Development (pictured 2017), the director of
Godzilla vs. Kong, returned for this film. In March 2019, producer Alex Garcia stated that
Legendary Pictures hoped to produce more
Monsterverse films if they became successful, stating, "It's one brick at a time, each piece has to be as good as it can be, so right now it's all focused on this [
Godzilla: King of the Monsters and
Godzilla vs. Kong]. But could there be? Yeah, that's the hope if the movies turn out really well." In February 2021, Wingard commented on the future of the Monsterverse, "I know where we could go potentially with future films." However, he noted that the Monsterverse was created "to a certain degree" to lead towards
Godzilla vs. Kong. He added that the Monsterverse is at a "crossroads", stating, "It's really at the point where audiences have to kind of step forward and vote for more of these things. If this movie is a success obviously they will continue forward."
Godzilla vs. Kong was released on March 24, 2021, in theaters and
HBO Max simultaneously and was a success on both platforms, despite theater shutdowns from the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic at the time. The film grossed $470 million worldwide against a break-even point of $330 million, became the most successful launch title in HBO Max's history until it was overtaken by
Mortal Kombat, and became the most pirated film of 2021. On April 4, 2021, Legendary's CEO Josh Grode commented on potential sequels, "we have a number of ideas for more movies." That same day, the
hashtag #ContinueTheMonsterverse began trending on
Twitter, which was acknowledged by Legendary and garnered support from
Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of
Kong: Skull Island (2017). On April 27, 2021,
The Hollywood Reporter stated that Legendary was "quietly taking steps to stretch the series into one or more installments" while negotiating with Wingard to potentially return to direct. Various ideas were considered, with
Son of Kong being one potential title. In August 2021, Monsterverse writer
Max Borenstein stated that "there will be some new, interesting installments coming" due to the success of
Godzilla vs. Kong. On March 20, 2022, it was announced that a sequel to
Godzilla vs. Kong was scheduled to commence filming later in the year in the
Gold Coast, Queensland, and other locations in
South East Queensland. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and that
Dan Stevens had been cast as a lead. Wingard and Stevens had previously worked together on
The Guest (2014). In May 2022,
Production Weekly reported that the film's working title was
Origins. On June 30, 2022, it was revealed that
Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, Brian Rogers,
Thomas Tull and
Jon Jashni would return to produce. On July 1, 2022,
Toho confirmed that the film would feature Godzilla.
Pre-production Wingard recalled that preproduction on the film began in January 2022. In August 2022,
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary announced a new synopsis and that
Rebecca Hall,
Brian Tyree Henry and
Kaylee Hottle would reprise their roles from
Godzilla vs Kong while
Fala Chen,
Alex Ferns and
Rachel House would join the cast as well. It was also revealed that Wingard would collaborate once more with production designer Tom Hammock, editor Josh Schaeffer, composer
Tom Holkenborg, and that
Terry Rossio had returned to write the script with
Jeremy Slater and Wingard's frequent collaborator
Simon Barrett. Extensive previsualization was done by The Third Floor, that included checking on
Google Earth the locations in Rio de Janeiro that production wanted to use in the climactic battle.
Filming Principal photography commenced in the Gold Coast, Queensland, on July 29, 2022. At the start of production,
Ben Seresin was confirmed to have returned as director of photography. In November 2022, it was reported that filming had finished in Australia and that crew gear revealed the film's potential title, at the time, as
Godzilla and Kong. A unit composed mostly of visual effects people went to Rio de Janeiro both to film the plates onto which the effects would be composited and to gather extensive data for a digital recreation of the city, that included aerial photography and
Lidar.
Surfers Paradise was turned into the Rio beach where the climactic battle starts.
Post-production The film's visual effects were supervised by Alessandro Ongaro. Wingard confirmed that Mothra's inclusion was always part of the plan. However, Legendary did not have the rights to Mothra by the time that post-production began and used a placeholder character named "Phosphera" until the rights were secured. Wingard also refuted rumors that Phosphera was replaced with Mothra due to poor testing, iterating that Mothra was included as far back as the first draft.
Scanline VFX did the opening scene with Kong being chased by "Wart-Dogs" - which were likened to wolves and
African wild dogs, with "the twitchy, unpredictable energy of a
hyena - and the climactic fights in both Egypt and Rio, along with the mechanical glove worn by Kong. Wingard told the crew to not worry too much about scale and relative speed so the monsters could still move quickly, with one of the adaptations being changing the gravity and speed of the water simulations. The rendering was done in
5K resolution given the film was shot with wide anamorphic lenses.
Influences After watching the trailer for
Godzilla Minus One (2023), Wingard and Ongaro decided to pay tribute to that film by recreating a shot of the ground bursting beneath Godzilla's footfall for the film's Rome sequence. ==Music==