Following the success of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot in 2014, which grossed over $200 million domestically and over $520 million at the global box office (making it the highest-grossing installment of the Godzilla movies), development swiftly began on a follow-up. At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that the sequel would be released on June 8, 2018 with the addendum that other monsters like Rodan, King Ghidorah, and Mothra could be entering the fray for future Godzilla movies.
The film is currently set so far off to accommodate Gareth Edwards’ schedule, as he is currently shooting Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One but will return for the film along with screenwriter Max Borenstein. Borenstein is also currently an executive producer on FOX’s upcoming “Minority Report” TV series, and while promoting the show at TCA, he spoke with Collider and offered an update on the 2018 sequel.
“I’m writing it now, and it’s really going to be great. I don’t want to go off book and tell you anything that I’m not allowed to tell you. The response to the first film was really exciting, but now that that world is established, we can do bigger and even better things. We’re really stoked.”
Not to be completely outdone, Toho, the creators of Godzilla, announced late last year that they were developing another film of their own starring the king of the monsters, the first since 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars. Set for release next year, The AP recently sat down with the film’s co-director Shinji Higuchi (the Attack on Titan live-action film) about the film’s “hybrid” effects (a mix of CG and practical effects, including miniatures) and his love for the franchise.
“I’m confident I am among the top-50 lovers of Godzilla in the world. That’s how much I love Godzilla,” he said. “Maybe I’m not in the top 10, but definitely in the top 50.”
Promising the “most terrifying” version of Godzilla, Higuchi also said that they’re going to push the film into a different direction from the happier installments, citing that the world has lost its innocence after the various terrorist attacks and natural disasters over the past few years.
“In movie after movie,” he says, “People merely ran away from the stampeding monster, and no one tried to face up to the issue of accountability.”
Production on the film begins next month.
