About a month ago, the Twitter account belonging to THE GUEST / YOU'RE NEXT director Adam Wingard went on Godzilla overload. Saying he was "doing some research", Wingard asked followers what their favorite Godzilla movies are and why, then proceeded to spend the following weeks posting Godzilla artwork and Godzilla movie posters, showing off the fact that he was reading a book about Japanese monster movies, and displaying a strong appreciation for 1971's dark, trippy, and controversial GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER.
It was all building up to this: the announcement that Wingard has signed on to direct GODZILLA VS. KONG.
Even though Wingard had said he was going through all of that Godzilla stuff for "research", it's still not likely that I would have put two and two together and realized that he was in the running for GODZILLA VS. KONG, as I'm used to him doing much smaller, quirkier films. I've been following his career since he was doing no-budget experimental films in Alabama, and I can't say that I expected him to take the helm of a huge budgeted monster mash.
Details on GODZILLA VS. KONG are being kept under wraps, but the title gives a good idea of what it will be about. The story was cracked earlier this year by a writers room occupied by seven different writers. Sitting in on this brainstorming session were Terry Rossio, Patrick McKay, J.D. Payne, Lindsey Beer, Cat Vasko, T.S. Nowlin, Jack Paglen, and J. Michael Straczynski.
A follow-up to 2014's GODZILLA, KONG: SKULL ISLAND, and the upcoming GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, GODZILLA VS. KONG will be in theatres on May 22, 2020.
In addition to THE GUEST and YOU'RE NEXT, Wingard's credits include HOME SICK, POP SKULL, A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE, V/H/S, V/H/S/2, THE ABCs OF DEATH, and BLAIR WITCH. His live action adaptation of the manga series DEATH NOTE is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on August 25th.