Godzilla Vs. Kong To Now Open 5 Years After Batman V Superman

Legendary’s Godzilla Vs. Kong just became the next big test for Warner Bros.’ theaters/HBO Max release plan.

Well, this is a good kind of shock, I think? Warner Bros. just announced that Godzilla Vs. Kong will be changing release dates yet again. However, director Adam Wingard and writer Terry Rossio’s monster mash-up is now opening not on May 21, 2021 but March 26, 2021. What does this mean?

Well, first, it’s opening around a year after it was supposed to debut (March 13, 2020) before the commercial failure of Godzilla: King of the Monsters ($385 million on a $180 million budget) led to (it would seem) some tinkering and a new date of November 20, 2020. Second, the film now takes the place of WB’s Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark. Third, this probably means MGM and Universal’s No Time to Die won’t be opening on April 2, 2021 after all.

I wondered out loud in this afternoons Mortal Kombat-related post as to whether AT&T’s T plans to put all of Warner Bros.’ 2021 theatrical releases into theaters and (in America for the first 30 days) on HBO Max concurrently would make those films less likely to be further delayed, and it looks like we have our answer. Not only is the sequel to both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island not being pushed back, it’s actually being pushed up.

If I may speculate, I might presume that this means A) Legendary and Warner Bros. worked out a deal in terms of allowing the $185 million flick to play in theaters and HBO Max and/or Legendary is no longer concerned as much about any revenue it was supposed to get from box office receipts. Whether it’s about giving theaters something, anything, as the world tries to get back to normal or about viewing the film as a loss leader for HBO Max, we now have our next big test for the big theaters/streaming plan.

Oh, and also of note, it had been heavily speculated that March 25, 2021 (the five-year-anniversary of Batman v Superman) was to be the launch day for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I’m guessing that is no longer the case. Come what may, one of the biggest cheerleaders of that four-hour movie/miniseries, Ray Fisher, is currently in a war of words with Warner Bros. over alleged mistreatment by Joss Whedon during the JL reshoots. I have to wonder how that will affect what would otherwise be a “Yay, we did it!” marketing campaign.

Anyway, in good news for theaters and folks like me who write about movies in theaters, Godzilla Vs. Kong is A) not getting delayed and B) being moved up by two months. Yes, this again means that further delays for No Time to Die are almost certain, but at least we won’t be left empty-handed. And yes, considering King of the Monsters and Skull Island both earned 70% of their respective totals overseas ($276 million out of $387 million in 2019 and $399 million out of $568 million in 2017), it’s a measured bet than theaters outside of America will be closer to “healthy” before American ones are able to safely re-open.

Godzilla Vs. Kong, starring Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, with Kyle Chandler and Demián Bichir, will now open March 26, 2021 (five years and one day after Batman v Superman), in theaters (including presumably IMAX screens where able) and (in America) on HBO Max. For what it’s worth, my nine-year-old son is going to be very excited when I break the news. King of the Monsters is his favorite movie of all time.