Hello, everyone! I hope all of you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. I hope 2021 has been treating you well so far. This week has seen quite the excitement surrounding Godzilla vs Kong. On January 6th, Entertainment Weekly had announced they will be previewing a slate of movies releasing this year over the next two weeks and Godzilla vs Kong was on that list.
The segment reads, "Over the next two weeks, we'll be posting special preview stories of more than two dozen of the below films every day, from exclusive trailers and photos to interviews with A-list actors and filmmakers. But to start we present our list of the movies we can't wait to see. Some of these releases may very well change; others aren't nailed down yet, but EW can report they'll hit by the middle of this year, our cutoff for this preview."
And, of course, Godzilla vs Kong is found in that list they mentioned with the description, "One of the biggest movies to get a streaming premiere, Warner Bros. will ensure the latest chapter in the epic monster-movie series gets a wide audience. (In theaters and on HBO Max May 21)"
The first thing that came to my mind when I read this is that it looks like the movie is keeping its release date at least for now. When I read that some of the releases may change or not nailed down yet, it made me think of what is going on with the Legendary vs Warner Bros. case. Last time we heard anything about it, Legendary was going to offer Warner Bros. the same offer they made with Netflix to keep Godzilla vs Kong on the theatrical/HBO Max hybrid release under two conditions: Warner Bros. pays Legendary $250 million and DUNE releases exclusively in theaters. Also, Total Film released their 2021 Preview issue today and they are reporting that DUNE is still getting the same hybrid release, as well. So it makes me wonder if the two parties are still disputing this case. Last month, Warner Bros. announced this hybrid release without even talking to their partners and investors about this plan and nobody in Hollywood was happy with Warner Bros. after that.
Time will tell once we see EW's article and the trailer for the movie. How it usually works from the past movie releases is that we start getting the articles and first images of the movie. Then, we see the viral marketing start up with a teaser for the trailer. Two weeks later, the movie's trailer drops online. Whether or not this will be the case for Godzilla vs Kong is up in the air in the post-COVID era. By January 21, we would be five months away from the movie's release and Warner Bros. and Legendary would probably want to get started on the viral marketing as soon as possible.
In Total Film's magazine, they have released a short article on Godzilla vs Kong reconfirming information about the movie with a spoiler, which I blocked. The article reads, "Like all of Warner Bros.' 2021 movies, the fourth title in the MonsterVerse will now debut day-and-date in cinemas and on streaming channel HBO Max in the US, though you be mad to settle for seeing these titans clash on your TV. Plot-wise, we know Monarch will unearth clues to the creatures' origins, and that a conspiracy is threatening wipe all said creatures from the Earth. Director Adam Wingard (The Guest, Blair Witch) insists there will be bigger focus on character than in the franchise so far ("the arcs they have, how they relate to one another, and most importantly, how they relate to the monsters, and how the monsters relate to them"), but it's the Big G slugging it out with everyones' favourite giant gorilla that we're here for. Still want more? Early action figures suggest █████████████ will be tag-teaming. ETA | 21 May 2021"
Again, it is reconfirming information we already know. The movie will be more focused on the characters this time around and how they're connected with the monsters and discovering their origins. When you look back at the end credit sequence of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, we learn about the story of how a civilization that co-existed with the monsters fell due to a monster war and how they were being used for their own wars. So Godzilla vs Kong is going to dive deeper through exploration of the Hollow Earth.
As for the redacted part of the article, I was the one that did to censor a specific character since it is considered a spoiler. If you have seen the toy leaks from January 2020, you may already have an idea of what that specific character is. And ever since then, I made it a point to not spoil it until this character is officially revealed in a trailer. I know that most of you already know who this character is, but there are fans that want to be surprised when they see it for themselves first rather than have someone else tell them before they see it.
More Toy Leaks:
Speaking of toy leaks, more listings and images for Godzilla vs Kong toys have been discovered this week. The first images to appear are for the MEGA Heat Ray Godzilla and Punching Kong figures (credit goes to High Flyers Tag Team for finding them). Both of them are 13" inches tall (two inches taller than the 11" inch Giant Godzilla and Kong figures), comes with the lights and sound gimmick, and a miniature soldier figurine. Godzilla comes with two darts that shoot from Godzilla's mouth, which reminds me of Trendmaster's Godzilla 98 figure that had a similar feature. This Godzilla figure uses a similar mold as the 11" inch Giant Godzilla, except the dorsal plates are translucent blue just like the 6" inch Godzilla w/ Heat Ray toy.
As for Kong, he comes with his battle axe, which looks a little more detailed than his 6" inch counterpart. The MEGA Kong has more range of articulation than the 11" inch Giant Kong figure, which would already make this toy better than the Giant Kong.
Following up with that are the barcodes for GVK RODAN and GVK Skull Crawler Alt Color (credit goes to James Sidoti for finding them through manipulating the barcodes). Back in July, Playmates Toys released the Hollow Earth Skull Crawler figure, which was grayish brown with red highlights running down the spine. My guess here is that this is going to be the Basic version of the Skull Crawler that we have seen from Kong: Skull Island and that one was more charcoal gray and white making it look like a walking skeleton. As for Rodan, many people are saying this confirms Rodan to be in the movie, but who knows. If he does appear in the movie, then cool. We get to see more Big Bird doing what Big Bird does best.
Lastly, we have promotional images for Kong with Fighter Jet and Warbat with Osprey. Kong is the same figure as the one with the battle axe, except he doesn't come with the battle axe and his mouth is closed in this release.
Warbat is the newcomer for this movie. He was first leaked last year under the name "Nozuki," which is a name everyone prefers and still referred to over the official name. According to the description, the Warbats (meaning there are going to be many of them in the movie) are venom-winged monsters that hunt the hidden-depths of the Hollow Earth. That actually sounds terrifying. A snake with wings that are laced with venom is not a creature anyone would want to run into. The face and color is sort of similar to the Hollow Earth Skull Crawler, which makes me wonder if this is a sub-species or a new breed of the Skull Crawler that just lives in the Hollow Earth. The Warbat figure is 6" inches tall and it looks like the only type of articulation are a couple of swivels down the body and the hinges for the wings. Just like the rest of the six inch figures in this line, Warbat also has a battle damage feature on the wings.
Here are the barcodes and links you can use to search for some of these figures. To search for the barcodes you will need the Walmart app on your phone.
Warbat: click here
Hollow Earth Kong: click here
Skull Crawler Alt Color: 043377353119
Rodan: 043377353102
That is all for this week's news. My next post will either be my toy review of Hasbro's Cloverfield Monster, which will be posted on January 18th, or more Godzilla vs Kong news if there is more to report before the 18th. To stay up to date on more news, reviews, and discussions on The Kaijuologist blog make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, Parler, and MeWe. Also, leave a comment on your thoughts on EW's upcoming 2021 preview and if you are excited for any of PlayMates Toys upcoming offerings.