Godzilla vs Kong delayed by eight months following King of the Monsters flop
Godzilla vs Kong has been delayed by eight months following the box office disappointment of its predecessor Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
This is the second time its release date has been changed: the film was originally scheduled to hit cinemas in summer 2020, before being bumped up to March. That has now been scrapped in favour of the new release date of 20 November 2020.
It is the fourth film in the Godzilla and King Kong crossover franchise, following 2014’s Godzilla, 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and this year’s King of the Monsters.
The sequel, which sees Godzilla facing off against King Kong, had experienced negative buzz since the release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters earlier this year. That film was met with dismal reviews and disappointing box office.
In his review for The Independent, critic Geoffrey Macnab described the film as “dismaying” and full of “cartoonish, one-dimensional performances”.
On a production budget of $200m (£155m) before marketing costs, King of the Monsters grossed $385m (£299m) worldwide.
The film also marked the first big-screen role for Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown, who will return for the sequel, along with Kyle Chandler and Zhang Ziyi. Franchise newcomers for Godzilla vs Kong include Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry.
Warner Bros chairman Toby Emmerich suggested in June that Godzilla vs Kong “will deliver for fans in a way they were looking for with King of the Monsters,” adding: “But it might come out later in the year, so we can deliver an A+ movie.”
