‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ First Reactions Hail It as Best American Take to Date

Jeremy Fuster

It has been five years since Godzilla last stomped across American screens and left fans of the legendary kaiju wanting more, but audiences who saw early screenings of “Godzilla: King of Monsters” say it has all the gigantic creature fights you can handle.

The upcoming film is the third installment in Warner Bros. and Legendary’s MonsterVerse, following 2014’s “Godzilla” and 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island.” The film will see Godzilla return to take on many of his most famous monster rivals from the Toho canon, led by his greatest nemesis, King Ghidorah.

“‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ is the modern day Godzilla movie you’ve been waiting for,” tweeted JoBlo’s Paul Shirey. “It’s everything the 2014 ‘Godzilla’ isn’t, while still retaining the best elements of that film and elevating them x 100. Monstrous action that rattles the theater.”

Also Read: Godzilla Goes 'Over the Rainbow' in Stunning New 'King of Monsters' Trailer (Video)

Den of Geek’s David Crow called it “the craziest, most entertaining American kaiju movie in existence,” and said that fans of the other Toho monsters like Mothra won’t be disappointed.

“This movie is a weird hybrid of worshipful adoration for Godzilla, Ghidorah, et al., and the camp and glee of fight night on the WWE,” he tweeted.

Early tracking for “King of the Monsters” projects an opening weekend (May 31) of $50 million. That’s notably lower than the $93 million opening earned by “Godzilla,” but this sequel will be facing much tougher competition from films like “John Wick: Chapter 3,” “Aladdin,” and the Elton John biopic “Rocketman,” which will be hitting theaters on the same weekend.

If buzz continues to build, however, “King of the Monsters” could get closer to the $61 million opening earned by “Kong: Skull Island” in March 2017. Godzilla is set to take on King Kong in a MonsterVerse crossover film that will hit theaters next year.

Also Read: Godzilla Is Here to Make Humans His Pets in New 'King of Monsters' Trailer (Video)

See more early screening reactions in the tweets below.

#GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters ups the monster action considerably. The battle scenes are gorgeous & fierce & feel ripped from the pages of a gnarly graphic novel. You want a giant-monster movie throwdown, this is it and then some. Can’t wait for that Godzilla vs Kong movie now pic.twitter.com/3RnAOSc00V

— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) May 11, 2019

As someone who is not by any means a Godzilla expert (this will be remedied, I swear!) I was lucky enough to see #GodzillaKingoftheMonsters in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago! If you’re looking for some Kaiju-on-Kaiju action, you won’t be disappointed.

— Terri Schwartz (@Terri_Schwartz) May 11, 2019

Godzilla: King of the Monsters rules so goddamn hard. Easily the most fun I’ve had in theaters all year and the best Monsterverse entry yet. The scale is mind-boggling & every action scene could be your new desktop wallpaper. See it on the biggest screen possible. #GodzillaMovie pic.twitter.com/YoZrAAjey1

— Dan Casey (@DanCasey) May 11, 2019

#GodzillaMovie is the film I’ve waited years for. The thrilling sequel captures the spirit of Japan’s famous kaiju while setting up his reign for years to come. There are few words which describe the film as well as momentous, and its epic scale will leave audiences of astounded.

— Megan Peters (@meganpeterscb) May 11, 2019

Read original story ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ First Reactions Hail It as Best American Take to Date At TheWrap