, Beer, Rossio and the rest of the gang will be tasked with teeing up what is arguably the greatest gladiator fight in modern cinema history: Godzilla Vs. Kong. Of course, just as Skull Island laid the necessary foundations via a post-credits scene, 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters will no doubt be an important building block for the shared universe going forward. To date, Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown have all agreed preliminary deals to star, with the sequel expected to roar to life on March 22nd, 2019.
Godzilla vs Kong is currently targeting May 29th, 2020. Closer to home, Kong: Skull Island launches into theaters today, March 10th, and is a solid solo vehicle for the great ape. If you’re wanting to dig a little deeper into Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ reboot, look no further than our exclusive interview.