When Gareth Edwards was directing 2014's GODZILLA, he meant to build anticipation by keeping Godzilla off screen as much as possible and cutting away from monster fight action, saving it all for the end of the film. To say I was not a fan of this approach would be putting it mildly – I found Edwards' film to be very disappointing. When I watch a Godzilla movie, I want to see Godzilla, just like when I went to see KONG: SKULL ISLAND I wanted to see Kong, and was glad when that film's director Jordan Vogt-Roberts showed me Kong early and frequently.
It sounds like Mike Dougherty, who is directing the GODZILLA sequel GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, has an approach to the title monster that will be much more satisfying to me than GODZILLA '14 was. When asked on Twitter if Godzilla would have more screen time in the sequel, Dougherty replied: "More. Much more."
That's exactly what I wanted to hear. (And what I want to see.) Dougherty also hinted that the design of Godzilla might be tweaked for KING OF THE MONSTERS. When asked specifically if that will be the case, the director just said, "He is evolution in the flesh, so…"
The Godzilla design in the 2014 film was decent, but I would like to see some changes made, particularly to the bulkiness and the shape of the head, things which had a lot of fans saying that Edwards' Godzilla resembled a bear.
Directed by Dougherty (TRICK 'R TREAT) from a screenplay he wrote with his KRAMPUS co-writer Zach Shields, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS is set to star Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Aisha Hinds, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Randy Havens, Jonathan Howard, Anthony Ramos, and – a bit of casting that was just announced last Friday – Bradley Whitford, fresh off of GET OUT.
The film is set for release on March 22, 2019, and will be followed by the crossover GODZILLA VS. KONG, directed by Adam Wingard, in 2020.